BRICS is Expanding Against USA

The origins of BRICS — a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and, as of 2024, new members Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates — can be traced back to a 2001 publication by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill titled ‘Building Better Global Economic BRICs’. O’Neill argued that Brazil, Russia, India and China were poised to play an increasingly significant role in the global economy.

His prediction was that by 2050, these countries would collectively account for 40 per cent of the world’s economic output. In reality, from 2012 to 2022 China alone has accounted for around a quarter of global GDP growth, and the BRICS countries together contributed over 45 per cent.

BRIC was officially launched in 2009 and was renamed BRICS in 2010 when South Africa joined the group. Since then, trade relations have clearly grown, but in a very unbalanced manner.

Most of the growth in trade has been China-centric, with the contribution from the rest of BRICS remaining quite flat until recently. The recent increase is mostly explained by India, which has experienced an acceleration in economic growth. BRICS members are increasingly intertwined with China as far as trade is concerned, but the remaining members have very few ties among themselves. Bilateral trade between BRICS members other than China remains extremely low.  READ MORE...

2,000 Year Old Carving

Brazilian archaeologists have discovered a vast number of 2,000-year-old rock carvings that depict human footprints, celestial-body-like figures, and representations of animals, such as deer and wild pigs.


The discovery was made during three expeditions between 2022 and 2023 in Jalapão State Park, located in the state of Tocantins. Researchers with Brazil's National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) identified 16 precolonial archaeological sites, all located on rocky cliffs close to each other.

"This proximity suggests a possible connection between the sites and clarifies settlement patterns of the ancient communities that inhabited the region," Rômulo Macêdo, the archaeologist who led the work, told Live Science via Whatsapp.     READ MORE...

Maximizing Quantum Entanglement

Entanglement is a property of quantum physics that is manifested when two or more systems interact in such a way that their quantum states cannot be described independently. 

In the terminology of quantum physics, they are said to be entangled, i.e. strongly correlated. Entanglement is of paramount importance to quantum computing. The greater the entanglement, the more optimized and efficient the quantum computer.

A study conducted by researchers affiliated with the Department of Physics at São Paulo State University's Institute of Geosciences and Exact Sciences (IGCE-UNESP) in Rio Claro, Brazil, tested a novel method of quantifying entanglement and the conditions for its maximization. 

Applications include optimizing the construction of a quantum computer.  READ MORE...

Reshaping The Global Order

At the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg on August 24, 2023, the bloc’s five members — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — announced the invitation of six new countries — Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Effective January 1, 2024, BRICS countries will represent almost half the world’s population.

While BRICS has struggled to make concrete achievements, the momentum may now be shifting. This expansion would have the BRICS overtake the G7 in total gross domestic product, with BRICS economies growing at higher demographic and economic rates than G7 members.

The BRICS expansion could help reduce tensions among the BRICS’s Middle Eastern countries, but could also provoke the United States and NATO, given the admission of Iran and the current membership of Russia and China.

A growing number of countries have expressed interest in joining the BRICS group. Yet there are internal disagreements about how the group should move forward. China and Russia have pushed for a quick expansion of BRICS to strengthen their geopolitical influence, while India has expressed concern about admitting many new members too quickly.

India’s concern has much to do with its historic, bitter border disputes with China, as well as the current strength of India’s bilateral relationship with the United States. India’s contribution in keeping BRICS from becoming outwardly anti-Western only strengthens the country’s geopolitical importance for the United States – US President Joe Biden quite literally pulled out the red carpet for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his June 2023 visit to the White House.  READ MORE...

Wanting to Join BRICS

WHAT IS BRICS?

The acronym BRIC, which did not initially include South Africa, was coined in 2001 by then Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill in a research paper that underlined the growth potential of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

The bloc was founded as an informal club in 2009 to provide a platform for its members to challenge a world order dominated by the United States and its Western allies.

Its creation was initiated by Russia.

The group is not a formal multilateral organisation like the United Nations, World Bank or the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The heads of state and government of the member nations convene annually with each nation taking up a one-year rotating chairmanship of the group.

WHO ARE THE MEMBERS?

Brazil, Russia, India and China are the founding members.

South Africa, the smallest member in terms of economic clout and population, was the first beneficiary of an expansion of the bloc in 2010 when the grouping became known as BRICS.

Together the countries account for more than 40% of the world population and a quarter of the global economy.

Apart from geopolitics, the group's focus includes economic cooperation and increasing multilateral trade and development.

The bloc operates by consensus. All the BRICS countries are part of the Group of 20 (G20) of major economies.

WHICH NATIONS WANT TO JOIN BRICS AND WHY?
Over 40 countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Algeria, Bolivia, Indonesia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Gabon, and Kazakhstan have expressed interest in joining the forum, according to 2023 summit chair South Africa.

They view BRICS as an alternative to global bodies viewed as dominated by the traditional Western powers and hope membership will unlock benefits including development finance, and increased trade and investment.

Dissatisfaction with the global order among developing nations was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic when life-saving vaccines were hoarded by the rich countries.

Iran, home to around a quarter of the Middle East's oil reserves, has said it hopes the mechanism for new membership would be decided "at the earliest."

Oil heavyweight Saudi Arabia was among more than a dozen countries that participated in "Friends of BRICS" talks in Cape Town in June. It has received backing from Russia and Brazil to join the BRICS.

Argentina said in July 2022 it had received China's formal support in its bid to join the group.  READ MORE...

De-Dollarization

This week Brazil and China (above) reached a deal to trade using their own currencies rather than the US dollar. The Chinese are fulfilling their vow from February to open up a clearing house to settle yuan-denominated trades in Brazil, having previously announced similar clearing houses in Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and Laos.

In many ways, this development is inevitable. As of 2021, China accounts for 31.3% of Brazilian exports and 22.8% of their imports, the most of any country. The United States comes a distant second, accounting for only 11.2% of Brazilian exports and 17.7% of imports. 

China has been Brazil’s largest trade partner for fourteen years. At a certain point, both parties were going to raise the question of why their trade should use a third party currency.

The same day that the Brazilian trade deal was announced, another major story hit global currency markets: China settled its first LNG trade in yuan. This development alone would be important enough to bear scrutiny given that much-vaunted status of the US dollar as an energy currency — the ‘petrodollar’ — but reading beyond the headlines reveals something even more surprising. 

The trade was not settled with an energy company in some far-off Middle Eastern country, but instead with TotalEnergies, the French supermajor. With revenues of over $182bn and more than 100,000 employees, TotalEnergies is by far the largest company in France.

This energy deal suggests that ‘yuanisation’ will not be confined to the global periphery. Until recently, suggestions that the BRICS+ countries would dump the dollar and move to new currencies was met with derision. The Brazilian trade deal puts that scepticism firmly to bed. 

But it now appears that the yuan is making inroads into Europe. While the speed of this change is shocking even to those of us paying attention, these developments were presaged by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s controversial visit to Beijing last November.  READ MORE...

Sea Level Changes Destroyed Societies

Archaeologists have linked rising and lowering sea levels in the Atlantic Ocean to the ebbs and flows of ancient civilizations in southern Brazil.

The findings, which incorporate several lines of past archaeological evidence, suggest even large, resilient, and cooperative coastal communities can easily go out with the tide.

When analyzing and dating a series of prehistoric shell 'mountains', known as sambaquis in the local language, researchers noticed some significant changes in southwestern Brazil about 2,500 years ago.

At this time, the size and frequency of sambaqui sites suddenly began to decrease, possibly indicating the dissolution of what were, for millennia, dense and stable shellfish-eating populations.

Other research in the area has also identified a rapid reduction in sambaquis around this time, but some researchers think these changes mostly occurred from the rise of ceramics and crops. The use of this new technology meant populations didn't need to rely as much on fish or mollusks, leading to a reduction in shell piles.

However, the new study found the decline of shell middens started before the introduction of pottery. So why, then, were sambaqui practices abandoned?

The answer might have to do with an extreme, retreating tide. By reassessing human and animal remains from Babitonga Bay – home to Brazil's largest concentration of sambaquis – researchers have put forward a new timeline.

According to more than 400 radiocarbon dates, the spread of ceramics in Babitonga probably started around 1,200 years ago.  READ MORE...

Security for Global Politicians

The killing of British MP Sir David Amess has highlighted the dilemma facing politicians worldwide.

How can you be an open, accessible people's representative and yet still protect your personal safety?

We asked our correspondents around the world to tells us how lawmakers cope where they are.

Brazil
By Katy Watson. BBC South America correspondent

IMAGE SOURCE,EPAImage caption,Jair Bolsonaro was stabbed during his presidential campaign in 2018


In such a vast country as Brazil, there are many different political realities.

In remote areas like the Amazon, expect to find little or no security for the average politician. That's not to say there aren't legitimate safety concerns - with powerful economic players vying for control, threats to politicians' security aren't uncommon. But rallies are community affairs, politicians are often a familiar face - and being part of the fabric is crucial.

Down south in big cities like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro you're more likely to see politicians flanked by bodyguards and large entourages. Wealth here is extreme - and so are the inequalities. Richer politicians, like those in the corporate world, protect themselves.

Brazil is deeply divided politically and that has become clearer during Jair Bolsonaro's leadership. He was stabbed during his presidential campaign and has used this as a justification to liberalise gun laws.  TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS, CLICK HERE...

Three Times More Contagious

A coronavirus variant identified in the Brazilian Amazon may be three times more contagious but early analysis suggests vaccines are still effective against it, the country’s health minister said on Thursday, without providing evidence for the claims.

Under pressure as the variant hammers the jungle city of Manaus with a devastating second wave of infections, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello sought to reassure legislators that the surge of recent months was unexpected but coming under control.

He also told a Senate hearing that Brazil would vaccinate half its eligible population by June and the rest by the end of the year – an ambitious target as the country has barely guaranteed doses for half the population.

Brazil began immunisations with vaccines made by China’s Sinovac Biotech and Britain’s AstraZeneca about three weeks ago. Pazuello did not explain how their effectiveness against the Manaus variant was analysed.

“Thank God, we had clear news from the analysis that the vaccines still have an effect against this variant,” Pazuello said. “But it is more contagious. By our analysis, it is three time more contagious.”

The Health Ministry, which has not provided information about any such analysis, did not immediately respond to a request for more information.

The Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo, which has partnered with Sinovac to test and produce the Chinese vaccine, said in a statement that it had begun studies regarding the Manaus variant but would not have a conclusion for two weeks.

The Fiocruz biomedical centre in Rio de Janeiro, which has paired up with AstraZeneca to fill and finish doses of its vaccine developed with Oxford University, said it is studying its efficacy against the Amazon variant, sent samples to Oxford and is awaiting results.

Located deep in the Amazon rainforest, Manaus has been hit hard by a brutal second wave of cases that has stretched emergency services to breaking point.  SOURCE:  ALJAZEERA

Worldwide Protests Reappearing

When the COVID-19 pandemic began spreading across the world, an early victim was the wave of protests that had roiled many countries in recent years. Lockdowns imposed on public health grounds restricted citizens’ freedom of movement and assembly, while fear of contracting the virus discouraged many from publicly gathering. Consequently, major protests in countries like Chile and India have gone silent during the pandemic.

In some countries, illiberal governments have capitalized on the chaos of the pandemic to persecute critics, criminalize dissent, ban public demonstrations, and further concentrate political power. In Hong Kong, the introduction of a controversial new national security law and arrests of prominent dissidents could silence one of the world’s most significant recent protest movements. Meanwhile, in Algeria, authorities have detained several leading figures of the Hirak protest movement in recent weeks...

The protests have also reverberated beyond U.S. borders. At least sixteen countries—ranging from the UK and France to Australia, Brazil, Japan, Kenya, and South Africa—have seen major demonstrations over police violence against Black or minority populations and related issues, such as systemic racism and the legacies of colonial empires. In France and South Africa in particular, the pandemic has served to only crystallize the problem of police brutality: authorities enforcing lockdown regulations have disproportionately used force against Black citizens.           

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