BRICS: Laying the Foundations of the Next Empire?

Looks like Italy is likely to pull out of the Belt and Road Initiative

Ms Meloni has now told Kevin McCarthy, the US House Speaker, during a meeting in Rome last week that while a final decision has not yet been made, her government wants to exit the deal, according to Bloomberg.

Seems that neither country is really benefiting from the current arrangement, though they try to spin it to look like China will be 'antagonised' and will retaliate in some vague way:

They have recently stepped up their lobbying efforts to try to convince Rome to stay in the deal,” he told The Telegraph. “This decision, if confirmed, will antagonise the Chinese government.”
Beijing could retaliate by imposing punitive measures against Italian companies doing business in China.
“They could put Italian firms at a disadvantage. How that would manifest itself is hard to say, but they could increase regulatory scrutiny, for instance.”
The benefits to Italy of signing up to the Belt and Road project, touted with great fanfare back in 2019, have been few.
China had pledged modest investments in the ports of Genova and Trieste, “but even they did not materialise in full”, said Mr Santi.

Looks more likely that this decision is being pushed by political pressure from the US/NATO and of course, Italy has been supplying Ukraine at their behest:

Stefano Stefanini, a former diplomatic adviser to an Italian president and formerly Italy’s permanent representative to NATO, said that if Rome does not withdraw, it will risk a clash with the US.
“Italy has to decide which side it is on,” he wrote in an opinion piece in La Stampa, an Italian newspaper, last week.
The Meloni government finds itself squeezed between “the American Scylla and the Chinese Charybdis”, he said, invoking the mythical reference to the twin perils that lurked in the Strait of Messina between Sicily and mainland Italy.
Remaining with the Belt and Road Initiative would be “a choice that is hardly compatible with Italy’s pro-Western stance,” Mr Stefanini said.

 
If Ergodan gets less 50% of the votes it is 2nd round right?
That's right, as of right now, he seems to be sitting at 49.34%.

I found this site that seems to be giving live results. In terms of a possible foul play, I can imagine that some of them might be coming from overseas where they would be easier to tamper with, but also.. expats would be more prone to fall in victim to western propaganda and the like... so who knows, I have a feeling we'll see a second round
 
Common Currency on Agenda for South African BRICS Summit:

And the G7 seem to be doubling down with the announcement of measures against China, which has made China preemptively look for diversify its exporting partners, for instance: Private exporters reported the cancellation of sales of 272,000 metric tons of corn for delivery to China during the 2022/2023 marketing year. And instead China is looking towards South America for providers of their needed goods, Brazil specifically which will trade in Yuan.

But also, they've focused on increasing their gold reserves and sell their US treasury bonds:

According to a report by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange of China cited by Baijiahao, Chinese gold reserves increased by 260,000 ounces between April and March, while Chinese holdings of Treasury debt had fallen to $859.4 billion in January 2023, declining for the sixth consecutive month.
 
Just came across this one on my evening news round up, after the return to the Arab League, Syria keeps on making strides with close US allies in the region.

Syria and Egypt advocate strengthening joint working ties

Cairo, May 25 (SANA) Syrian Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Louay Al-Munajjid discussed with the head of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian National Social Insurance Authority, Major General Gamal Awad, the joint working relations between the two countries and the importance of strengthening them.

The meeting took place within the framework of Minister Al-Munajjid's visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt to participate in the activities of the 49th session of the Arab Labor Conference, which is being held from the 22nd to the 29th of this month.

During the meeting, the two sides agreed to continue coordination to extend social protection to the citizens of the two countries and exchange experiences in various fields of joint work, especially in the field of insurance and investment.

For his part, the Egyptian Minister stressed that his country welcomes all aspects and forms of cooperation with sisterly Syria in the field of social security.
 
"Brazilian President has called for the establishment of a common currency for the South American region"
I wonder if it will be successful, Chavez and Maduro attempted this years ago and nothing really happened. On the other hand, given SA relation to the US, I wonder what kind of response it would garner from the gringos. There's plenty of natural resources to get an economy based on actual tangible goods, but it is difficult to see it be a smooth transition.
 
Then there's this:

Kenya revives push by African nations to ditch the dollar​


Kenya's President William Ruto has asked African leaders to take first steps towards ditching the globally-bullish US dollar by signing up to a pan-African payments system to facilitate trade within the continent.

Dr Ruto has urged his peers in Africa to mobilise central and commercial banks to join Pan-African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS) which was launched in January 2022.

The system for intra-African trade was developed by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat. The initiative was backed by the African Union and African central banks.

“We are all struggling to make payments for goods and services from one country to another because of differences in currencies. And in the middle of all these, we are all subjected to a dollar environment,” Dr Ruto told a forum of government and private sector officials attending a forum on AfCFTA in Nairobi on Monday.

“There has been a mechanism where all our traders can trade in the local currency and we leave it to the Afreximbank to settle all the payments. We do not have to look for dollars; our businessmen will concentrate on moving goods and services, and leave the arduous task of currencies to Afreximbank.”

African traders and their local banks are using correspondent banks, usually in the US and Europe, to complete payments between two African currencies largely in dollars, and sometimes the Euro.
 
And now several Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Oman and UAE announced that they will form a joint navy to guarantee security in the Persian Gulf with the consultation of China.


UAE also withdrew its participation from a U.S.-Led Maritime Force recently.

Let's hope that the US also gets kicked out of Syria soon and stops stealing their oil.
 
When I read this:
Then there's this:

Kenya revives push by African nations to ditch the dollar​

"The system for intra-African trade was developed by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat. The initiative was backed by the African Union and African central banks."



I became very sceptic regarding the implied benefits for working class when central banks are involved ( and African Union = modelled after the EU, most probably).
Example: In Romania presidents were changed from 1990 every 4 years, then every 5 years (some of them had 2 terms, maximum per constitution) BUT the Governor of the National Bank Mugur Isarescu (short description from Clube of Rome site given) was in "power" all this years. (except 11 months as prime minister; he agreed only because was promised that he will return as head for the central bank).
Plus there was a report in a romanian financial newspaper: that for the financial year of 2017(if I remember correctly) the Central Bank's profit was of 500 mil euro, of which a part was going to the goverment's budget. (So I ask myself WHERE the other part is going??? , the article didn't touched this subject).

Isarescu, Mugur C. - Club of Rome

So I tend to agree with Michael B-C :
Thus I wonder – like the boiling frog – if it’s all just a long game of slight temperature adjustment by the pervading, pan-continental game players. Not so much so as to kill the host outright but cook it just enough, as decreed by active evolutionary rules, to reshape the whole of humanity over time (the programming is complete as the Cs put it) so as to fit their preferred environmental status i.e. perpetually held in stasis a couple of degrees above species collapse. And part of that game is the need for pass the parcel.
So I ask is BRICS merely another stage, merely another part of the good cop bad cop game. Another BRIC in the wall.

and Corbett Report:

Granted that the situation is more nuanced, like Scottie wrote earlier.
 
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