The leaders of China, Russia, India and Brazil met to discuss common interests with dozens of dignitaries in South Africa. The meeting was a three-day summit seeking to cobble together currently unaligned powers who would counter Western influence worldwide.
Russian President Putin joined the conference virtually – there is an active warrant for his arrest by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. As it turns out, South Africa is a member of the International Criminal Court. Prudence dictates Putin minimize his exposure, but 67 other countries participated. That amounts to about one-third of the nations on earth.
The gathering in Johannesburg is the 15th annual BRICS summit.
[Photos] Arrival of Heads of State
His Excellency President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China 🇨🇳 arrives at the OR Tambo International Airport in South Africa for the XV #BRICSSummit2023 #BRICSza pic.twitter.com/vrGWVNmfsg— @SAgovnews (@SAgovnews) August 22, 2023
South African President Ramaphosa welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and a number of other leaders. Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East sent representatives.
The Russian Federation has just arrived#BRICSSummit2023 🇧🇷🇷🇺🇮🇳🇨🇳🇿🇦#BetterAfricaBetterWorld 🌍 pic.twitter.com/OE1lT1o93a
— ATHI GELEBA 🇿🇦 (@AthiGeleba) August 22, 2023
Leaders are discussing expanding the organization’s membership with more than 40 countries wanting to join BRICS, including Ethiopia, Iran, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia. This bears watching because of the size and the makeup of nations interested in not having trade disrupted by western sanctions.
There is animus about the harm done as a result of those sanctions. Many nations feel Western sanctions impinge their sovereignty and have a growing interest in forming a second international trade clearing system and a currency to rival the U.S. dollar.
