‘BRICS Still Don’t Matter’ Says ‘Godfather’ of Putin-Led Alliance

The economist who coined the term BRICS has claimed that the anti-Western alliance has little to offer beyond “symbolic” gestures, and that the main benefit of the Russian-hosted summit will be “photo ops.”
The leaders of the alliance’s original states, as well as dignitaries from many other prospective members, are meeting in Kazan, Russia for this year’s annual BRICS summit. As with previous conferences, the occasion will be used to outline the group’s vision for an alternative global economic order, and will be an opportunity for the host state to exhibit its endurance in the face of Western sanctions and geopolitical ostracization.
“The annual BRICS summit is an ideal occasion for political leaders like Vladimir Putin to promote a vision of a world that the United States does not lead,” Jim O’Neill wrote last week in a column for Project Syndicate. “But each year also brings further confirmation that the grouping serves no real purpose beyond generating symbolic gestures and lofty rhetoric.”
O’Neill, a British economist now serving in the United Kingdom’s House of Lords, has been dubbed the “godfather” of the economic alliance, owing to his 2001 publication entitled, “Building Better Global Economic BRICs.” In it, O’Neill argued that the rapidly emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China – the states which founded the alliance in 2006 – would come to dominate the global economy by 2050.
However, O’Neill now believes that BRICS has transformed into a primarily political organization, which represents little more than an attempt by non-G7 nations to thumb their nose at the West.
This summit in particular, which will feature the new members Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the U.A.E., will be characterized by political messaging, O’Neill said.
“Putin undoubtedly will use this year’s summit to signal to the world that he is not as isolated as Western governments want him to be,” he wrote.
According to O’Neill, the reluctance of Saudi Arabia to join the alliance, despite being invited and initially expressing openness to the offer, signals why the BRICS will likely remain a second-tier international organization.
“[Saudi Arabia] still prizes its defense and security alliance with the U.S.,” O’Neill wrote, “and those ties will grow even stronger if it ever normalizes relations with Israel.”
While the BRICS have surpassed the G7 countries by share of global GDP, almost all BRICS nations, China in particular, conduct the majority of their trade with the U.S. One expert previously told Newsweek that this would hinder its ability to fully decouple its economic plans from the U.S. economy.
As a result, O’Neill said the annual BRICS summit’s main benefits are “photo ops” for the world leaders in attendance.
“BRICS+ leaders can stand alongside Putin and decry their countries’ underrepresentation in many of the big global governance organizations,” he wrote. “They do this every year, and it appears to be one of the only real achievements that comes out of each meeting.”
A truly useful purpose, O’Neill continued, would be for these nations to pursue “collective action” in free trade between themselves, as well as making “stronger commitments to fight climate change and infectious diseases.”
However, beyond “lofty statements about creating an alternative to challenge the US dollar-based global monetary system,” O’Neill believes little will come from this summit or the organization itself in the near future.
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