Iran betrayed by “friends”. Expert: The situation is completely different
“We hope that BRICS will take a position, recognizing reality in our region, where the criminal regime began an illegal armed attack against another country,” the spokesman of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baqaei, thundered on June 16.
Tehran's hopes, however, turned out to be vain. No support has come.
– I get the impression that BRICS is a good example of how our thought patterns do not quite correspond with global reality, because it functions completely differently than we imagine. We treat this organization as an element of cold -war order, in which there are two blocks: West Versus China and Russia, or global noon. Meanwhile, the situation is completely different – says Rafosław Pyffel.
– BRICS is a meeting platform that does not create a coherent structure modeled on those that we know from the West, such as NATO or the European Union. Please remember that more and more non -European countries are getting rich and promoted and they need a place to discuss their affairs. It is not even about colonial resentments and the belief that the dominance of the West should be interrupted, but about the fact that The West loses its importance and you need to effectively manage this process. In the feeling of the countries of the Global South, shaped in the 20th century, global institutions are not able to do it poorly, also because the West has a much greater influence in them than – in their opinion – realistically in the 21st century deserves it – says the expert.
Why was BRICS created?
In 2001, Jim O'Neill, economist of Bank Goldman Sachs, coined the term “BRIC”, indicating four rapidly developing economies – Brazil, Russia, India and China – as future giants of the world economy. Although at first it was only an analytical concept, it quickly gained a political dimension.
In 2006, the foreign ministers of these countries met for the first time during the UN General Assembly. Already three years later, in 2009, the first BRIC summit in Ekaterinburg took place. In 2010, she joined the group South Africatransforming the acronym into BRICS.
BRICS was based on the assumption that international institutions (including the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank) They were excessively dominated by Western powers and ceased to serve developing countries. The block was to strive to coordinate the economic and diplomatic policy of its members, create new financial institutions and reduce dependence on the US dollar.
Currently, BRICS consists of 10 permanent representatives: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Iran and partner states.
BRICS currently represents over half of the world population and over 45 percent global GDP.
Allied impasse
– BRICS is not a uniform group. Their interests are often contradictory. Remember that as part of BRICs there are different visions of its functioning and each country tries to implement its own agenda. For example, China bite the US hegemony. It is said that they want to use a group to leave in international trade settlements from the American dollar, declaring that they do not want to be seen as the leader of this format. But for example India think differently and is a member of this organization mainly to block Beijing. They are afraid that the Middle Kingdom will master and subordinate BRICS. They want to compete with them for leadership on the global south and decided that it is difficult to do it without being in BRICS – says Onet interlocutor.
Russia, despite being considered the most committed Iran strategic partner, was not interested in providing military assistance. In a statement issued by the Kremlin Vladimir Putin expressed his “condemnation for Israel's actions, conducted in violation of the United Nations Card and international law” and submitted “condolences to the Iranian nation because of numerous victims.”
– Russia skillfully uses the BRICS format. When three years ago, after aggression to Ukraine, its interests with Europe were limited, BRICS membership gives her the opportunity to deepen international cooperation and antidote to isolation. Many other countries such as Vietnam are simply attracted by the fact that this is a new organization, and everyone wants to be at a party where there are many others and at which a lot of interesting and important can happen – says the expert of the Sobieski Institute.
An interesting example of the spread between BRICS members was the issue of the Strait of the Ormuz. In response to the US attack, the Iran parliament decided to close the strait, which is the most important land of oil export oil from the Persian Gulf. However, the final decision on the closure of the strait belongs to the Iranian leader of the theocracy, Ayatollah Ali Chamenei, who has not yet spoken in this matter.
– Russia would be on hand, because the price for oil would increase. On the other side there are China, which could lose gigantic resources, because 45 percent Oil imported by China flows through this strait – says Radosław Pyffel.
I am asking my interlocutor, which form of cooperation is more effective: the European Union model or the BRICS model. – It is difficult to determine now, especially because they are different organizations, integrated in different ways, operating in different ways. We have EUwhich is a trade federation, NATOwhich is a military alliance, BRICSwhich is a group of countries of the Global South, dissatisfied with – in their opinion – the exit of the West in global institutions, but also Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN). This group of 10 countries (Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Mjanma and Cambodia) in the face of geopolitical and political unrest is to integrate more – says Radosław Pyffel.
– I would recall the analysis of Indian political scientists who indicate that we have entropy, i.e. scattered points that do not combine into a whole, i.e. the lack of one way, one universal method that will work everywhere. This is a great intellectual challenge in Poland, because we were convinced, and some are probably still that the story ended after Poland's accession to the European Union – says the expert.
Limited BRICS ACTIONS
Onet's interlocutor emphasizes that “the last events in Iran have shown that at a time of a massive, rapid attack using the latest technologies and intelligence, BRICS is limited to diplomatic speeches and does not work, or at least does not act as a compact block.” – This organization is a commercial and business undertaking, but it is not a defensive alliance – says.
– If it were a chronic conflict, such as it is in Ukraine, then Bracs could be a useful tool to some extent, giving, for example, the possibility of diversification of supply markets – concludes Radosław Pyffel.
