USA
Source: www.post-gazette.comlink

The United Nations was created in the wake of World War II to foster international peace and cooperation among nations, but has devolved into a tangled web of malfeasance, misfeasance and bureaucratic sloth.

Over 30 years ago, President George H.W. Bush asked one of Pittsburgh’s great lawyers and leaders, the late Dick Thornburgh, to accept an appointment as the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management. A former Pennsylvania Governor and United States Attorney General, his commission was to tackle the U.N.’s nightmarish waste, fraud and abuse.

He issued a widely acclaimed report that revealed the severity of the problems at the U.N. and proposed a number of reforms. As he departed the U.N., he was reportedly frustrated by the institution’s resistance to any reform.

Indolent and ineffective

In his recent address at the U.N., President Donald Trump bluntly described the institution’s failures, including its mismanagement and especially its failure to discharge the core duty of resolving and preventing international conflicts.

With multiple peace deals under his belt, Trump obviously invited a comparison of his own approach to that of the U.N., a comparison later validated by his breakthrough in the Middle East.

He also criticized the U.N. for enabling illegal migration into western nations, which undermines the national sovereignty and cultural identity of those nations. And he charged the U.N. with falsely promoting the risks associated with climate change.

Many Americans believe that the United Nations is a corrupt, indolent and ineffective institution which, if anything, has regressed from the dismal situation uncovered by Dick Thornburgh. They maintain that the United States should save its money and withdraw from the U.N.

The failings of the U.N. are many and profound, but it would be a mistake for the United States to withdraw. As matters now stand, much of the world’s tidal wave of resentment toward the advanced western nations is channeled into the U.N.

There, representatives from around the world rail against the immorality of developed nations while back home many subjugate women, deny civil and political rights, suppress religious freedom, and tolerate and even promote antisemitism.

But these individuals don’t control the U.N. The Security Council has exclusive power to authorize military actions, impose sanctions, launch peacekeeping missions, and enact binding resolutions.
Each of the five permanent members of the U.N.’s Security Council — the U.S., U.K., China, Russia and France — is empowered to veto any of its actions. Anti-western rants may result in toothless resolutions, but more aggressive interventions can be vetoed by the United States as a permanent member of the Security Council.

An anti-U.S. cohort

In the absence of the U.S., we would likely see a China-dominated faction lead the institution without the moderating influence of a U.S. veto.

We would have to depend on surviving Security Council members, France and the U.K., to protect our interests. Both, however, are often under socialist rule and are increasingly vulnerable to their large Muslim, anti-U.S. populations. They are unreliable partners.

We can already see the China-led, anti-U.S. cohort forming. BRICS is an acronym for the five founding countries of a loose federation ostensibly meant to amplify the voice of developing nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Since then additional countries have been added to the group: Ethiopia, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

BRICS purports to be focused on economic development, cultural cooperation and sustainable infrastructure initiatives. These benign explanations for the existence and policies of BRICS are belied by the behavior of the member countries.

China has defined itself as America’s principal enemy with its military deployments, theft of intellectual property, participation in the lethal fentanyl trade, lies about Covid, and various other hostile acts. It threatens Taiwan, enslaves its own Uyghur population and through oil purchases finances Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Nor are the intentions of Russia any mystery. Its invasion of Ukraine is reminiscent of brutal European wars of times past. Its recent incursions into the air space of NATO countries have caused those countries to consider aggressive counter measures, including invocation of mutual self-defense under Article 5 of the NATO treaty. Its leader, Vladimir Putin, is a KGB-trained menace.

India, which maintains positive relations with the United States, has also been funding Russia’s war with Ukraine through oil purchases. President Modi recently met with Communist Party Chairman Xi at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.

Brazil’s President Lula is hostile to the U.S. and has met with Chairman Xi multiple times in the last few years. South Africa’s government is openly racist and commonly thought of as hopelessly corrupt, incompetent and anti-U.S.

Let’s not forget Iran, which has recently joined the group. It promises “death to America” and is the world’s leading sponsor of terror, or at least it was before Israel and the U.S. defanged it.

Undermining the world order

BRICS’ malign purpose is to undermine the primacy of the U.S.-led world order, which promotes capitalism and freedom, and to replace the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. If BRICS or its member states were to control the levers of power at the U.N., the world order would be shaken and could be replaced by violent chaos.

President Trump opposes BRICS. Some in the global commentariat maintain that it’s an example of Trump’s jingoism. But Trump here has his eye on the ball. The settled world order is at stake.
It’s important that we keep BRICS on the sidelines by not ceding control of the United Nations to it or to its member states.

Peter Kalis was, before his retirement, chairman and global managing partner of K&L Gates, and is now an independent commentator. He writes every other Monday. His previous article was “Bari Weiss should be the newest face on Pittsburgh's Mount Rushmore.”

Russia
Source: mid.ru

International Municipal BRICS Forum

On October 29 this year, the International Municipal BRICS Forum commenced in St Petersburg, bringing together approximately 5,000 guests from member states and partner countries of the group. Deputy Foreign Minister and Russia’s BRICS Sherpa Sergey Ryabkov participated in the opening ceremony and plenary session.

In recent years, conditions have developed for increasingly active collaboration with foreign states at the interregional and intermunicipal levels. Joint initiatives by our regions contribute to preserving historically established ties and forging new ones, thereby enriching the interstate relations agenda with substantive content. We regard international cooperation at the local level as a valuable instrument for advancing our country’s foreign policy interests.

This is precisely why the International Municipal BRICS Forum constitutes a key platform for exchanging experience and best practices in local self-government among participating nations – a venue where municipal representatives can share successful developments and devise joint solutions to common challenges in sustainable urban development, digitalisation of municipal services, and enhancement of citizens’ quality of life.

Traditionally, the event is held in St Petersburg, a leader in the number of external partnerships, with over 100 cooperation agreements with municipal entities of foreign states, including BRICS countries. This number continues to grow steadily, with new agreements being signed with nations friendly or constructively disposed towards Russia, alongside the development of corresponding roadmaps for their implementation.

On the sidelines of the Forum, the second module of the International School of Municipal Leadership will take place, organised with the support of the Presidential Executive Office and MGIMO University. Discussions will focus on pressing issues of developing and coordinating interregional and intermunicipal ties, as well as project-based cooperation in attracting investments and strengthening contacts with regions of friendly nations. The first module was successfully held in September this year with the active participation of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

We firmly believe that the latest International Municipal BRICS Forum will yield joint initiatives and projects aimed at further developing ties between the regions of the group’s members.

Russia
Source: mid.ru

On 3-4 December 2025 under the auspices of the MFA of Russia Moscow is hosting the 2025 BRICS+ Counter-Terrorism Conference: National and Regional Counter-Terrorism Strategies Amid Emerging Security Challenges and Threats.

The conference will bring together representatives of BRICS+ relevant authorities, civil society and academia engaged in extensive studies on counter-terrorism and anti-extremism. Experts from UN, CIS, SCO, and CSTO are also joining the discussions.

The discussion, inter alia, is centered around countering the financing of terrorism, the use of modem information and communication technologies for illegal purposes, combating extremism and attempts to radicalize population. The delegates will separately focus on various theoretical and methodological aspects of the eradication of terrorism, exchange assessments of threats to security at the national, regional and global levels in the context of current geopolitical realities, and share their accumulated experience and effective counter-terrorism practices.

The conference is designed to complement the joint efforts of the association Member countries undertaken within the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Working Group (CTWG) and to further strengthen relevant cooperation on the solid basis of the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Strategy (2020), the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Action Plan (2021), and the CTWG Position Paper (2024).

India
Source: countercurrents.org

The BRICS consortium—once dismissed as a loose association of emerging economies—has begun to evolve into one of the most consequential forces of the 21st century. With the Cross-Border Interbank Payments System (CIPS) now spread across 185 countries, allowing global trade in Chinese yuan without touching the U.S. dollar, the signs are unmistakable: the monopoly of Western-led finance is beginning to crack (New Development Bank data, 2025).

For years, the dollar served as both the lubricant and leash of global power. It gave the United States the capacity to sanction, to punish, and to dictate terms to the Global South under the guise of stability. Today, that monopoly is eroding. The **BRICS alliance—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and now joined by others including Egypt, Iran, and the UAE—**is reshaping not only the architecture of trade but also the moral geography of global power (Reuters, Oct 2024).

A shift away from the dollar

CIPS, created by China in 2015, is rapidly becoming the nervous system of an emerging non-Western economy. It allows countries to settle trade in local currencies, bypassing the dollar and, by extension, U.S. surveillance and sanctions. The system now links financial institutions across 185 countries—an astonishing expansion that signals a new confidence in the yuan and in the idea of a multi-currency world (Carnegie Endowment, 2025).

This “de-dollarisation” movement is not an act of rebellion; it is self-defence. After decades of dollar dominance, developing countries have learned that the global financial order can be weaponised at will—whether through sanctions, exclusion from SWIFT, or the manipulation of credit ratings. BRICS offers an escape hatch from that coercion (The Guardian, Aug 2023).

The New Development Bank (NDB), headquartered in Shanghai, has further institutionalised this autonomy. By financing infrastructure and development projects without the political strings typical of Western lenders, it gives nations the freedom to borrow and build without being lectured on governance or ideology (NDB Annual Report, 2024).

A multipolar future

BRICS is not just a trading bloc. Rather, it represents a renewed worldview. Its guiding principle is multipolarity: the belief that no single nation should dominate the world’s political and economic life. In this respect, BRICS challenges not only the West’s power but its very idea of what “order” means.

The bloc’s expansion into West Asia and Africa symbolises a profound geopolitical shift. The admission of oil powers like Saudi Arabia and Iran indicates that even the traditional pillars of U.S. influence are recalibrating their loyalties (The National, 2023). Africa, long treated as a pawn in the global chessboard, now finds in BRICS a forum that listens rather than dictates.

For the West, this is unsettling. It means the G7 is no longer the only table that matters. For the Global South, it is liberating—a chance to redefine what development, democracy, and sovereignty might mean on our own terms.

Scenarios for the decade ahead

1. The Best-Case Scenario: The Rise of Equitable Multipolarity

In the most optimistic vision, BRICS succeeds in institutionalising financial cooperation through an expanded CIPS, a BRICS currency for settlements, and a strengthened NDB. Global trade becomes less dollar-dependent, reducing vulnerability to Western sanctions. Regional powers—India, Brazil, South Africa—gain voice in shaping global climate and development policy (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2024).

2. The Middle Path: Parallel Systems, Uneasy Coexistence

In a more probable outcome, BRICS evolves into a robust but fragmented alternative. It builds an impressive financial ecosystem, but internal rivalries—China’s dominance, India’s cautious approach, Russia’s isolation—limit coherence. The global economy becomes bifurcated: one network led by the U.S. and Europe, another by BRICS.

3. The Worst-Case Scenario: Fragmentation and Financial Warfare

The dark possibility is that de-dollarisation turns into confrontation. Western powers retaliate through secondary sanctions, protectionist trade laws, and military posturing. CIPS and SWIFT become symbols of two rival camps, echoing a digital-age Cold War (Financial Times, 2024).

If that happens, countries like India could find themselves trapped between systems, forced to choose sides. Smaller economies could suffer from volatility and reduced access to global finance. The global commons—climate, peace, and poverty reduction—would suffer as great powers lock horns over financial supremacy.

The India factor

India stands at the crossroads of these futures. Its economy is large enough to be indispensable, yet still vulnerable to external shocks. As part of BRICS, India gains access to alternative finance and markets across Africa, Latin America, and Eurasia. But it must tread carefully.

China’s leadership within BRICS remains a double-edged sword. While Beijing’s economic heft fuels the bloc’s rise, it also risks turning the coalition into a Chinese sphere of influence. India’s task is to ensure BRICS remains a truly multilateral platform—one that amplifies rather than subordinates the voices of the Global South.

New Delhi’s diplomatic tightrope will be to deepen cooperation within BRICS without alienating its partners in the West. That balance is not impossible. In fact, it may define the future of India’s global stature—its ability to bridge worlds rather than be trapped between them.

A new moral geography

Beyond economics and diplomacy, BRICS represents a moral reordering. It challenges the assumption that development must follow the Western path or that democracy has a single model. It calls out the hypocrisy of nations that preach equality while perpetuating economic hierarchies.

But power can corrupt any side. The moral legitimacy of BRICS will depend on whether it upholds fairness, transparency, and justice within its own ranks. If it merely reproduces old patterns under new flags, it will be a disappointment.

The hard truth

The world is undergoing a quiet revolution. Power is dispersing. The monopoly of the West—built on centuries of financial control—is being contested by a new coalition that seeks dignity, not dominance. Whether this becomes a more just order or merely another empire in disguise will depend on how nations use this moment.

BRICS is no magic solution. It is, at best, a new architecture under construction—one that might finally give the Global South a say in the design of its own future.

For now, what we are witnessing is not just economic diversification. It is the return of history itself—the struggle of nations to reclaim agency from the few who long monopolised it.

Iran
Source: wanaen.com

WANA (Oct 29) – Iran emphasized the link between literature and cultural diplomacy at the BRICS Literary Award 2025 event in Jakarta, presenting an innovative proposal to dedicate the award each year to the national poets of member countries.

The proposal was introduced by Hamid Nazar-Khah Aliserai, Iranian poet, writer, and national coordinator of the BRICS Literary Network in Iran, during the announcement of the award’s final shortlist. He said the BRICS Literary Award is the first international prize focused on cultural, human, and indigenous values, independent of politics.

He suggested naming each year’s award after a national poet of a member country — such as Hafez, Saadi, or Rumi for Iran — and highlighted the importance of translating selected works into the official languages of BRICS members to enhance cultural dialogue.

At the same event, Mansour Alimoradi, an Iranian novelist, was named among the 10 finalists from BRICS nations, alongside writers from Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, the UAE, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Egypt.

Mansour Alimoradi, an Iranian novelist. Social media/ WANA News Agency
Vadim Triukhin, co-chair of the BRICS Literary Network, said the award fosters mutual understanding and cultural empathy among contemporary authors.

Iran’s participation and proposal demonstrate its growing literary influence and efforts to strengthen cultural diplomacy through literature.

The BRICS Literary Award, founded in Moscow in November 2024, celebrates authors whose works reflect the cultural and spiritual values of member nations. The final winner will be announced on November 27, 2025, in Khabarovsk, Russia.

Iran, an active participant since the award’s inception, has previously nominated renowned writers Reza Amirkhani, Majid Ghaisari, and Mansour Alimoradi, underscoring the international reach of contemporary Iranian literature.

China
Source: www.globaltimes.cn

Cultural exchange traditional pillar of interstate collaboration within BRICS: Russian minister-counselor

The Embassy of the Russian Federation in China and the Russian National Ballet "Kostroma" jointly staged Russia's international cultural and educational project "Global Dance Overture" at Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in Beijing on October 30. The program reveals the history of Russia and the life of its people. In an exclusive interview with the Global Times, Natalia Stepkina, minister-counselor of the Russian Embassy in China and permanent representative to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Secretariat shared her insights on the BRICS international cultural and educational cooperation projects, youth exchange, mutual learning, and her prospect for future collaboration among BRICS countries.

During the Year of Russia-China Culture, Beijing, with its rich cultural heritage and unique role in world art, will be a key participant in the Russian National Ballet "Kostroma" international cultural and educational project in the BRICS countries - "Global Dance Overture."

The project aims to unite people from the BRICS countries based on shared cultural and humanitarian values. The decision to implement it was made at the highest government level and announced at the BRICS Heads of State Summit in October 2024.

Minister-Counselor Stepkina told the Global Times that cultural cooperation is a traditional pillar of interstate collaboration within BRICS.

"One of the achievements of Russia's chairmanship is the establishment of the BRICS Alliance of Folk Dance Culture in September 2024 during the ninth meeting of BRICS culture ministers, held as part of the St. Petersburg International Forum of United Cultures. This alliance brings together leading performing arts companies and educational organizations specializing in national dance," said Minister-Counselor Stepkina.

Folk art vividly demonstrates each country's culture, conveying its historical context and unique characteristics. Respect for traditions and cultural diversity is essentially the core idea of the Alliance.

The project includes cultural and educational components. It aims to introduce international audiences to the uniqueness and diversity of Russian folk dance culture, as well as implement a large-scale educational program which will contribute to the formation of a choreographic community - the Alliance of Folk Dance Culture of the BRICS countries, the protocol on the formation of which was signed by the ministers of the BRICS countries on the sidelines of the Cultural Forum in St. Petersburg 

It is worth noting that the Beijing Dance Academy was the first to join the Alliance of Folk Dance Culture, in response, the academy invited the choreographic college "Gubernskaya Ballet School" at the "Russian National Ballet "Kostroma" to join the World Dance Education Alliance, which it founded.

Naturally, the spectrum of our strategic partnership would be incomplete without culture, said Minister-Counselor Stepkina.

"During our chairmanship, two film festivals were held: The International Festival of Cinematic Debuts "Spirit of Fire" in Khanty-Mansiysk and the traditional BRICS Film Festival in Moscow. Additionally, there was a highly authentic music festival, the "Gathering of Dixielands and Ethno-Jazz Ensembles from BRICS countries in Russia," the BRICS Theatre Schools Festival, the Creative Business Forum, the National Brands Fair, the traditional Culture Festival, and the vibrant and unique BRICS+ Fashion Summit, which saw participation of representatives from approximately 100 countries," she said. 

"We support the activities of BRICS alliances of cultural institutions, such as the BRICS Alliance of Libraries, the BRICS Alliance of Museums, the BRICS Alliance of Art Museums and Galleries, and the BRICS Alliance of Theatres for Young Audiences. We also proposed to establish a BRICS Alliance of Film Schools," she added. 

The Russian chairmanship also featured an extensive agenda for sports cooperation. In 2024, the BRICS Sports Games were held in Kazan. These Games were conducted in an open format for the first time and attracted over 5,000 athletes from more than 80 countries. An agreement was signed to establish the BRICS Marathon League, designed to unite the major marathons of the member states, Minister-Counselor Stepkina introduced. 

In 2025, the "Global Dance Overture" project takes place in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and China. In 2026, its tour will reach Brazil, India, Ethiopia, and South Africa.