If South Africa is unable to promise that it won’t execute the ICC’s politicized arrest warrant, then its policymakers might gamble that it’s better to invite Macron after Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister just condemned that scenario as “unacceptable” in order to provoke President Putin into boycotting the summit in protest, which could cause such a scandal that the aforesaid warrant’s role in all this is forgotten.
"...ready to sacrifice its hard-earned reputation, sovereignty, and ties with Russia simply out of desperation to prevent the West from crushing its economy..."
Ultimately, somewhat manipulative and 'depraved' though it may seem, such 'optics' could be helpful: it would look like errant slave-boy doing good to please master. That's not going to go down well, I wouldn't have thought, in contemporary Africa (nor anywhere else). Depraved it may be, but isn't that, ultimately, what we're dealing with?
"...it would be a slap in the face to President Putin..."
Yeah, maybe, but he's a bit bigger than that — выше такого. There might be a few tears on his pillow, but I'm sure he'll get a good night's sleep at the end of the day, particularly if the end-game of optics is advantageous.
"...break BRICS’ anti-sanctions solidarity..."
Again, errant boys do as they're told. It's not gonna look good for Macron, and he's really not very good at all at handling optics. This could prove more than just a quiet little .22 shot in the foot for him, France and all their buddies of a similar ilk; he could end up blasting their legs off with a shotgun. Not the best way to go about winning the popularity race. I bet Putin would be happy to shed a few tears for that.
"...ready to sacrifice its hard-earned reputation, sovereignty, and ties with Russia simply out of desperation to prevent the West from crushing its economy..."
Ultimately, somewhat manipulative and 'depraved' though it may seem, such 'optics' could be helpful: it would look like errant slave-boy doing good to please master. That's not going to go down well, I wouldn't have thought, in contemporary Africa (nor anywhere else). Depraved it may be, but isn't that, ultimately, what we're dealing with?
"...it would be a slap in the face to President Putin..."
Yeah, maybe, but he's a bit bigger than that — выше такого. There might be a few tears on his pillow, but I'm sure he'll get a good night's sleep at the end of the day, particularly if the end-game of optics is advantageous.
"...break BRICS’ anti-sanctions solidarity..."
Again, errant boys do as they're told. It's not gonna look good for Macron, and he's really not very good at all at handling optics. This could prove more than just a quiet little .22 shot in the foot for him, France and all their buddies of a similar ilk; he could end up blasting their legs off with a shotgun. Not the best way to go about winning the popularity race. I bet Putin would be happy to shed a few tears for that.