Today in BRICS: Modi strengthens friendship with Putin, Saudi stands up for Russia against US, and Iran fully dumps dollar

Man has Vladimir Putin been busy!

Over the past couple of weeks, the Russian President has been meeting with fellow Presidents all over the world, hinting at an alliance that might be making Joe Biden shake in his boots.

Russia’s fellow BRICS member, India, has maintained its friendship with America, rejecting the idea of de-dollarization, which is Putin’s whole thing. It was then assumed that the relationship between the two nations is a little rocky.

See: BRICS’ India officially rejects idea of replacing dollar with yuan

So imagine our surprise when India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, turned up in Moscow seemingly out of nowhere, hugging his buddy Putin the moment he stepped out of his car.

India and Russia, tighter than ever

Modi hadn’t been to Russia in five years. The two were all smiles as they sat down together in a comfortable lounge to have a long chat about Russia and India’s friendship. The boys set an ambitious target of $100 billion in trade amongst them by 2030.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the media that Modi confirmed to Putin that he will be attending the BRICS summit. The Prime Minister is also interested in strengthening cooperation with G20 nations.

When the meeting was over, Putin honored Modi with Russia’s highest award, the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle. Lavrov called their friendship a “special privileged partnership.”

His relationship with Modi isn’t the only one Putin has strengthened. He also made a spectacle of hanging out with his good friend Kim Jong Un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea.

The two were captured taking a long drive together and laughing a lot, clearly enjoying each other’s company. There are expectations for North Korea to join the BRICS. But that’d be hard to work out considering the inner workings of the country’s economy.

Saudi Arabia tells US and its buddies not to touch Russian assets

As Putin was chilling with Modi, Saudi Arabia was warning the G7 against seizing Russia’s frozen assets. The country said it will sell off its European debt holdings if the G7 doesn’t leave Russia’s assets alone.

These holdings are worth billions of Euros and will definitely trigger a financial crisis if they’re sold.

The warning was clearly directed at the United States and the United Kingdom because they’re the ones who have been advocating for more and more aggressive measures against Russia, including the seizure.

G7 members France and Japan are against the seizure, though. It is no secret that Saudi Arabia’s influence on global affairs is extremely strong. And it has only gotten stronger over the past decade. So when it speaks, the U.S. and UK almost always listen.

Despite being invited to join the BRICS, Saudi Arabia appears to be on the fence about breaking up with America completely. It has managed to maintain its friendship with both parties.

Also, its state-run oil giant Saudi Aramco just started issuing dollar-denominated bonds. Clearly, it is not ready to ditch the currency just yet. 

Putin appears patient about it and has continued hanging out with Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the ruler of Saudi Arabia, maintaining their long-standing friendship.

Iran severs all remaining ties with America

Another major development in the BRICS is the integration of the national payment systems of Russia and Iran, Mir and Shetab.

The governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Mohammad Reza Farzin, happily shared that it is a success. Iran has officially severed all ties with the US dollar.

Starting August 22, Shetab card holders will be able to withdraw Russia’s rubles from ATMs across Russia, making sure all trades are done in either of the two currencies. Though it is expected that China’s yuan might make an appearance eventually.

The second phase of the integration will let Russians use their Mir cards for payments in Iran. It is clear that the de-dollarization efforts are taking off despite misleading data from some US agencies and media about it.

US’s national debt is enough of a problem

Meanwhile, America’s national debt continues to grow at an alarming rate. Budget deficits are reaching $1.9 trillion in 2024, with annual deficits predicted to jump over $2 trillion by 2030. 

By 2034, these deficits could go as high as $3 trillion, with public-held debt expected to increase from $28 trillion to $50 trillion.

Thirteen years ago, America’s greatest investor, Warren Buffett, publicly offered a solution to end the deficit problem. Speaking to CNBC, he said: 

“You just pass a law that says that any time there’s a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.” 

Economists are now agreeing that this solution might actually be the only thing that can save the economy in the long run. Whoever wins the presidential election will have to address the disaster head-on.

Russia and China are not gonna stop trying to crash the US dollar. But there is the curious case of what would happen if Donald Trump wins. Though a bit rocky, he and Putin have a good friendship. 

Putin has said that he is willing to cooperate with the United States on the matter of Ukraine and economics, so long as it chooses to be reasonable.

Him and Trump have seen eye-to-eye on a lot of things, so they might find a middle ground if he (Trump) gets back into the White House. 

Perhaps they figure out a solution that keeps the BRICS independent of America but also makes sure the American economy doesn’t crash in the process.

Biden has spent $1.3 trillion above what he collected this year, and we’re only in the seventh month. Federal debt accounted for 97.6% of the country’s GDP in the first quarter.

Know that Modi and Kim aren’t the only presidents Putin has hung out with recently. He has visited China’s Xi Jinping, Vietnam’s To Lam, and Hungary’s PM Viktor Orbán.

Interestingly, Russia isn’t actually the most powerful of the BRICS. China is. Russia is just the smartest.

And perhaps, the pettiest.

Reporting by Jai Hamid