Does Russia really have Africa’s best interests at heart?

One wonders how strong the bonds are in the Brics alliance – and whether Vladimir Putin really has the interests of Africa at heart – after Russia’s leader unilaterally cancelled the agreement which allowed free passage via the Black Sea for Ukrainian grain exports.

The biggest victims of that decision will be African countries, which depend on Ukraine for much of their food supply.

Yet, despite that, South Africa is positive about the future of the bloc, and so are other African countries which want to join it.

It doesn’t seem to matter to these wannabe Brics members that they are subject to the capricious whims of the superpowers Russia and China.

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Where’s the trust?

Moscow and Beijing don’t even whole-heartedly trust each other, never mind regarding the rest of the developing world as equals – but they are on a recruitment drive to achieve their shared aim of reducing the dominance of the West in global affairs.

The Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit to be held here next month will be a make-or-break for any anti-Western new world order … and once the fuss about Putin deciding not to appear in person has died down, there needs to be some serious assessment about what that summit wants to achieve.

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Foremost among the objectives of Russia and China – and to a lesser extent India and Brazil – is to come up with a workable global payments system which will reduce dependence on the US dollar, which is currently the world’s mega-currency.

Some tentative steps have already been taken in that direction, with China in talks with Saudi Arabia to pay for oil in yuan, not dollars.

Whether an alternative to the pervasive “petrodollar” will be workable remains to be seen – but it will give Washington pause for thought. All in all, Brics is a global player growing in strength.

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