WHAT HOLDS BRICS TOGETHER?

These creatures look pretty darn NWO Illuminati to me! 

By Fyodor Lukyanov

RT

March 30, 2012

BRICS countries concluded their forth summit in New Delhi by urging a common approach to Syria which would definitely exclude any outside interference.  They also agreed to make payments in local currencies (not dollars or euro) in transfers between the group members. But the two remarkable moves do not represent a total breakthrough in cooperation as the gradual approach of more tense economic and political interaction becomes increasingly apparent.

BRICS is a format which has long provoked a great deal of skepticism among commentators. In the West it is viewed as an accidental and artificial association.

ED: Is NATO a “natural” association?

But despite those doubts, which at times are pretty well-grounded, the BRICS countries regularly get together, attracting more and more attention from the rest of the world.

BRICS is driven forward by the general situation in the world. Recipes for resolving international issues offered by the West either don’t work or produce the opposite effect.

ED: To a great extent, these measures were never intended to work and, by producing the opposite effect, actually bring about the long term desired results. 

There is a demand ~ so far rather vague ~ for alternative solutions, and as the cores of big regions, BRICS countries are often best-situated to offer a comprehensive global vision.

While preliminary talks on this matter are starting to make small waves, so far this ambition is just declaratory. BRICS has not yet realized its full potential as an influential international entity.

Last year, BRICS lost a good opportunity to position itself as very important grouping when it failed to come to a consolidated position on the appointment of a new IMF managing director after Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned amid scandal.

All the states of the group preferred to make separate agreements with the United States and Europe on the terms of support for their respective candidates.

BRICS demonstrated rare unity on the Libyan issue when it was voted in the UN Security Council in March 2011. 

However, their positions diverged on Syria early this year. The current consensus on Syria achieved in India is very vague.  Moreover, the seemingly indifferent position by Russia and China when it comes to extending the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to include Brazil, India and South Africa has angered those countries.

While in New Delhi, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said that they are strong candidates to join the UNSC. 

However, Medvedev can show public support for the move because he knows that China will oppose India in any case.  

What holds BRICS together beyond their mutual belief in multipolarity?  

In his program article on foreign policy published before the presidential election, Vladimir Putin  waxed positively about cooperation within BRICS, laying emphasis on the fact that all BRICS countries not only have similar views on a multi-polar world order, but share one and the same basic value ~ national sovereignty as a fundamental structural element of the world system.

This concept is an alternative to the Western approach that is based on the premise that today sovereignty is no longer as sacred and immutable as it was in the past.

All BRICS countries really enjoy almost full sovereignty.

They have broad latitude in their actions, rooted in their material capabilities, and they are not restricted by formal alliances. There are not so many states in this category.

European countries, for instance, do have an economic foundation but are often much more tied up politically.

The question is whether this conceptual community is enough to create a framework that can be filled with economic, geopolitical and ideological content.

This process is slow and not destined to succeed, but the ability of BRICS to develop in the face of universal skepticism gives cause to hope that it will continue to evolve.

In any case, BRICS countries still have plenty of room to maximize their great potential.