The West Eyes Only Itself

By María Páez Victor – Oct 30, 2024

The Western media and pundits have had their eyes riveted on the nefarious and imminent US election, which is understandable. If a novelist had written a story about a superpower with a presidential candidate as deranged as Trump, surrounded by gullible, alienated voters, backed by an unscrupulous party of raving sycophants, a hodgepodge of an electoral system, plus a pusillanimous opposition, it is likely the novel would not have had much success as it would have been considered too unreal.

But this is no novel. We are witnessing history, a very alarming and portentous history of the Western world. The scenarios are the possible coming to power of a vengeful, ignorant narcissist as head of the superpower of the world, or if losing he rejects the electoral results (which he has done before) giving way to violent events throughout the USA, a country where there are more arms than people who have a constitutional a right to own and use them.

If this were purely an internal domestic matter, many of us might, uncharitably, not care. Let that imperious nation be governed as it deserves! The truth is that the USA not only has an armed citizenry, but it also has the most powerful military the world has ever seen. Therefore, the election on November 6 will affect more than its own citizens; it will affect all of us, no matter where we live and whether we like it or not.

Because the election is imminent and entails many risks, the international media has scarcely paid attention to another recent event that also has broad and deep global repercussions, especially for the Global South and emerging multipolar world: the 16th Summit of the BRICS in Kazan, Russia. That it has been largely ignored is part of the “apartheid” that is being imposed on anything Russian. But the media should have paid attention.

The BRICS is the international association that is leading this movement towards a multipolar world. It aspires to build an alternative financial/banking system to the one built after World War II, dominated by the US dollar. The USA has converted the dollar into a political tool to dominate other countries and pressure them into doing its bidding under the threat and imposition of illegal financial and economic sanctions. The dollar and all the financial structure that supports it was thus turned into an instrument of neo-colonialism. Nations anxious to safeguard their sovereignty are seeking an alternative to the current dollar-based international financial system. Enter the BRICS which has as an objective precisely that alternative.

The BRICS is not just any ordinary association. It represents 46% of the world population and 37% of world GDP. Altogether, its members are the group of the fastest growing economies in the planet and this year, Russia held its rotating presidency. Vladimir Putin, therefore, was the host of this summit. Hence the West denigrated the association and its meetings, and western mainstream media largely failed to see the proverbial writing on the wall.

Ernst and Young India has projected in a recent report that the BRICS group could overtake the G7 countries in terms of its share of global merchandise exports by 2026. According to the report, the combined share of global merchandise exports of the BRICS nations rose from 10.7% in 2000 to 23.3% last year. In contrast, the G7 share has declined from 45.1% to 28.9%. The lead of G7 in managing global economic affairs is likely to come into question as the share of the BRICS+ group in global population, world GDP, and world trade increases. (https://www.rt.com/news/606739-brics-global-exports-share-g7/)

However, the BRICS is not content to see itself exclusively as an economic association. One of its cornerstone principles is the protection of international law that upholds the respect of nations’ sovereignty based on mutual respect and mutual benefit. In Kazan, Putin called for the creation of a “more democratic, inclusive and multipolar world order based on international law and the UN Charter.” The Western media can scoff at these words as “propaganda” as it tends to describe anything Putin says, but to ignore the impact that these words have on the nations of the South that see their own sovereignty in danger, is to miss the big picture: the articulation of these values and principles is music to their ears.

Dr. Alfred de Zayas affirms that the BRICS Kazan Summit offered an uplifting alternative road to this unprincipled, nihilist political sea of conflict, wars, untruths and betrayals that international geopolitics has become:

Unlike the UN Summit of the Future and Pact for the Future of 20-22 September 2024, the Kazan Declaration with its 134 paragraphs constitutes a major step in the development of a multipolar world order and a reaffirmation of the will of the Global Majority to strengthen international peace and security through multilateralism… There is hope in the air, a certain optimism that we can gradually change the paradigm, marshal the world disorder, move away from bloc-mentality, abandon confrontational politics, phase out dependence on the US-dollar, and craft a coherent policy to enhance trade, social and cultural exchange in tandem with the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter and in the spirit of the UNESCO Constitution. (https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/10/31/the-brics-summit-in-kazan-a-manifesto-for-a-rational-world-order/)

Judging by the enthusiastic support of two of its foundational members, China and Russia, one can glimpse the importance of the BRICS. Indeed, someone as surprising as General Mark Milley, former US Army Chief of Staff has declared that today’s world is already multipolar because there are now three superpowers: USA, Russia, and China. (https://www.rt.com/news/606737-us-general-multipolar-world/).

Unfortunately, the Western media tends to disregard, downplay and even malign anything Russian, and especially if Putin has a hand in it. Hence its blindness to what was happening in Kazan.

Maduro: Veto by Brazil’s Foreign Ministry Will Not Silence Venezuela

There were two dramatic moments in Kazan. The first was the unexpected presence of the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez had already arrived with a solid diplomatic team. It was assumed that she would be representing the country. So, the sudden appearance of President Maduro caused a welcome surprise, and he was greeted with honours and friendliness by all the heads of state. The Russians helped with the logistics of getting him there by avoiding US surveillance. His plane secretly landed somewhere in Africa and then flew secretly to Kazan.

The second surprise was not welcome. In a TV interview, President Maduro stated that Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Viera had said to him very clearly, not once but several times during the proceedings, that Brazil would not veto Venezuela’s entry to the BRICS. Yet, when the decision about Venezuela’s membership was to be taken, the Brazilian foreign minister was replaced by a lesser civil servant, with ties to Bolsonaro, who proceeded to veto Venezuela’s entry to the BRICS. President Maduro said that everyone around the table was stunned by this unexpected and unpopular opposition to Venezuela’s entry to the BRICS.

Brazil’s veto was a vile betrayal by Lula who did not respect the basic principles of sovereignty, self-determination and solidarity of the BRICS, nor of the United Nations and of CELAC. With this veto, Lula, who did not even attend the Summit, supported de facto the imperialist Monroe Doctrine and the nearly one thousand illegal US sanctions against Venezuela. Most astoundingly, he undermined the quest for Latin American integration and solidarity for which the region has been striving since it was articulated by Simón Bolívar in the 19th century.

The president of Brazil has betrayed all the progressive movements in the region that had defended him so passionately when he was unjustly jailed by the right-wing government of Bolsonaro. By siding with his former jailers, his position as a leader of the left in Latin America is precarious, if not defunct. It was made worse by Lula’s flimsy excuse for missing the BRICS summit—that he was injured due to a fall that happened days ago. This was hard for anyone to believe as he was publicly seen fit as a fiddle. Public opinion in Latin America strongly suggests that, in fact, Lula acted cowardly, that he did not have the courage to face Nicolás Maduro and tell him to his face that he would veto Venezuela’s BRICS membership.

It is obvious that the BRICS, strengthened by the inclusion of Venezuela, is not in the interests of the US, especially as it begins to threaten the US-dominated global financial system. OPEC accounts for 80% of the world oil production and Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela are founding members of OPEC. Saudi Arabia and Iran are already BRICS members or associates. If Venezuela, with its immense oil reserves, joined the BRICS, where would the US turn to replace its depleting domestic sources of oil? Lula prevented Venezuela from joining the BRICS, thereby trying to contribute to its economic and diplomatic isolation from the West. We do not know what he got in return, but we can say something about the consequences of Brazil’s betrayal in Kazan.

Firstly, it was a blow to Latin American regional integration which is already very much diminished with the right-wing governments of Milei (Argentina), Boric (Chile), Noboa (Ecuador), and Boluarte (Peru). Fundamental to that integration is the notion of solidarity which Brazil ignored. Venezuela supplies electric power to the entire northeastern part of Brazil, and Brazil still owes Venezuela for that service. Furthermore, during the COVID-19 pandemic, people in the region of Manaus were dying due to lack of oxygen. At that point, when Venezuela was in dire need due to the sanctions, it nevertheless sent to Manaus 107 physicians and 136,000 litres of oxygen. That act of genuine solidarity was evidently forgotten by Brazil in Kazan.

Secondly, it has cost Lula his standing as a progressive leader. What a sad ending to his leadership role in Brazil and the region! He will no longer be seen as belonging to the “left’ or “progressives,” but as a stooge to Uncle Sam. He has formed a pact with the right to maintain power. The progressive forces within Brazil will have to look for new leadership.

Lula disappointed members of the BRICS who had all favoured Venezuela’s entry. Most especially, the two giants, China and Russia were surely disappointed by the pettiness and short-sightedness of Brazil. Furthermore, nations of the Global South will now look at Brazil with suspicion, particularly those that witnessed Brazil’s undoing: Vietnam, Egypt, South Africa, Ethiopia, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Congo, Thailand, Uganda, among others. They will not see Brazil or Lula as a spokesman for the Global South, but as a Trojan horse.

As to Venezuela, the US and its allies have already failed to isolate it diplomatically or economically. Just by being invited to the BRICS summit and knowing that all its members, except Brazil, voted for Venezuela’s admission, shows the clear acceptance that Venezuela enjoys internationally and the high esteem with which its president is regarded. It is only the Western media, in service of their governments, that demonizes Nicolás Maduro.

Venezuela’s relationship with the BRICS nations is not a question of one summit. For years, Venezuela has been strengthening its economic, cultural, and political links with these countries. Venezuela has a host of bilateral diplomatic agreements and accords, especially with China, Russia, India, Belarus, Turkey. Thus it has dodged a good part of the US sanctions and has been able to turn an economy bombarded by these sanctions into a flourishing economy with full food security, a greatly diversified economy, and recently the highest rate of economic growth in the region, approaching 10% in this year.

It is only a question of time before Venezuela becomes a full member of the BRICS. Meanwhile, it can continue being a “de facto” member with all the concrete economic, financial and political bilateral links that it has long established. And these are what count in a practical sense, either inside or outside a formal association. Venezuela still wins and will continue to walk down the road toward the multipolar and alternative world that the BRICS is determined to help create.

The Western media and pundits had better look beyond Washington to the big wide world around them.

It is not limited to Washington.

MPV/OT