The BRICS countries will meet in South Africa to weaken the dominance of the West

leaders BRICS will meet next week in South Africa to discuss how to turn the loose club of nations, accounting for a quarter of the world's economy, into a geopolitical force capable of challenging the West's dominance on the international stage.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is under an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, will not join the leaders of Brazil, India, China and South Africa over disagreements over whether to expand the bloc to include dozens of "global South" countries that waiting in line to join him.

South Africa will host the president Chin Xi Jinping, Brazilian Luiz Inacio da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the BRICS Summit, which will take place on August 22-24.

Scattered around the world and with economies that operate in very different ways, the main thing that the BRICS have in common is skepticism about a world order they see as serving the interests of the United States and its rich country allies, who promote international norms that they enforce but don't always respect .

Few details have surfaced at this time on what they plan to discuss, but expansion is expected to be high on the agenda as around 40 countries have shown interest in joining, either formally or informally, according to South Africa. These include Saudi Arabia, Argentina and Egypt.

BRICS AND AFRICA

China, seeking to expand its geopolitical influence against the United States, is looking to expand the BRICS quickly, while Brazil resists expansion fearing that the already unwieldy club could weaken its position. The Chinese foreign ministry said it "supports the progress of membership enlargement and welcomes more like-minded partners to join the BRICS family "at the earliest date."

Russia needs friends to counter diplomatic isolation over Ukraine, and is eager to admit new members, as is its most important African ally, South Africa. India is at a crossroads. As a nod to the bloc's African hosts, the theme of its 15th summit is "BRICS and Africa", highlighting how the bloc can build ties with a continent that is increasingly becoming a theater of rivalry between world powers.

South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said in a statement last week that the BRICS countries want to show "global leadership in meeting the needs of ... most of the world, namely ... the development and integration of the Global South into multilateral systems", in a veiled attack on Western dominance.

The BRICS countries willingly present themselves as alternative development partners for the West. China's foreign ministry said the BRICS seeks to "reform global governance systems (to) increase the representation of developing countries and emerging markets." New Development Bank (NDB) – a financial institution founded by the BRICS, wants to de-dollarize funding and offer an alternative to the much-criticized Breton Woods institutions. But it has only approved $33 billion in loans in nearly a decade - about a third of the amount the World Bank pledged to disburse last year - and was recently held back by sanctions on Russia.

South African officials say BRICS currency talks, considered by Brazil earlier this year as an alternative to its dependence on the dollar, are out of the question. With 40% of the global population, the BRICS countries emit large amounts of carbon dioxide and also have about the same share of greenhouse gas emissions. Officials in Brazil, China and South Africa said climate change could occur but indicated it would not be a priority.

The BRICS countries blame wealthy nations for causing most of global warming and want them to take on more of the burden of decarbonizing the world's energy supply. China has been accused of blocking climate discussions at the G20 summit, which it has denied.