Current Affairs

On 24^th February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, yet the world as a whole did not react. The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), took a position of non-alignment, they argued that the war in Ukraine was determined by Russia reacting to the West’s encroachment on their territory. India in particular argued that Western hegemony moved the BRICS into a position that was either supportive of the West or against.

India’s trade with Russia has increased by 400 percent, of that 700 percent of Indian imports has been from Russian petroleum products, which it is refining and re-exporting to not only its neighbours but according to Dr Anurdha Chenoy to the West. But this is not the argument that India makes, it is a question of multi-polarity, a point of argument that is initiated by an assumption that India can trade with the west as well as Russia. A country that is a de-facto neutral, multi-polar sovereign nation that does not take sides in most conflicts, other than its own, but believes that as a neutral power it balances the global struggles that have rocked the world and the powers who have taken a stance on Ukraine.

But as a whole the BRICS find themselves in a difficult position on whether to support the Russian’s or the West, they argue that Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine was inevitable, they do not see the argument of Ukrainian sovereignty as necessarily of paramount importance. The taking of Crimea in 2014, which they all agree was significant. India saw it as re-uniting a Russian territory with its sovereign power, a rightful return of territory. South Africa at first argued that Russia should return to its sovereign border, but overtime had come to the same argument as China and India, that Russia had re-occupied its own territory.

But for countries such as China whose geopolitical argument is defined by being a power in Asia, is challenged by its own problems, especially Taiwan. It views Western perceived interference in the region as challenging its own sovereign concerns. The movement of Western aligned nations to not only strengthen their relationship with the West, but also the strengthening of these relationships militarily.

Countries such as Japan have increased their budget to include 2 percent expenditure on the military, the Philippines and South Korea have also strengthened their relationship with the West and invested in new weapons, bases or accords with their western partners. They view China’s position in Taiwan, South China Sea and also the Indo-Pacific as straining the relationship that they have with mainland China.

Dr Yi Wang believes that news sources in China have moved popular opinion against the West, and that China’s relationship with the US, has been significantly impacted, not only by the Taiwan question, but also the West’s support of Ukraine, which China believes challenges their own argument of Chinese sovereignty in Taiwan.

 South Africa view is that the war in Ukraine is a proxy war, they regard the West’s agreement with Russia not to encroach on the East itself was a reason for the war, and that in 1992, the agreement between Russia and the West would not lead to NATO expansion eastwards. There have been two instances that South Africa has moved from the West, the military exercises with China and Russia and the meeting between South Africa’s ministries and the Russia’s in Moscow. From the perspective of the West, South Africa has taken a position that is not really non-aligned and have continued to call for a peaceful resolution to the war.

As a signatory to the International Criminal Court and member of the Rome statute, South Africa would be forced to arrest President Putin if he was to come to South Africa, because of an International arrest warrant, which according to Elizabeth Sidripoulous has put South Africa into an ‘invidious position”.

There are penalties for South Africa’s position of non alignment, the US Congress has started legislating that South Africa be thrown out of the Africa development market, which would challenge South Africa whose main export markets are Europe, United States and China.

According to Professor Mauricio Santoro, Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union became a significant trade partner. He argues that the significance of the relationship has been based on the import of fertilizer from Russia. Brazil imports 85 percent of the fertilizers it needs and Russia accounts for 40 million tonnes of imports, according to Brazil’s National Association for the Diffusion of Fertilizers.

On Monday 17^th April Lavrov in a joint statement with his counterpart, Mauro Viera, expressed gratitude for Brazil’s “understanding of the genesis of the situation” in Ukraine. The US national security council accused Brazil of “parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda without looking at the facts. Lula argued that both sides were responsible for the conflict, and that the US and the Europeans were not committed to pursue peace.

The question for the west has to be why the BRICS have taken such a stance, they argue that the West has hypocritically fought wars in the Middle East and interfered in the domestic politics in the regions that it has interests in, but this does not explain the BRICS own assumptions that Ukraine is just territory that can be invaded by a member of the BRICS. Though Lula redefined his argument about the war in Ukraine, there is a realisation that trade is paramount to the arguments coming from these nations. The easily non-aligned argument does not distinguish the hypocrisy coming from nations such as India, who have been a signatory to the UN charters and increasingly ignores the significance of the Ukrainians arguments. It’s argument of Western hegemony and demands challenges its own position, especially as they seem to have become an agent to Russian oil exports and have created significant markets, when they argue that they do not have preferred status in the market of Russian oil.

China has made its position clear on the Ukraine war and even though they are reliant on trade with the West, they have fuelled an argument on what they see as a continuation of their own policy of reintegrating Taiwan to the mainland. India is acting on commercial arguments dependent on an image of non-alignment and its own dependence on Russia for its armaments. It argues that Russia has been a reliable partner even after the fall of the Soviet Union, but as a whole it is dependent on this new flow of cheap Russian oil, not to fuel its industrial sector, but as a commodity to export. But as a whole the reason for China, India, Brazil and South Africa’s arguments against the war in Ukraine is that they are all determined through either historical or commercial arguments.