The expansion of BRICS is the future and the future can’t come soon enough

Never has it been more evident that the West is in steep decline and a that new world is taking shape around a growing alliance of non-Western states, which together point the way to a future that offers hope of peace and stability where hitherto conflict and instability has reigned.

This year’s BRICS summit was the 14th held since the grouping was established in 2009. Held in June in China and chaired by President Xi Jinping, it will in years to come be considered a major landmark in the shaping of this new world. How could it be otherwise considering the public commitment made at BRICS XIV by the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to the principles of multilateralism, mutuality, co-operation, solidarity, equality, openness and consensus?

These very words constitute a welcome antidote to the machinations of a Western ideological bloc that has and continues to operate on the basis of domination, intimidation, aggression, unfettered competititon, and national particularism and exceptionalism.

At a time when respect for international law and the UN Charter has never been more tenuous, it is also heartening to see a public commitment by BRICS to same, and overall to ‘the central role of the United Nations in an international system in which…