whose country has been buying to join the group for decades. but 1st, let's take a look at what countries have turned their backs to the u. s. in the e u, in their unconditional support of ukraine. now some of these countries have taken a position of strategic ambiguity or have decided to strengthen relations with russia instead. our international correspondent has all the details in increasingly turning russia into abroad state. if that was so present putin's plant, well, you can say it's working. russia has never been so isolated, that was back in march, when the full swing of anthea of russia hysteria was reaching its climax. but things have not gone according to plan. this map shows all of the countries who have joy on 2 sections against russia. outside of europe, north america, australia, and new zealand, the least is short, and by far, a huge part of the world's population does not leave

a nation sanctioning russia. and now several months on russia is looking less and less isolated. in fact, europe and the united states are isolated from the rest of the world. russia's economy is stronger than he was before the start of the conflict in ukraine. in fact, the rubel continues to strengthen against the dollar. and brushes trading relationship with other nations are increasing, like in the energy sector. oil and gas exports to china have increased since february of this year. and other nations like brazil and south africa, part of the bricks block for which china hosted summit in june. so no indications appeal enough and joining the west. in fact, more and more nations like argentina and iran are looking to join the bricks. now it looks like the west unity, as well as its economies, are crumbling,

with more and more territory in ukraine, falling to the russians and their allies. hungary, for example, has refused to engage in an oil and gas embargo against russia. arguing the shutting itself off from russia would mean economic ruin for the nation. and its people. and inflation is devastating economies across europe, as well as in north america. and the rest of that man's world. so how long can the west hold out? and the supposed unity under great, as russia continue, its advances in the grave for the ammo. am brooklyn a felon. and joining us to discuss is mere dough. sony, he is the co director of peace visual dot net and currently at the anthropology department of the university of western cape, where he is completing his ph. d dissertation on how colonial relations continue to define our modern era some year. thank you so much for joining us today. so as we

have seen, the u. s. is by far the greatest financial and military backer to ukraine thus far, much greater then the e u and u. k. combined. how do you read this lopsided investment by the us? yeah, i mean, i think the 1st thing to say is that we should all be condemning russians invasion of the ukraine. it's a violation of international law, the violation of the un charter. so as i said, should be condemned by the international community and by the united states. but the united states itself is a country that perhaps has most violated international law in recent years and continues to violate international law even today. so when we look at the invasion of iraq in 2003, when we look at the invasion of afghanistan in 2001, when we look at ongoing support for israel, which lately violates international law even to the point of murdering journalists in cold blood so there can be no question that the u. s. isn't doing this because it is suddenly found some deep respect for human rights law and international law,

right? it's doing this for its own reasons, many of which have to do with the stabilizing russia to maintain us, had gemini and dominance. and that's not a, you know, saying that is not a conspiracy theory. so if we look back at the, the national security documents of the post world war 2 era, we see that maintaining dominance and germany is the official us policy on for u. s. foreign policy, the number one objective and has been as i say, since about 950. so russia to their credit when it saw what the us id in libby, i think particularly, but even perhaps before that 2017 has made with the financial crisis. they anticipated that something like this might happen. so they sort of big, they anticipated that a conflict with the u. s. block may happen. so they took steps to sort of make themselves sort of sanction proof. and the sanctions which were meant to hurt russia perhaps, or less effective than it might have been, had been implemented before. 2007 or 2008 now. so we're not long after the war

began, the buyer administration launched a major campaign to isolate russia, at least economically, that we saw by way of government sanctions like sanctions on critical major russian state own enterprises or prohibiting new investments in the russian federation as well as influence of the private sector, multinational corporations like mcdonald and nike, pulling out of the federation e, you states and entities followed suit. but we didn't see the same type of response coming from asian states or those in the southern hemisphere. why didn't we see there were same response out of them? well, i think it, it gets back to this question of hypocrisy. i mean, i didn't see, you know, people pulling out of the us when the us invaded iraq, or when the us invaded afghanistan, i don't see tears being shed wars ongoing on the african continent in central african republic in the democratic republic of congo and so on. many of these wars

have points of origin in sort of european con, conflicts that were started when your opinions occupied this continent. so i think asking, and this is, i was pretty much quoting this african position here, asking countries like south africa to take a position in european context. doesn't make much sense when the u. s. isn't really taking up per position on the issues that are important to south africa, for example. so, you know, and we can extend that even to foreign policy. we've seen that south africa would like to take a much stronger stand on, for example, the issue of the occupation of palestine, but it gets no support from the united states. so in that context, why should countries like south africa, you know, between the u. s. line, right, it's almost as if they think, well, if you're not paying attention to what we have to say, why should we pay attention to what you're beckoning us for when you need us. now, what about the, the u. s. being disappointed from the response by china who has maintained,

you know, something of a policy of strategic ambiguity. i think that's the, the term for 2022 on this war like china abstained from voting in the march. un general assembly resolution condemning russia for its action and ukraine. you know, the chinese have actually issued stern words about bite and handling of this war. and it sanctions against russia instead, seeing as china is the 2nd largest economy in the world. therefore, the biggest player in bricks does china's position on the war in ukraine. does that reflect the sentiment of the other member states? do you think? yeah, i mean, here i think we have to, we have to just be brutally honest with ourselves. and to say that the bricks as a block never really function like a block, and after recent elections, i mean, even be not the reason election. somebody's been there 89 years both and has been there 5 or 6 years, right?

so, so after those elections, i don't think the bricks function like a political block at all. so and i think within the break you have brazil under both in morrow, who's seems to be open the asking us for help winning the upcoming election brazilian election against his rival lula. and of course, you have russia itself in bricks and then you have india, which would like to keep close ties both to russia and to the u. s. and i think china is on a whole different level, because as you say, it's the 2nd largest or by some measures even the largest economy in the world, but certainly the 2nd largest economy in the world. so it's a different, you know, these countries function differently for different reasons. yes, they all seem to be by and large following this line of strategic ambiguity. but i suspect that with a little bit of pressure, you know, brazil for example, could be persuaded to take more. you pro us dance, india, and even south africa, i think, you know, are, are vulnerable to changing their stance. if circumstances warranted. the question

would be if they change their stance individually or as a block, what would they get in return? and i don't think the us is willing to, i mean, i don't think wilson with us is willing to, doesn't see this as a negotiation. i think they just see, you should tell our lie to get nothing for an exchange. and if that's the u. s. just and then no, no one will be changing their line. but if the us is willing to bargain, negotiate then yes it's, it's quite possible that somebody's countries may change their line, right? kind of a, you scratch our back and we'll scratch yours. now, as far as south africa is concerned, the south african ambassador to russia. ambassador or mac, a took up, has raised concerns that the u. s. might implement some sort of bill that might harm the cooperate between cape town and moscow. he also worries that european nations might fall in line with the u. s. what do you suppose he is referring to as russia and south africa are concerned? what coercive measures might he be worried about the us doing against south africa?

i mean, i think the big threat is this question of sanctions and trade. and so when, and how is this howards trade going to be effected? so russia is not by no means the biggest trading part of partner south africa, about about half a $1000000000.00 in trade goes from russia to south africa, and about the same amount goes from south africa to russia. and if you look at what south africa that she importing from russia, it's a lot of like, staple foods like, especially wheat, right? and as you know, the price of bread is something that all governments are worried about. major revolutions. i'm going back to 1789 and the french revolution, but also in egypt more recently in 2011, these revolutions have been sparked by the price of bread going up, you know, 10200 or, or sometimes a 1000 percent. right? so when we're talking about, you know, the sanctions we're talking about perhaps shipments being stopped, as we've already seen, to some extent. and we've seen food inflation to some extent already hitting if it goes higher then i think it's not just south africa, but the entire world should be worried about the,

the ramifications of this war. absolutely, certainly a lot of things to still hash out as it pertains to this new multi polar world that we're dealing with. and this ongoing war between russia and ukraine, severe dose on any of peace vigil dot net and the university of western cape. thank you so much for weighing in on this for us today. and when we return, we'll take a look at the possible expansion of bricks and what this could mean for us relations in south america. with a critically acclaimed author and international journalist, you won't want to miss it. so stay tuned to the ammo will be right back. ah, ah ah

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lou needs to come to russian state to never does on the most. i'm skiing with all sunset. a thin 55 will dissipate occlusal 90000 speedy when else holes quasi about with we will van in the european union, the kremlin media machine, the state on russia today and school ortiz, food, mckibben or video agency, roughly all brand on youtube with which you did you see it with clifford shelf

or navy with the 2022 bricks virtual summit now behind us this year hosted by beijing chinese president, she's in ping underscore the importance of the group to remain open. he says, and to welcome like minded partners to join the bricks family. this, as the economic block showed resilience in the face of the coven, 19 pandemic. what the chinese government displaying data from the 1st 5 months of 2022, showing china's total import export with other bricks. members growing a resounding 12 point one percent, year over year with a 20 percent rise in trade with russia and up 10 percent with india. and this year a non member state was invited to sit in on the summit. argentina is said to be

considered for membership. president, alberto fernandez, expressing keen interest to join the western observer. say this is a distant dream, citing the bad timing for a 2nd south american country to join the block due to the conflict between russia and ukraine as the 5 major emerging economies, brazil, russia, india, china, and south africa are looking at expanding their membership to other countries, how does a growing bricks dominance compared to other economic powers, like the u. s. r international correspondent has the analysis. the growth of bricks has highlighting the importance of countries outside of the west in that development of strategies for mutual trade, health and counterterrorism. this year's 14th breaks some meet theme was foster high quality breaks partnership, or sure, in a new era for global development. but on the side of the main break,

scattering briggs plus meeting took place with officials from congress, like the united arab emirates, saudi arabia, egypt cassock, a stan, indonesia, argentina, nigeria semi go and thailand and bells were ringing for argentina, hoping to become the newest permanent member of the group, but why would argentina bring to the table if a brick saw is created? this is not the 1st time argentina has joined that multilateral summit. the country participated in 20182014 as a guest. the current conversation has been on the table for some time, but during the 14 summit it became even more relevant recent declarations of the argentine unprecedented. fertile man, this made it explicit, their desire to join as a precedent cit. argentina was to join the space and offers its contribution as

a member of it. and he added that. that is the, to an economic weight of the brakes can become a factor of financial stability. and on precedence fernandez, tweeter account, he said joining briggs would be paving away to a new piece for future. argentine is bolstering their relationship with briggs countries as president fernandez met, days later in person with a prime minister of india, strengthening their economic relations by exporting products like sunflower, oil and soybean to the asian country. a trade that amounts up to $5600000000.00 us dollars. argentina's relationship with other bricks members is looking into that future as well. there is no doubt that china has been investing in south american countries specially with argentina between may 2021 on may 2022. the exports

of china have increased by 49.4 percent, while in force increase up to $513000000.00. other chinese projects include the renovation of the bill, grenlock, i guess railway connected to the china's belt and broad initiative. and that co shandey solar park consider latin america's largest solar plant. perhaps what comes to mind with a future bricks that is the current political stage of russia is seen now in regard to the ongoing branch and a crane in conflict. argentina has been somewhat ambiguous. president ferdinand this asked for peaceful dialogue and political solution and non use of force and argentina's foreign minister santiago car fietta doesn't consider sanctions a mechanism to achieve peace as he said in a press conference in april when brasil as one of the 5 members of breaks all eyes are of how adding another south american member would benefit the already strong

economic and political front, then emerge in 2009 breaks or breaks. only time will fail for the animal, i am brooks and a salon. and here to weigh in on what the addition of another latin america country to the brick line up could mean is steve gill. he is an attorney and ceo of gil media and nashville, tennessee based public affairs, media, and marketing company. he also happen to serve as the director of intergovernmental affairs for the us trade representative office. thank you so much for being with us today. steve. first, can you address for us the likelihood of argentina joining bricks? because western critics say this is a distant dream and point out that argentine would be jockeying for the same business deals that brazil, which is a sitting member already has with china and india. they're referencing things like

soybean exports. what do you say to that? is there room in the block for a 2nd south american state? i think there's certainly room from an economic standpoint. i think it would be beneficial to all of the bricks nation. now because the acronym is the initials of different countries are going to have to start working on how they renamed bricks are expanded with a brick. so i guess if they add, you know, is that, that you got brazil that has really been focus more on development of their technological and industrial expansion and not the another doing agriculture. i don't think that the brazilians will really see argentina as a tough competitor in the agriculture arena, when they're really looking at how they get expanded. more technology got embry or they've got airlines. they've got some space technology they're trying to develop. so i think as the brazilians look at it, they won't really see argentine as a competitor, but maybe a good ally and expanded throughout the south american region. so you say plenty of room for another member. now what is argentine a stand again, by joining bricks?

i mean, any benefits that would differ from what they get from the g 20. while argentine is obviously a strong beef producer and china typically coming out of the cupboard restrictions are still seeing an expansion in their demand for b. right now they get a lot from chile, they get a lot from australia. they aren't getting as much in these days from, from the u. s. and the demand for beef in, in joe and china is actually much more to, to boil it rather than have it in real life stakes. like a lot of folks do. so you have a different demand for the type of be product and using the whole cal, so to speak. so i think argentina could certainly benefit from the expansion of their beef exports into china among others. yeah, definitely. none of that animal goes to waste outside of the u. s. steve. now, earlier this year on an official trip to europe, president fernandez of argentina told the german d w news outlet that he thinks of himself as an argent time european ist. and that

china, despite being a great economist, power, has very little cultural ties with latin america has no history there. does this lend any insight into what he thinks about the block, especially as china was the chair country to this year's brick summit? you know, it's in stay nearly 30 years ago when i was a director of governmental affairs in the us trade representative during the last of the 1st bush white house. first of clinton and other proponents were really encouraging the us to look more north south, not to abandon the east west perspective economically better, really look more north and south and expand. and america is kind of trading partner the time we were seeing. the brits in europe do sort of the predecessor to the economic union of the u. i felt that others did that if we had expanded our view more south, you could have created an economic trading giant of south central and north america . and unfortunately that didn't happen. so i think that the argentine president was exactly right that if argentine are good, perhaps take the lead and follow

a european eyes model and try to gather more of south american central american countries together is trading partners. i think you could see an economic boom and, wow, if we had done that 30 years ago at economic prosperity in the south, you know the plot of illegals into the u. s. they're not coming here because they want to be americans. but because there's lack of prosperity in their own countries, if we had expanded that prosperity south 30 years ago, it would be a model of how to do the, the world economic and political balance in a north south view rather than just east west. on that note, steve, last thing here, given china's official position on the war in ukraine, is neutral president. she has struck strong words against america sanctions that have have global consequences and a lot of blow back, at least economically we're seeing so far. china has not back down from they're not so tacit backing of russia. final thoughts on that?

well, i think, you know, you look at the sanctions and the fact that they have not really hurt russia. they've heard america in the global economy a lot more than they've heard russia. russia is looking for new markets for their oil exports. china is desperately wanting oil, they're wanting call. so i think there's a, there's a cultural affinity is being built on economics right now. and that is not necessary. good. again for america, or maybe even for the globe, because again, china is aggressions throughout the world are going to continue. and i think after this, ukraine war comes to an end, you're gonna have to reset a lot of things, including the role of russia with europe, the role of china in the u. s. there's going to be a lot of a fix up make up is going to have to happen after this war is finally concluded. at some point. yeah, they're going to have to look beyond just the next few months here, the vine administration. that is, and perhaps maybe pick up a phone call from steve gill. i always appreciate your expertise steve. gil, thank you so much. thanks, michelle. ah, well,

that's going to do it for this weeks episode of modus operandi there show that dig deep into foreign policy. i'm your host manila chan. thank you for tuning and we'll see you again next week to figure out the ammo. ah, ah, ah ah

ah, western leads essentially promise you have a blank check to continue nato proxy war against russia. businesses and consumers are now saying not so fast, the west believe russia was quickly collapse under the weight of sanctions. instead, it is the west, but of the europe facing a little, you know, one, no, no, no, admiral, who are job? no, no. well, dorm was real to what they should end up unit 731

was a unique organization in the history of the world. what they were trying to do was to simply do nothing short and build the most powerful and most deadly biological weapons program. that the world had ever known and grill. oh, you know, to production issue or sure. doug go did that. they're not killed when you saw new rochelle. he on more, more general margaret thought this is meant union from all one of up on there and i got the owner myself. i got your name. i understood. i wish to know about jewelry. whoa, whoa, knew he didn't room or guzzle more. polished enough, jr. let's i had to put all the sco their mother and all our buddy bill. can you go

out or hours? nice. oh boy. good to go on. what on this the world. she, my and new other. i'm all, i can send more on all said mom, good student. i don't the year you're not on all put them out there to give us a lot a while we have, which are ours. we make, you know, let you to really, you care about me if you care about to play. i wish somebody could just tell me why their hair lynching beating poverty, why supremacy is disgusting. amber, the people in mississippi voted on a wire,

and 65 percent of the people voted to keep the car why. our purpose is to defend the good name of the confederates held because of these monuments, the tc everywhere are not can. they're not monuments to the can better go there, monuments to the, to the soldiers, to the battery. you know, if we're going to be offended by everything, every negative part of our history, we have to get rid of everything a the united states in many western countries, adding a title of the rationality. and i basically call that what the u. s. is the u. s. position would be sanctioned as a kind of mania. they keep repeating the same actions and doing this because they want to show that they still join the work. but in fact, every, especially against russia, every sanction to have employee has shown as underline how much they don't with

a with, with achieve the long last good is americans do both republican in tuesday's mid term election as he calls the shed power in washing printing ties as russia becomes new delhi top oil supply, india foreign ministers that to visit moscow to further booth by last relations with western countries. cash to use more electric cars. africans are the ones doing the heavy lifting to keep those vehicles running. and people in the democratic republic of the condo say than mine is being exploited by developed.