Can you name the members of the "BRICS" group of countries which was originally just an investing acronym but which is now an actual economic alliance?
Note: Argentina has announced that it will not join BRICS after all
China is a fascist nation or more accurately national socialism. They conquer their neighbors while practicing extreme capitalism. The government has ultimate power, which it uses to subjugate its citizens in the name of assimilation through concentration camps. China is more national socialist because their nationalism is based on religion, where they religiously praise their government and predecessors like Mao Ze Dong and the Chinese "Communist" Party, CCP.
China conquering their neighbors? What? Other than Tibet, which happened 70 years ago and is a region that had been part of China before, they're hardly expansionist.
I mean they have been threatening Taiwan for a while now and have had border clashes with India. Also, they clearly try to overthrow minorities within their border and force them into Chinese assimilation (which could be seen as kind of trying to conquer them)
@lexxie "Overthrow" would imply those minorities would be in a place of prominence. In any case, that's not expansionism. It's a domestic issue. You're really stretching it with "kind of trying to conquer them". No, conquering in geopolitical terms means incorporating another territory by means of force, be them of arms or otherwise. Expansionism is wanting to progressively extend a state's territorial control beyond its borders, i.e. to expand. Both terms are related but not the same. And none of this applies to things happening within said borders.
As for the India border dispute, many countries have those, that doesn't make them expansionist. Now, if China wanted to continually gain territory by disputing borders with other countries and effectively trying to acquire them, you could claim they are expansionist; but that is not the case.
You could argue their maritime claims to be expansionist, but they certainly do not constitute an instance of "conquering their neighbors".
It's basically a grab bag of countries that are not strongly aligned with the U.S. There doesn't seem to be any raison d'être and my guess is that China pays for the whole thing.
I’d love to know what raison d’etre brings Iran and Saudi Arabia into the same alliance! I can’t help but feel like these meetings may produce some fireworks…
Yeah, funny how they decided to bring along Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, 3 members of OPEC who are among the top oil producers in the world, right during the middle of a huge oil crisis. And factoring in Egypt too, their new members don't looks particularly geographically diverse, do they?
So defensive. No, I'm guessing it's because of red scare. If someone on the Internet shouts "those dirty commies!", my first guess is they're from the US. Especially when the term is applied without evidently knowing its meaning, and to countries that are very far from being communist (or socialist, for that matter) but who, curiously, happen to be unaligned with, or downright hostile to, the US.
And this is not an unfounded prejudice. After all, and just to name one example, only in the US is free healthcare seen as a ruinous commie notion, while it's widely accepted even by cosiderably conservative countries like the UK; and implemented all throughout the developed world, and even some parts of the developing one.
Of course, people like that are everywhere, it's just that the US has a significantly higher percentage of them. So it's a matter of odds.
I am glad to see future new members. I sincerely hope that friendship will grow between the BRICS members, and it will become more important and useful than it is now.
In fact, China has managed to reconcile the Saudis and the Iranians to some extent, I think their relations will continue to soften. The problem of Ethiopia and Egypt, I think, is even easier to fix. But India and China clearly have disagreements, besides, India is clearly playing some kind of game of its own
Russia is going to be overtaken by China and India very soon. Which nation’s moon lander crashed this week and which nation’s moon lander was a success? Also Russia’s population is shrinking and it’s economy too. It will be interesting to see who succeeds in Africa the most. China, through investment, or Russia, through force.
Russia has already been overtaken by China and India in many aspects. Although the Russian economy is not as weak as it may seem.
It is sad that the Luna-25 satellite crashed, although this is not the only case, the same Chandrayan-2 crashed, but now India was able to land the satellite successfully. On the other hand, India launched the first satellite quite successfully, unlike Russia, which failed it the first time. But the fact that Russia launched the satellite according to plan, contrary to the stories about the economy torn to shreds, is quite commendable
Agreed, Russia is declining and has already been passed by India and China in a lot of categories. Both countries have a higher GDP, population, and a lot of other categories as well. While Russia still has a lot of nuclear firepower, they can't really deploy most of it because of MAD. Russia also has a declining population, and has failed to win the Russo-Ukranian war (It's a standstill right now).
I would dispute your statement. Yes, although Russia is not a competitor to India and China now (Russia, in principle, has much less economic potential than these two), but it is far from a collapsing state with nuclear weapons. Yes, Russia does not have enough potential for the position of superpower that it so wants to occupy (the only way is to create a highly efficient mechanized economy like Japan/Germany/South Korea, but it irretrievably lost this chance when the West took Russian scientists and inventions to itself in the 1990s, and will no longer receive them), however, it is a powerful military force, a very large exporter of raw materials (no matter how much other countries would like to get rid of dependence, but Russian raw materials are too large) and the same food. And besides, it is still impossible to judge whether Russia lost the war, although many things clearly went wrong as the leadership wanted
Well, NATO membership did't stop them from from purchasing C400s from Russia. On the other side, Turkey and Russia are big rivals in Caucasus, Syria, Libya, you name it. Not that easy and one layered...
It looks like geopolitical conflicts won't prevent any country from joining BRICS. Two thirds of the new entrants are rivals with another entrant, and two of the original four members are famous for their animosity towards each other.
Turkey may join, they are at odds with the west, won't ever be part of the EU, and desperately need an alliance. If Saudi Arabia and Iran can join the BRICS while hating each other, Turkey certainly can too.
It's an interesting idea but the countries are far too varied in terms of economics and culture. Iran and Saudi Arabia have a proxy war in Yemen. India and China have border disputes. Russia and China clash in Africa. and on and on. Some are developed economies, others resource based and some developing. Some are European based immigrant countries, others are Islamic Arab, and more. Some are capitalist, some autocratic and corrupt, and an other communist.
Can't wrap my head around Ethiopia. Like, even looking at Africa alone, Nigeria was passed up for BRICS membership and is clearly stronger and more important. They also passed up Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Yes, Ethiopia is a strange choice. As far as we know, she has a conflict with Egypt because of the hydroelectric power station, which is why there will be two more opponents in the members. If BRICS is going to solve the conflict? Apparently, but how long will it take to settle the conflict between the members first, and then do something really important. In addition, 200,000 people have recently died in Ethiopia from the war, is there a need for such a member, in whose place Nigeria is a prosperous country (no)?
The expansion of BRICS, in my opinion, is not a great option for the time being. I also think the addition of Ethiopia instead of Nigeria was a bad choice.
I think the formation of a common currency should have been given more priority than the expansion. Anyway, we'll see how successful (or unsuccessful) will the expanded BRICS be in a few years.
Yes, so let's abandon national currencies, accept the dollar, destroy the bank to the ground and sell all the wealth to American corporations! It will be much better, and most importantly, this way we will not be influenced by any country!
Because US influence to Latin America and the world was so damn good so far... your comments may appear that G& and Western powers are so kind to developing countries...
In addition to the real new members, I also tried Nigeria, Argentina and Mexico. The UAE took me the longest to guess because I imagine the Brics countries to be larger and, consequently, with a bigger potential growth in influence
As for me, among the new members, the UAE is the most successful and most useful of all: large oil reserves, while perfectly invested in the country's capital growth, a developed economy, and Dubai is now a dynamic world economic center, a major trading hub, while politics is quite neutral, and the army is quite powerful for a small country. Is it less influential than Iran, Ethiopia or Egypt?
Taiwan was part of China during the Qing dynasty. That is why they are claiming it.
As for the India border dispute, many countries have those, that doesn't make them expansionist. Now, if China wanted to continually gain territory by disputing borders with other countries and effectively trying to acquire them, you could claim they are expansionist; but that is not the case.
You could argue their maritime claims to be expansionist, but they certainly do not constitute an instance of "conquering their neighbors".
China is not a communist country.
B is currently led by a conservative so conservative, he would deem some GOPers as left-wings.
And this is not an unfounded prejudice. After all, and just to name one example, only in the US is free healthcare seen as a ruinous commie notion, while it's widely accepted even by cosiderably conservative countries like the UK; and implemented all throughout the developed world, and even some parts of the developing one.
Of course, people like that are everywhere, it's just that the US has a significantly higher percentage of them. So it's a matter of odds.
ie, sauce ribs?
Egypt & Ethiopia
Saudi Arabia/UAE & Iran
China & India
In not so extreme cases you have japan and south korea, USA and mexico, Argentina and England,...
Geopolitics tends to be more complicated than pre-school backyard drama (even though the complexity of the last one should not be underestimated)
It is sad that the Luna-25 satellite crashed, although this is not the only case, the same Chandrayan-2 crashed, but now India was able to land the satellite successfully. On the other hand, India launched the first satellite quite successfully, unlike Russia, which failed it the first time. But the fact that Russia launched the satellite according to plan, contrary to the stories about the economy torn to shreds, is quite commendable
RICE IS ABUSE
BECAUSE, IRIS!
CRUISE IS BARE
I think the formation of a common currency should have been given more priority than the expansion. Anyway, we'll see how successful (or unsuccessful) will the expanded BRICS be in a few years.
Neither China nor India will give up their respective currencies. They need to be able to manipulate their values independently.
I could see them looking for something other than USD for trading purposes, but I don't see a Euro-like common currency emerging.
This is indeed a strange coalition.
French-Pays Membres des BRICS (https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/1602676/pays-membres-des-brics)
German-https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/1602676/brics-mitgliedslander
Polish-https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/1602676/kraje-czlonkowskie-brics
(Note: This comment is not intended to steal attention from this quiz. I just want users who speak other languages to take this amazing quiz as well.)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67842992