BRICS and Playing Field

In the last century the order of power was arrayed between West and East, between the United States and its allies the Soviet Union and its allies. When the Soviet Union shattered and especially when the Berlin Wall fell, the phrase often heard was, the United States was the lone superpower.


Today the United States is struggling in many ways, and other nations are exerting political,

economic and industrial leverage. The emerging players are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, collectively, the BRICS. The BRICS and the United States and its European friends are causing a "a new geopolitical balance" to form, wrote CSM Staff Writer, Robert Marquand.


Marquand's assessment puts in context the players in this balance. He indicated that the Western appraisal of the BRICS is more nationalistic and "less interested in shared ideas of a multilateral world." To illustrate he offers a clash: the U.N. resolution on Syria earlier in the month.


Read Marquand's article, which also includes a 3-minute video on the future of the Arab Spring.


With Qaddafi's killing today and how it may further destabilize Libya and its future, Marquand offers regular citizens a chance to have more informed understanding of events' rapid pace.
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Wiki-image of map of the BRICS is in the public domain.