THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Trading in national currencies is a welcome step as a follow up of BRICS summit
Vidya Bhushan Rawat
The BRICS summit that India has just hosted got all important leaders from Russia, China, South Africa, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Indonesia and others. The big absence was the B of BRICS, I mean Brazil and its President Lula Da Silva who has been one of the founder members and had never missed a single BRICS meet. The current global order and various platforms have leaders who are weighing their option everywhere. No body want to antagonise the big powers and hence they become part of all such platforms. BRICS was a platform meant to bring big countries like Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa together and explore commonalities for cooperation. The BRICS Delhi declaration is a welcome step as despite Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE being in the group, it would have been difficult to take a unified stand on Iran war yet many points deserve appreciation including Israel’s genocide in Gaza and a two state solution of the Palestanian issue.
While BRICS is a growing family and is not speaking about de-dollarisation but slowly the process of trading in their own currencies is taking ground. The process actually was started by Russia not as a threat to Dollar being a reserve currency for the new world order that emerged after the World War II, but it was pushed to do so after thousands of sanctioned were imposed on it due to its war with Urkaine. Iran also had to face the similar things along with North Korea because they dont get fixed into the western ‘democratic’ system.
BRICS is growing because of old colonial manipulations continue unabated while the natives of those regions are now seeking accountability and total sovereignity over their resources much to the discomfort in Brussels, London and Washington DC and so the unease in the western world. Initially, they mocked at Russia and Vladmir Putin terming him as ‘dictator’, ‘Hitler’ and villain of peace. They failed in isolating Russia and hence different methods have been adopted by the ‘deep-state’ actors including the ‘experts’, ‘liberal commentators’, ‘econocrats’ and ‘democrats’ petronised by them. The target during this BRICS was not Russia but China and the reason for it is the western ‘realisation’ that despite all the odds, it would be difficult for them to break the India Russia ties hence the focus shifted on China, once petronised by the west itself in the post 1990s in the ‘liberalisation’ period to isolate Russia further. I am saying it again, Europe is suffering from Russophobia and dont even consider China a threat unlike the US which feel China is the real economic threat for them. Sad part of it is that Indian cheerleaders of ‘strong’ India-West’ ties suggest that BRICS is only helping China. All countries are making alliances as per their national interests and numerous regional alliances have been formed. India once upon a time played a leading role in development of SAARC but today is responsible for the death of SAARC which could have provided India much bigger economic leverage but current regime actually wanted to get more associated with the west and not really with global south. Many of this liberal elite in India might be critical of Narendra Modi and BJP for their own reasons but fact of the matter is a majority of them are simply the ‘cheerleaders’ of the ‘western’ capitalist ‘democratic’ ‘liberalism’.
Nobody suggest that an event cant be criticised but the way numerous newspapers and media houses came out and wrote those gutter level articles in their newspapers clearly indicate that this American sponsor lobby in India has deep penetration in the Indian Jain Marwadi owned brahmanical media. The issue is not about who is gaining from it but the history of India’s struggle against colonialism and its attempt to create an independent foreign policy for itself. India will gain if it develop good relations and not seen as a Trojan horse, a term used by an senior Brazilian official several years back. Indian liberal media acted absurdly including a professor from JNU writing how India must ensure making BRICS redundent and other suggesting India must make it look boring’. How is it that amidst the hosting of an international event which India became the host as it is a rotational process, we are being told to work towards weakening it which we have been one of the founding nations. India was also the leading founder of Non Aligned Movement. There is nothing wrong when countries decided to chart a different parth. Being part of a platform and seeking economic associations is not wrong and it should be welcome. India’s western alliance is stronger but never really bothered about associating with east where it would have carried bigger weight and huge cultural capital in the form of Buddhism.
Western economic system are suited to profit them with exploiting the resource both natural as well as human from the global south. They built their narrative accordingly. Being a part of BRICS does not mean, India should get out of other international platforms. India is very much part of it but the deep state cheer leaders can explain as what exactly is the outcome of various ‘deals’ between US, UK and EU which have been signed with India in recent years. How much employement will these deals generate in India and how will our domestic industries and farmers benefit from these deals. Most of these deals are actually detrimental to our farmers. West is looking to India as a dumping ground and a market for its produce. All these deals are always tilted heavily towards the western economies.
The west will glorify India as long as it is not a challenge to them. Donald Trump already want Indians out of the United States and harping on his own nationalism. His agenda is expanding the US boundaries to Greenland and now Ireland too. The whisper has already started in the air after Donald Trump’s visit to Ireland and seeking unification. UK face the bigger challenge as USA has already not comfortable to support its ‘ownership’ over Folkland islands.
The growth of right wing nationalist forces in Europe and America is the failure of those who call themselves as ‘liberal’ yet allowed the massacre of innocent Palestanians to happen in Gaza. There are other basic issues which the citizens of those countries know better than us as what they need but it is a fact that Russian energy to west was much cheaper and reliable but now they depend on American energy sources paying much higher prices. The cheer leaders would not even acknowlege the brutality of the regime. The kidnapping of an elected President in Venezuela and now threatening others in Bolivia, Cuba and Colombia does not impact those speaking about ‘rule of law’. Canada and Mexico too are suspicious of Donald Trump’s agenda. But if you ask Grok or Google AI about American interventon in Venezuela they would simply argue that whatever US does is the ‘rule of law’ so they dont accept that US violated blatantly the Venezuelan sovereignity.
Whatever you may think of but the fact is if Russia was not a military might, the western world would have demolished it, divided it in so many pieces that you would not even remember it as a great nation. The agenda remain the same and that is why the Ukraine Project keep continuing despite the difficult ground realities for it. A powerful Soviet Union was always creating a counterforce against unipolar world and the people rejoiced in the west when it broke but in his 25 years, Vladimir Putin has brought Russia back in the reckoning as an important player in the world affair and it is a good sign. World must be multipolar and UN system need to be strengthened so that each country respect and follow that but it has considerbly weakened in recent years.
India and for that matter any other country has a right to pursue its independent foreign policy. It will be great if there is a just and logical world order but how is that possible if there is least remorse for historical injustice and acknowledgement of the legacy of colonialism which has modernise itself in the name of ‘capitalism’. So called private property of big Trans National Corporations cant survive without imperial support hence the nexus between capitalism and imperialism is extremely close.
United States and western world provided us opportunities too and gave us ideas about democracy, human rights and liberal thoughts but now in this age, all those beautiful things have become a matter of past, being proudly dissociated and capure of natural resources being done blatantly. All these alliances are emerging from those tyrannical economic and military punishment. The leading countries need to speak and resolve these critical issues involving the stakeholders too. India must remain part of all these international structures and forums which provide it alternative for the best of its national interests.
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