The Irrelevance of BRICS

Any economic bloc led by China and Russia means nothing good for the world — time to put an end to it!

B Kean
4 min readAug 24, 2023

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Courtesy of Farmer’s Almanac

The BRICS summit is underway in Johannesburg, South Africa. The leaders of some of the world’s biggest economies showed up for photos yesterday. Xi Jinping shuffled along like his feet were tied together Geisha (yes, I know they are from Japan); the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, was in his traditional garb, and South Africa and Brazil were present.

Missing, of course, was Vladimir Putin. The incorrigible liar represented him, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. As I looked at the photo of the five, arms raised in some bizarre show of unity which suggested, I guess, a kind of strength too, it dawned on me how destructive those five countries are to the world. Not only in terms of their struggles with democracy but, more importantly, their collective refusal to do anything about climate change.

The emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) have significant influence on the global economic and environmental trajectories. They have carbon intensive economic systems, which contribute significantly to total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, leading to climate change (BRICS and the Race to Net-Zero Emissions).

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B Kean

The past holds the answers to today’s problems. “Be curious, not judgmental,” at least until you have all the facts. Think and stop watching cable news.