At the recent BRICS confab in Johannesburg, Xi welcomed six new members into the BRICS grouping, all of strategic importance not just to China but also to the U.S. in the battle for power, influence and markets.
Dozens more developing countries have shown interest in joining the bloc.
Kirk notes that although BRICS is not a military alliance, its members “all have special significance for America … Saudi Arabia and the UAE as sources of oil; Iran as an aspiring nuclear power at odds with America vis-à-vis Israel; Ethiopia and Egypt as African nations with close ties to other Islamic nations. Argentina, the lone new BRICS nation from South America, has long been looking for a way out of perpetual deep economic distress.”
At the conference, Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi patched up some lingering differences and even Russian President Vladimir Putin, who didn’t attend in person but sent a recorded message, “showed a strong hand among BRICS leaders,” writes Kirk.
Putin defended his blockade of grain exports from Ukraine — and nobody objected.
Should the U.S. be concerned?
Kirk believes the rise of BRICS to the ranks of competitive groupings is on a scale that may ultimately rival NATO. If that happens, the U.S. should be very concerned indeed.
Read the op-ed at TheHill.com.
