At a recent BRICS gathering in Kazan Vladimir Putin tried to show-off his groups power but got mixed feedback. Jim OʼNeill (who made-up BRICS name about 20 years ago) thinks its all just empty talk; stating that the group hasnt changed anything in world finance
The G-20 looks like a better choice for global changes - it has most of worlds money trade and people in it. This group could fix things but needs to deal with east-west fights first: some countries dont like how US acts different about Gaza vs Ukraine
BRICS+ is getting bigger with new friends joining this year:
- Argentina
- Egypt
- Ethiopia
- Iran
- UAE
More than 40 other countries want to join too - they see it as a way to get away from US power. China does lots of business with these nations (more than with rich western countries) which makes BRICS+ look good
But theres problems: Xi Jinpingʼs country is bigger than all other BRICS+ together; its hard to work when group gets too big; India Brazil and South Africa want to be friends with everyone - not just China. The groups bank cant even help its own members cause of Putinʼs Ukraine problem
G-20 did good things before - it helped fix the big money crash 15 years ago and helped poor countries during covid. Now it needs to do more: fix old banks rules help with climate stuff and make trade better. Brazil South Africa and US will lead G-20 meetings next; but US might be too busy with wars and China fights to care
The future isnt clear yet - BRICS+ dreams of new payment systems got boring looks at Kazan but if G-20 dont fix things soon more countries might start listening to those ideas