Link to Artical: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/8/30/brics-expansion-a-warning-to-the-us-but-not-a-new-cold-war
Summary: BRICS, A international organization that was created by Russia to challenge America and its western allies otherwise known as G7, Is expanding to countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina and Egypt. Not all countries have yet to accept these offers, Genomic tensions soar as this group continues to grow, some people saying we are in the mists of a “New Cold War”. Some sources say that China is destined to take over America in GDP, while former competitors were not even at a third of Americans GDP. People say this new Economy opens opportunities for the Global south to grow as a power.
Analasis: We are in a unique global economic situation, in which an economic shift could happen at any given moment. The addition of these southern countries to BRICS gives an economic advantage to the countries not allied to America. Now the question stands, are these countries supporting Russia in the current situation in ukraine. Seeing as the addition of these countries would help economically support Russia, would it be considered supporting their ideologies. Another interesting viewpoint is seeing South Africa’s relationship with Russia in BRICS. South Africa has stated to be neutral in the Ukraine war, but some suspicions of South Africa having planned on shipping military equipment to Russia have arised in the past. The main question then arises with these new additions is where do the relationships between these two countries stand.
Connection to Class: We have talked about the economic shifts between two countries in class the past few weeks. This has happened when America first became a world power, economics has always played an important role with power rises and if countries that are in BRICS continue to grow their economy it could replicate similar power shifts we’ve seen in the past. This also replicates non-allie relationships we’ve seen in the past, this makes for global economic tensions to be at an all time high. The final questions that arise with this topic are what does the future economic tension look like, and is this going to lead to America’s relationship with these countries to decline.