The BRICS summit in Kazan brought together 35 countries, representing more than half the world’s population, that rejected US bullying and that are not cowed by US claims of hegemony. — AP
THE recent BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, should mark the end of the neoconservative delusions encapsulated in the subtitle of Zbigniew Brzezinski’s 1997 book, The Global Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives. Since the 1990s, the goal of American foreign policy has been “primacy”, aka global hegemony.
America’s methods of choice have been wars, regime change operations, and unilateral coercive measures (economic sanctions). Kazan brought together 35 countries with more than half the world’s population that rejected US bullying and that are not cowed by United States' claims of hegemony.
In the Kazan Declaration, the countries underscored “the emergence of new centres of power, policy decision-making, and economic growth, which can pave the way for a more equitable, just, democratic, and balanced multipolar world order”.
They emphasised “the need to adapt the current architecture of international relations to better reflect contemporary realities”, while declaring their “commitment to multilateralism and upholding international law, including the Purposes and Principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations as its indispensable cornerstone”.
They took particular aim at the sanctions imposed by the US and its allies, holding that “Such measures undermine the UN Charter, the multilateral trading system, and the sustainable development and environmental agreements”.
The neocon quest for global hegemony has deep historical roots in America’s belief in its exceptionalism. In 1630, John Winthrop invoked the Gospels in describing the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a “City on the Hill”, declaring grandiosely that “The eyes of all people are upon us”. In the 19th century, America was guided by Manifest Destiny, to conquer North America by displacing or exterminating the native peoples.
In the course of World War II, Americans embraced the idea of the “American Century”, that after the war they would lead the world. The US delusions of grandeur were supercharged with the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991. With America’s Cold War nemesis gone, American neoconservatives conceived of a new world order in which the US was the sole superpower and the policeman of the world.
Their foreign policy instruments of choice were wars and regime-change operations to overthrow governments they disliked. Following the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, the neocons planned to overthrow seven governments in the Islamic world, starting with Iraq, and then moving on to Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran. According to Wesley Clark, former Supreme Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), the neocons expected the United States to prevail in these wars in five years.
Yet now, more than 20 years on, the neocon-instigated wars continue while the US has achieved absolutely none of its hegemonic objectives. The neocons reasoned back in the 1990s that no country or group of countries would ever dare to stand up to US power. Brzezinski, for example, argued in The Grand Chessboard that Russia would have no choice but to submit to the US-led expansion of Nato and the geopolitical dictates of the United States and Europe, since there was no realistic prospect of Russia successfully forming an anti-hegemonic coalition with China, Iran, and others.
As Brzezinski put it: “Russia’s only real geostrategic option – the option that could give Russia a realistic international role and also maximise the opportunity of transforming and socially modernising itself – is Europe. And not just any Europe, but the transatlantic Europe of the enlarging EU and Nato.”
Brzezinski was decisively wrong, and his misjudgement helped to lead to the disaster of the war in Ukraine. Russia did not simply succumb to the US plan to expand Nato to Ukraine, as Brzezinski assumed it would. Russia said a firm no, and was prepared to wage war to stop US plans.
As a result of neocon miscalculations, Russia is now prevailing on the battlefield, and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are dead. Nor – and this is the plain message from Kazan – did US sanctions and diplomatic pressures isolate Russian in the least. In response to pervasive US bullying, an anti-hegemonic counterweight has emerged.
The new guard: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shaking hands during their meeting on the sidelines of BRICS Summit in Kazan in October. — AP
Simply put, the majority of the world does not want or accept US hegemony, and is prepared to face it down rather than submit to its dictates. Nor does the US anymore possess the economic, financial, or military power to enforce its will, if it ever did.
The countries that assembled in Kazan represent a clear majority of the world’s population. The nine BRICS members (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa as the original five, plus Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates), in addition to the delegations of 27 aspiring members, constitute 57% of the world’s population and 47% of the world’s output (measured at purchasing-power adjusted prices).
The US, by contrast, constitutes 4.1% of the world’s population and 15% of world output. Add in US allies, and the population share of the US-led alliance is around 15% of the global population.
The BRICS will gain in relative economic weight, technological prowess, and military strength in the years ahead. The combined GDP of the BRICS countries is growing at around 5% per annum, while the combined GDP of the US and its allies in Europe and the Asia-Pacific is growing at around 2% per annum.
Even with their growing clout, however, the BRICS can’t replace the US as a new global hegemon. They simply lack the military, financial, and technological power to defeat the US or even to threaten its vital interests. The BRICS are, in practice, calling for a new and realistic multipolarity, not an alternative hegemony in which they are in charge.
American strategists should heed the ultimately positive message coming from Kazan. Not only has the neocon quest for global hegemony failed, it has been a costly disaster for the US and the world, leading to bloody and pointless wars, economic shocks, mass displacements of populations, and rising threats of nuclear confrontation.
A more inclusive and equitable multipolar world order offers a promising path out of the current morass, one that can benefit the United States and its allies as well as the nations that met in Kazan.
The rise of the BRICS is therefore not merely a rebuke to the US, but also a potential opening for a far more peaceful and secure world order.
The multipolar world order envisioned by the BRICS can be a boon for all countries, including the US.
Time has run out on the neocon delusions, and the US wars of choice. The moment has arrived for a renewed diplomacy to end the conflicts raging around the world. – Common Dreams
Jeffrey D. Sachs is a world-renowned economics professor, bestselling author, educator, and global leader in sustainable development. Originally published on Common Dreams, a reader-supported independent news outlet.
