Gold reached a “higher peak”…

At a time when the leaders meeting in Russia within the “BRICS” group are trying to speed up plans to leave the hegemony of the West and achieve a degree of independence in terms of finance, energy and trade across -borders, Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to have several intentions and goals. forced by continuous developments and pressures that are faced at a delicate level.

On Tuesday, Putin will receive in the city of Kazan about 20 world leaders who are friends or partners within the framework of “BRICS Plus,” a gathering that is the largest gathering of its kind on Russian soil since 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The summit, which will be held between 22 and 24 October, will be the first with new members present, so the group will be called “BRICS Plus”.

This diplomatic bloc initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and then four countries joined it this year: Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt and the UAE .

Putin met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the first day of the summit.

According to a report published by the American Institute for Peace Studies, last Thursday, more than 30 countries have submitted an official request or expressed interest in joining the BRICS group, the including countries in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam, as well. to Turkey, which is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and producer countries of oil and natural gas, such as Algeria, the largest Islamic country, Indonesia, Nigeria, which has the largest population in Africa, and Bangladesh, the eighth largest country in the world in terms of population.

The countries that make up “BRICS Plus” today represent 45 percent of the world’s population, 28 percent of global economic output, and 47 percent of global crude oil production, according to a report. Foreign Affairs Council website.

Moscow… trying to end the isolation

The Russian President, who has made the expansion of BRICS one of the pillars of his foreign policy, is trying to take advantage of the summit to confront the West’s policy of isolation and sanctions in response invaded Ukraine.

The Kremlin viewed the summit as a “diplomatic advantage that will help it build an alliance capable of challenging Western hegemony,” at a time when the United States believes that Russia is not “capable of becoming a geopolitical competitor”.

By hosting the summit in Kazan, the Kremlin is trying to “show not only that Russia is not isolated, but that it has partners and friends,” according to political analyst Konstantin Kalachev , who lives in Moscow, speaking to Agence France-Presse.

Putin has an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in 2023, against the backdrop of the illegal removal of children from Ukraine, and he did not participate in the ‘ a summit previously held by South Africa, a member of the court.

According to Kalachev, the Kremlin is trying to show that “a multilateral world is a reality,” referring to Moscow’s efforts to shift the center of international gravity from the West to other regions.

Putin repeatedly accuses the West of “provocating” Russia, refusing to describe his forces’ invasion of the European country as an imperial-style land grab, despite that Moscow seized 4 Ukrainian regions and unilaterally declared their annexation to its territory.

The Kremlin says it wants international law to be the standard governing international affairs, “and not rules set by individual countries, especially the United States.”

The website of the Council on Foreign Relations points out that the BRICS group was founded in 2009 under the assumption that international institutions had become dominated by Western powers and had ceased to be ‘ serving developing countries.

To break out of this hegemony, the group tried to coordinate the economic and diplomatic policies of its members, establish new financial institutions, and reduce dependence on the US dollar.

Dollar dominance… where?

Countries feel dissatisfied with the dominance of the dollar in international financial affairs, which exposes them to Western sanctions, so they have long sought to abandon the dollar in favor of trading in currencies local or even to create and adopt a “common currency.”

Among the main files on the agenda of the summit is Putin’s proposal to create a special payment system for BRICS that is expected to be competitive with the “SWIFT” system, the global financial network from which Russia will be excluded in 2022.

This system is supposed to “allow economic activity without relying on those who decided to weaponize the dollar and the euro,” according to the Kremlin.

This financial system is expected to be built within a year, with the aim of allowing these countries to conduct cross-border financial transactions using digital platforms managed by their central banks, according to as reported by The Economist magazine.

Some countries, including China, have been trying for a long time to get rid of the dominance of the dollar in international trade transactions, by increasing the levels of international trade between them and using their national currencies. .

There is also a desire to create a new BRICS-level currency, of which Brazilian President Lula da Silva is a major supporter.

The group is also trying to establish an alternative financing system to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which they hope will increase South-South cooperation and reduce dependence on traditional sources of financing.

But observers say those resolutions are long overdue for a number of reasons.

The BRICS currency requires major political concessions and a banking union, according to the Council on Foreign Relations website.

The dollar also remains the world’s main reserve currency for a long time, and is used in more than 80 percent of global trade. Although central banks have diversified their reserve assets, about 58 percent of foreign exchange reserves are denominated in dollars.

Many experts doubt that the BRICS currency will be stable or reliable enough to be widely used in international transactions.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that she is “confident in the strength and status of the dollar, and I do not see another currency as a candidate in the near future to replace the dollar in international financial transactions.” national.

The Economist points out that “the dominance of the United States of the world financial system is a fundamental pillar of the financial system after the Second World War. It reflects its economic and military weight and also the fact that designated assets dollar like US Treasury bonds it will be safe from government seizure and inflation, and it will be easy to buy and sell.”

Oil…and unity

The summit will also try to reinforce “energy independence”.

After the invasion of Ukraine, the Group of Seven nations capped Russian oil prices to limit revenues and thus reduce funds for their war efforts in Ukraine. The European Union also put in place a mechanism to limit the supply and export of licensed goods and technologies to Russia.

Several sources, including the New York Times, said the sanctions have largely failed to achieve their purpose.

Published by the New York Times On October 14, a report said that measures to bring oil revenues to Russia had largely weakened, as most of the oil shipments carried by sea from Russia were able to avoid the restrictions that were supposed to limit the price of Russian crude.

Russia’s success in circumventing the sanctions imposed by the Group of Seven countries allowed it to finance the war, according to the newspaper.

Sanctions on oil and other essentials appear to be pushing the BRICS countries closer together, said Russell Hardie, CEO of energy trader Vitol.

The analyst said, as reported by Reuters: “The other side of the sanctions is that they create stronger ties between the BRICS countries, which in turn is a force against Western policy. “

And he says United States Institute of Peace Countries affected by US sanctions and export controls, such as Russia, China, Iran and Venezuela, want to weaken the strength of the dollar to avoid sanctions and curb US influence.

But despite these efforts towards independence, there is more tension and competition among members of the emerging coalition.

For example, China and India have experienced political tensions as a result of the decades-long border dispute, as well as the growing competition for economic and geo-political leadership. politics in the Global South.

The Economist says that the group is economically diverse to the point of preventing it from adopting a monetary union or free trade area, and he also accept different political systems and conflicting strategic goals, so it will be difficult to have a unified position.

The group has already had difficulties in making decisions, which was evident at the General Assembly meetings in September on the UN Security Council approach, where they were unable to agree to reach