Between them, the 5 BRICS nations include roughly 40% of the world’s population:
The five BRICS nations also now make up 31.5% of global GDP on a Purchasing Power Parity basis, while the G7 nations make up only 30%. It is arguably the world’s largest trading bloc.
Impressive as all that is, it may only be the beginning. At least nineteen nations have submitted applications to join BRICS at its next meeting in June, thanks to tireless efforts of the BRICS chief recruiter, the United States of America.
Though its not easy to get the exact list - it keeps changing - this is a close approximation:
If all of the above countries are accepted into BRICS membership, it would add more than 1.6 billion new people to the alliance, for a total of 4.8 million people.
Stated differently, by the end of June, BRICS+ could represent 60% of the world’s population within one alliance.
Silk Road estimates that, by 2030, BRICS+ will represent 50 percent of global GDP.
BRICS+ will likely include most of the major OPEC players: Russia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, Nigeria, Venezuela and Mexico. I suspect most of the remaining OPEC nations - particularly Iraq - will eventually join BRICS+ just to be sure to be kept in the loop.
Here are the world’s top ten resource-rich nations, courtesy of Statista:
BRICS+ will include six of the ten most resource-rich countries of the world.
Afghanistan isn’t on that list. Decades of war have prevented that country from exploiting its immense mineral wealth. But we can be sure that in years to come China will help Afghanistan secure its proper place in the Resources Top Ten - for a price.
Five years ago, I think it would have been fair to call the BRICS nations “a non-aligned bloc.” Today, the BRICS nations are in danger of becoming an anti-US coalition.
While only some of the wannabe BRICS+ nations are actively antagonistic towards the United States, I suspect all of the nations wanting to join BRICS see membership in the alliance as an insurance policy against being bullied by the United States.
Accordingly, we can expect the BRICS+ nations to de-dollarize as much as possible. The more the BRICS+ nations de-dollarize their trade, the less reason there is for them to hold significant reserves of US dollars. Both of which will be a drop-kick to the crotch for the US dollar.
American and European sanctions against Russia have clearly boomeranged. How much worse will it be if BRICS+ alliance imposes tit-for-tat countersanctions in response to any US attempt to sanction a BRICS+ member?
I wonder how will the American public feel when they realize that the world’s newest trading super-bloc is headed by Russia and China - the two nations the Biden administration has worked ceaselessly to turn into America’s mortal enemies.
As for the Europeans, the presence of Joe Biden in the White House somehow reminds me of an old Irish prayer:
Dear God
Please let me die like Grandpa,
Peacefully in my sleep -
Not screaming in terror,
Like the passengers in the car with him.
It's Biden and co's wet dream. Everything he has done benefits China at America's expense. Whether intentionally, or to avoid exposure of other crimes, Biden is working for China, not against it.
Russia blunders too numerous - all due to treachery or inferiority complex?
Entering a fight with way too less forces.
Withdrawing from Kiev to show "good faith" for negotiations with agreement incapable counterparties.
Sinking of my Flagship of the fleet.
All enemy supply lines remain intact for several months.
All enemy power supplies remain intact for several months.
Enemy weapons and ammunitions factories remain intact for several months.*
*Russian Ministy of Defense 4th Nov. 2022:
High-precision armament of Russian Aerospace Forces has neutralised the workshops
designed for producing rocket motors in Pavlograd (Dnepropetrovsk region), as well
as 3 workshops at ‘Kommunar’ plant in Kharkov that was the venue for producing projectiles
for multiple-launch systems.
Bold statements about red lines, which can be passed without any reaction.
Shelling of Belgorod - Russian Motherland - for months.
Shelling of Donbass ongoing for months - years to be correct.
Ukraine is shelling the NPP in Zaporizhzhia, but this same NPP is providing energy to the Ukraine?
Blowing up of my property in the North Sea - you guessed it - unpunished.
Annexation of Kherson Oblast 30th October 2022.
This is Russia now!
We will never leave!
« Sergei Mardan: There are no reasons, there can be no reasons for leaving Kherson,
and there is nothing even to talk about. Kherson must not, cannot be surrendered.
Anyone who surrenders Kherson will simply be a traitor. Simply a traitor and a betrayer.