New Development Bank: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe new members The BRICS bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa is expanding, and building a new economic architecture to challenge the dominance of the U.S. dollar. One of the most important institutions created by the BRICS is the New Development Bank…
Category: Geopolitics & Multipolarity~
Environment, Biodiversity & Pollution~
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Ukrainian sabotage – toxic ammonia cloud
Casualties reported among the civilian population “A Ukrainian and reconnaissance group” blew up the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline in Kharkov region on Monday night, the Russian Defense Ministry said on June 7. Casualties among the civilian population have been reported. Ammonia is used for a variety of industrial and agricultural purposes….
BRI, BRICS, & Global South~
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Can BRICS prevail over IMF & World Bank?
BRICS and the rise of Global South Who would have expected that the BRICS nations could rise as potential rivals of the G7 countries, World Bank and IMF combined? But what once seemed a distant possibility now has real prospects, which could change the political equilibrium of world politics. BRICS is an…
BRI, BRICS, & Global South~
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Zhou Enlai’s Legacy and the BRI
Zhou Enlai’s Legacy in the Belt & Road Initiative Originally posted 15 January 2022 Introduction Zhou Enlai is still remembered with boundless respect and affection by the Chinese people and progressive people around the world. He was China’s first Premier, serving from the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949 to…
EcoSocialism & Marxism~
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Markets in China’s socialism
Western Marxism’s “purity fetish” and its misunderstanding of markets in China’s socialism Carlos Garrido, the author of this article has argued elsewhere that at the core of Western Marxism’s [1] flawed analysis of socialist states lies a “purity fetish” which is grounded in a Parmenidean fixation of the ‘true’ as…
BRI, BRICS, & Global South~
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Quantifying national excess CO2 emissions
The following extract is from an important study published 1 September 2020 by the highly respected medical journal, The Lancet. The article provides a key to understanding the response to reducing global carbon emissions in terms of environmental justice. It details a method for quantifying national responsibility for damages related…
Energy. Transport & Climate Change~
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Rich nations must pay climate damages
At the UN climate summit in 2021 – COP26 in Glasgow – a group of largely developing nations representing six out of every seven people in the world called for developed countries to commit to pledging funds for loss and damage. However, this call faced opposition from large Western economies particularly the US…
BRI, BRICS, & Global South~
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Brazil top place for China investment
Originally Published2022/09/04 Investment by Chinese companies in Brazil more than tripled in 2021, returning to pre-Covid pandemic levels and making the country the main destination for Chinese capital last year. After a lukewarm performance in 2020, operations such as Tencent’s investments in fintechs and startups such as Nubank, QuintoAndar and…
BRI, BRICS, & Global South~
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Eygpt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar SCO partners
September 14, 2022 Middle East Briefing reports: Egypt and Qatar have been granted Dialogue Partner status of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) following the admission procedure launched in September 2021 at the Dushanbe summit. “On September 14, 2022, in Tashkent, in preparation for the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,…
BRI, BRICS, & Global South~
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Iran plans Tehran to Shanghai railway
September 19, 2022 Middle East Briefing reports: Iran is seeking to launch a direct train route to China within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Director General of Commercialization and Associations Affairs Bureau at the Iran Ministry of Roads and Urban Development Amin Taraffo has stated. Iran…