This year's Brics summit is being hosted by Vladimir Putin in the Russian city of Kazan. The informal alliance of states which now has nine members sees itself as an association of emerging markets, although opinions differ both internally and in the European press on the extent to which it can compete with the "global West".
A big stage for Putin
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Kazan gives Putin the perfect opportunity to enhance his image, writes Corriere della Sera (Italy):
“For the dictator from Moscow this will be a stage from which he can not only refute the Western narrative about his being isolated but also claim a leading role in an organisation that is striving to influence the new world order marked by increasing fragmentation. ... When the Brics came together in 2006, there was great scepticism as to whether they would be able to survive and influence the international balance given the heterogeneity of their members. Yet they have become an obligatory point of reference for the so-called Global South - the galaxy of countries that feel excluded from the traditional formats of global governance.”
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The BRICS group suffers from conflicting interests and a lacking coordination, Le Temps (Switzerland) observes:
“On the face of it, this grouping appears to have the means to tip the organs of multilateralism in its favour. In reality, however, it is a heterogeneous farrago of countries that are primarily concerned with defending their own interests and are often in conflict with one another, while at the same time expressing their desire for more influence in shaping world events. ... The Brics countries see themselves as the counterpart to the G7, the club of the world's most powerful industrialised countries. But they are still far from having the coherence and determination of the G7.”
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The West should listen carefully
The summit is also relevant for the rest of the world, columnist Pierre Haski stresses on the website of radio station France Inter (France):
“What unites the Brics countries is their rejection of a world order that still gives too much pride of place to the West. But not all members of the club necessarily want to replace it with a Chinese order or have Putin as their protector or guardian of morality. However, the impossibility of reforming the world order and the strong perception that the West has double standards in the Middle East conflict are opening doors to the proponents of Brics, starting with China and its takeover bid for the 'Global South'. For these reasons, Westerners should not ignore the message from Kazan. Otherwise they risk waking up to a world that has escaped them.”
Oil and water?
Turkey has become the first Nato country to apply for membership of Brics, a request which is expected to be approved at the organisation's summit in Kazan. In Yetkin Report, former diplomat Özden Sanberk (Turkey) wonders how the two can fit together:
“On the one hand we see Western alliances such as the EU, Nato and the Council of Europe, which focus on democracy and the individual, and on the other we see the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and Brics, whose members are countries that focus on power and domination. So it remains a mystery for now how states belonging to these two groups of irreconcilable systems will be able to realise their demands for membership of each other's regional or global associations.”
The article is reprinted from www.eurotopics.net.
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