Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa can keep holding summits, but they aren't bringing about a new world order, says Bloomberg Opinion’s Andreas Kluth.
For starters, it’s always a stretch when you launch something - a policy, institution, group or club - just because somebody came up with a great acronym.
In this more complicated world, countries assume they should belong to some sort of coalition, maybe several.The continent has an AMU, Comesa, CEN SAD, EAC, Eccas, Ecowas and a few more, not to mention the African Union. That word “union,” in fact, is especially popular for blocs because it stipulates unity where there usually is none.
The rest of the world’s blocs have much less to offer. Latin America, for example, makes a sporting effort, with a SICA, Caricom, Mercosur and what not. And whenever one fizzles out, such as USAN , another takes its place, currently Prosur, the Forum for the Progress of South America. Don’t hold your breath.COOPERATION IS UNLIKELY
But even lesser blocs boast their secretariats, rotating chairs and associated other bureaucracies. The BRICS, for example, launched the New Development Bank, a lender meant to duplicate the World Bank .Commentary: Biden wants Asia to trade with the US as an ‘alternative to China’ but details are scant
Given the aims of the C in BRICS, neither the B, R, I or S nor other countries that have expressed an interest in joining, such as Indonesia, can really be enthusiastic about becoming Beijing’s vassals just to teach Washington a lesson. That’s one reason why the forum will struggle to project soft power, much less hard.
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