Against the backdrop of war in eastern Europe and the Middle East, the BRICS summit 2024 has convened a gathering of world leaders from the leading economies of the world for a special summit in Kazan, Russia.

China

China’s appearance at the BRICS 2024 Summit comes after the country reached three important milestones. The first is the country’s 60 anniversary of its first successful test of a nuclear bomb. The second is its completion of the first shipment of more than 76 TEUs in 11,000 mile journey from Germany to China by rail. A Chinese news agency published the following report:

【2024年首趟“中歐班列-進博號”抵滬】10月20日，2024年首趟“中歐班列—進博號”順利抵達上海。此趟班列承運的貨物主要為化妝品和機械設備。班列從德國杜伊斯堡發車，途經波蘭、白俄羅斯、俄羅斯、哈薩克斯坦等國，經阿拉山口鐵路口岸入境，全程運行11000多公里，用時21天，承運貨物76個標箱(TEU)，貨值近1億元(人民幣)。

The third important milestone is its first declaration to prepare for war. In a post the Arabic channel AlArabyTV published on X, the news agency stated the following:

“.على الجيش تعزيز التدريب والاستعداد للحرب بشكل شامل وضمان قدرات القوات القتالية عالية قوية”

These three milestones mark an important phase in China’s development on the world scene before its appearance at the BRICS 2024 Summit as one of its founding members.

Chinese President Xi Jinping stated at the BRICS 2024 Summit that BRICS must promote a new financial system. “There is an urgent need to reform the international financial architecture, and BRICS must play a leading role in promoting a new system that better reflects the profound changes in the international economic balance of power.”

Iran

By the end of the second day of the four day summit, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, announced that Iran has become a fully fledged member of BRICS. Masoud Pezeshkian, who currently serves as the president of Iran after his election in the 2024 Iranian presidential election, attended the the BRICS summit 2024 in Kazan, Russia.

On the last day of the summit, news agencies began to announce that Iran received a license from Russia to produce Su-35 and Su-30 fighter jets domestically. Production is already well underway. In less than two years Iran will be able to produce its first Su-35 or Su-30 fighter jets. Within 2-4 years, Iran will be able to supply these parts, provide maintenance or sell these jets to Syria. Should the Iranians together with the Russians in Syria manage to build a large fleet of Su-35 or Su-30 fighter jets, this fleet may pose a challenge to the air superiority Israel is able to assert with American : F-35s, American bunker busting MK84 bombs or American KC-46A refueling planes. Without air superiority in the Middle East, Israel’s ability to fly anywhere, anytime, for any mission will no longer be the reality in the Middle East.

Russia’s announcement about Iran’s license to produce fighter jets comes almost immediately after Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Minister of Defense, announced how “everyone will understand our power after we attack Iran.” Gallant’s statement, which appeared after a calculated intelligence leak exposed Israeli plans for an attack on Iran, signifies Israel’s willingness to expand its multitude of fronts from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria or Yemen to Iran, despite a declaration by the Arabic states on the Arabian Peninsula and in its neighboring Persian Gulf declaring neutrality to Iran in its conflict with Israel.

The wars in the Middle East are already starting to have a ripple effect on the global economy, causing the price of oil to rise. Sky News Arabic, for instance, published an article detailing how the price of oil hit a weekly high against concerns over stability in the region over.

Currency

One of the highlights of the BRICS Summit 2024 is Russia’s decision to release the first BRICS banknote. Based on a gold standard on top of a basket of BRICS currencies, the BRICS banknote is designed to supplant the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, the currency for settling payments for major commodities contracts, or serve as the financial instrument for a non-SWIFT financial payment system. The banknote is intended to replace the dollar in global trade.

These discussions about a BRICS banknote among the leaders of the world’s leading economies take place against the backdrop of a protracted dispute over Russia’s frozen assets in dollars. The President of the United States recently announced the transfer of $20 billion from the proceeds of Russia’s frozen assets to Kyiv for it to continue fighting against Russia’s full-scale invasion.

G7 response

Europe’s response to BRICS Summit 2024 is borderline senility. In a headline the Telegraph posted, a leading columnist declared “Russia on the verge of collapse.” The column flies in the face of the International Monetary Fund’s own assessment. According to the IMF, Russia’s economy is expected to grow faster than all advanced economies this year. Russia is expected to grow 3.2% in 2024, the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook published on April 16th, 2024; it is expected to exceed the forecasted growth rates for the world’s advanced economies, including the U.S., which sought to economically isolate and punish Russia for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

While the economies in the BRICS alliance display the indicators of high growth in comparison to those in the G7, those in the G7 are experiencing budget shortfalls, extremely low or no growth at all, or are riling from uncontrollabe debt. Germany’s five-year tax haul is expected to fall nearly 60 billion Euros short of economist’s forecasts. The Financial Times reported that Germany expects tax revenues to be 58.2 billion Euros lower in the five years to 2028 than it previously forecast, expanding the country’s debt for next year’s budget. After the tenth consecutive increasing year, Germany’s national debt is estimated to reach no less than 3.2 trillion U.S. dollars in 2029. In 2023 Germany’s GDP growth retracted by less than a percentage at a negative 0.30%, a decline from 1.40% in 2022. In the second quarter of 2024, Germany’s GDP fell by 0.1% compared to the first quarter, confirming a contraction in the economy. By all accounts, Germany, one of the G7’s leading economies, is in a recession. Germany, the center of European capitalism, reflects the crisis many G7 countries face.

Germany’s national debt is relatively small compared to the United States. The United States, whose costs for loan services amount no less than $2 billion a day, have witnessed an unprecedented rise in the Federal debt over the past few years. The Federal debt, for instance, has reached $37 trillion. It is estimated that every 100 days the United States accumulates an additional $1 trillion dollars in debt.

While there are no plans to pay down the debt, there is no discussion about whether or not the debt is can be paid down. The Financial Times, for instance, published an article, noting how neither candidate for the Presidential Election in the U.S. has said a word about the Federal debt. The headline ran as: “Harris and Trump equally silent on expanding US debt.