Editor,
A tale of two cities. That’s what came to mind when watching the BRICS summit and then the NATO counterpart. The BRICS nations got together to discuss mutual infrastructure projects, the lowering of trade barriers, as well as general negotiations on mutual aid, funding mechanisms for sustainable industries, climate change remediation and rollback of its worst manifestations.
The NATO summit discussed increasing funding for armaments to basically destroy the same sorts of infrastructure that would most probably be built in line with the BRICS segment. Quite opposite endeavors I’d say. I ask you, which appears to be the forward looking and more positive effort from the perspective of a humanity that hopes to continue habitation on this small planet?
Does one group represent the rising Euro-Asian/global South majorities, while the other the receding and yet clutching to past glories part of the world that hates the direction things are heading?
Mike Caggiano
San Mateo
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(4) comments
Hey good buddy. Apples and oranges. I agree somewhat. Still the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has gone far afield from the North Atlantic lately in search of dragons to slay. The BRICS group contains the bulk of humanity, so of course not all are liberal regimes, but they do have aligned interests. Like not being dominated by old colonial powers which are having great difficulty adjusting to their diminishing status. They also have economic groupings such as the Belt and Road initiatives and Shanghai co-operation agreements to help each other. Their mutual defense comes from their mutual good relations and respecting on another, not pushing military forces right up against one another's borders. I biggest issues is humanities inability to concentrate on the climate crisis and non-renewable fuel use. I'll put my money on them.
Thanks for the response, Mr. Caggiano, and the added commentary. Regarding concentrating on the climate crisis and non-renewable fuel use, it appears the BRICS group is doing more to harm the climate than others, so do they really believe there’s a climate crisis? Or do they say they “believe” only to take money from nations foolish enough to give money because they think there is a climate crisis? Last I checked Russia, China, and India are three of the top four countries accounting for global fossil fuel use. If you add up their usage of oil, natural gas, and coal, they would exceed that of the good old US of A, considerably, perhaps by a factor of three. It’s likely that each BRIC nation, even Russia will continue to burn more and more fossil fuels. You can put your money on them and they'll happily take it. As their goal appears to be adding to the climate crisis. On the bright side, that's a way they can dominate over Western powers.
Don't worry Terence. The good old USA is still leading on the per-capita footprint as confirmed by the CEOs of Exxon, Chevron and the others. It's definitely in the top three with Australia and Canada.
Only worse than the US might be several of the other oil-producing countries like UAE or Qatar. If you remember, Qatar is the country that Netanyahu used to funnel money towards Hamas and which proposed a quid-pro-quo airplane deal with the white house.
Nothing to see here, everything completely normal of course.
Thanks for your letter, Mr. Caggiano, but is it fair to compare BRICS to NATO? They hope to achieve different outcomes. “NATO’s essential and enduring purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of all its members. It does this through political and military means, ensuring the collective defence of all Allies, against all threats, from all directions.” As such, I would expect NATO to discuss funding for armaments (for defense and as a peace through strength move). BRICS was created to foster economic cooperation among their member countries and challenge the dominance of Western powers. It is interesting that you claim that one of BRICS’ goals is climate change remediation yet BRICS consists of countries which contribute the most to man-made climate change. I’m not seeing much remediation. Apples to oranges. That being said, in regards to who is forward looking, I’d say NATO because in the event of a true global war, at least NATO would have the means to fight for freedom and security whereas BRICS couldn’t. Actually, do BRICS nations allow freedom in their member countries?
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