On the second day of the sixteenth annual summit of BRICS being held at Kazan Russia, President Putin opened the session with the following comments:

“The BRICS strategy in the global arena conforms with the strivings of the main part of the global community, the so-called global majority. This approach is especially relevant in the current conditions when truly radical changes are underway across the globe, including the shaping of a multipolar world.” [Associated Press, October 23, 2024.]

Characterizing BRICS as a counterbalance to the Western-dominated global order, Putin proclaimed the summit as “the largest foreign policy event ever held” by Russia. Some 36 countries were represented — far beyond the ten actual member nations — many by their leaders.

Putin has focused specifically on the creation of a new payment system that would allow Moscow to circumvent the global SWIFT network, thus dodging Western sanctions. At the summit, he accused the U.S. of “weaponizing” the dollar, and said it was a “big mistake.”

“It’s not us who refuse to use the dollar,” he claimed. “But if they don’t let us work, what can we do? We are forced to search for alternatives.” [Id.]

Yes, we get it: that was a not-so-veiled threat.

Referring to the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he totally ignored — as always — the reason for the sanctions, and described them as illegal. Just more Kremlin double-speak.

He also discussed the creation of a BRICS investment platform that could “become a powerful tool for supporting our economies, and would also provide financial resources to countries of the Global South and East.” [Id.] — thus encompassing Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.

None of this was in the least surprising — it’s pretty much what Putin has been touting as BRICS’ goal all along, and directly in line with his and China’s President Xi Jinping’s proposed “new world order.”

The Kremlin’s website, however, carried a brief mention of the summit, which reads like the minutes of a board of directors meeting. It contained two items that did catch my attention, though.

The first was a “restricted-format meeting” limited to nine of the ten BRICS member countries (Saudi Arabia did not send a representative to the summit). It offered nothing about the purpose of that session, but said that the meeting then “continued in an expanded format.” [President of Russia News, October 23, 2024.]

Most interesting was word of the signing of a joint declaration, labeled the Kazan Declaration, a .pdf copy of which was attached — all 33 pages, encompassing 134 items. I will be trying to digest that today . . . if I can stay awake long enough to get through it all.

*. *. *

And so, barring any startling revelations in the Kazan Declaration, day two of the 16th BRICS summit ended without any headline-worthy news, which is probably a good thing.

At least no one declared war on anyone else.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
10/24/24