ah hello, i'm manila chan. you are tuned in to modus operandi the show that explores the methods and patterns of u. s. foreign policy all around the world, and the history that reverberates in our lives today. this week we'll explore the conflict in ukraine and the failure to isolate after the westport and billions of dollars in aid and arms, the binded administration went on a pressure campaign to rally the global community to turn their backs on russia. was this successful? plus as the 2022 bricks virtual summit wrapped up. we learn the block may be adding an a to the group argentina now being considered for membership. we'll discuss what this means for the block as the e. you fast tracks ukraine's application to the trade union. all right,

let's get in to the ammo. ah. the united states has been the number one benefactor to ukraine since the start of the conflict on february 24th in may, the biden administration issued its biggest lump sum approval, and the amount of $40000000000.00 us dollars. so far, the u. s. has issued about $55000000000.00 to ukraine in the form of weapons land lease programs, other types of monetary aid to below tamir zalinski and his government, despite the acknowledged corruption and other scandals plaguing ukraine. meanwhile, the e u has issued roughly 1000000000 combined euros in humanitarian and military aid. while the u. k has delivered just under $2000000000.00 us dollars. as prime minister boris johnson played with g 7 leaders in late soon to quote,

not give up on ukraine. all this as the head of the e. u. ursula vander lay in fast tracks ukraine's application to join the block a slap in the face to turkey and reach of earth one whose country has been vying 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 as strategic ambiguity, or have decided to strengthen relations with russia instead. our international correspondent has all the details in increasingly turning russia into a garage state. if that was so at present, put his plan 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 a crane. 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 host at summit in june. so no indications of pill enough. i'm 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, inno crane falling to the russians and their allies. hungary, for example, has refused to engage in an oil and gas embargo against russia. arguing the shot in 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 for it as russia continue, its advances in the cray for the ammo. i'm brooks on a salon. and joining us to discuss is samir dasani. he is the co director of peace vigil 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. samir. thank you so much for joining us today. so as we have seen, the u. s. as by far the greatest financial and military backer to ukraine thus far, much greater than the e u and u. k. combined. how do you read this lopsided investment by the you us? yeah, i mean, i think the 1st thing to say is that we should all be condemning russia's invasion to the ukraine. it's a violation of international law. it's a 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 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. to there can be no question the u. s. isn't doing this because it has 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 u. s. 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 did in libby, i think particularly, but even perhaps before the 2017 was 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, are less effective than they might have been, had been implemented before. 2007 or nate. now some are not long after the war began. the violated ministration 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 are 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 the resume 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 u. s. when the us invaded iraq or when the u. s. a bit of cornerstone. 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 pretty much, quoting the south 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 us 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 us being disappointed from the response by china who has maintained, you know, something of a policy of strategic ambiguity. i think that 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 violence 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 you'd not the reason election, somebody's been there 89 years, both and hours 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 oro who seems to be open the asking us for help winning the upcoming election brazilian election against his rival lula. and of course of 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 pay 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 forward in exchange. and if that's the u. s . citizen, then no, no one will be changing their line. but if 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, took up his res, 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 u. s. doing against south africa? i mean, i think the big threat is this question of sanctions and trade and so on. and how is this howard's trade going to be affected? 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 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've been 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, these 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 that goes higher than 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 dasani 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 a a

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with global i'm saying years about how she on the job is to put up with your logo. double play tree. bush will get on a ah, with the 2022 bricks, virtual summit now behind us this year hosted by beijing chinese president, she's been paying 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. with 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, but 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. as the analysis the growth of bricks has highlighting the importance of countries outside of the west in that the bella, mit of strategies for mutual trade, health and counterterrorism. this year's 14th break summit theme was foster high quality breaks partnership, all sure, in a new era for global development. but on the side of the main break, scattering breaks plus meeting took place with officials from countries like the united arab emirates, saudi arabia, egypt, cassandra, stan, indonesia, argentina, nigeria, synagogue, 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 in became even more relevant recent declarations of the argentine unprecedented for man. this made it explicit their desire to join as a precedent set. argentina was to join the space and offers its contribution as a member of it. and he added that, that institutional and economic weight of the brakes can become a factor of financial stability. and unprecedented 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 med days later in person with the prime minister

of india, strengthening their economic relations by exporting products like sunflower, oil, and soil 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 a mate 2022. the exports of china have increase by 49 point one percent while in force increase up to $513000000.00. other chinese projects include the renovation of the bill, grenlock car, guess railway connected to the china's belt and road initiative, and the coast 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 you seen now in

regard to the ongoing russian or cranium conflict. argentina has been somewhat ambiguous. precedent for the man 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 emerged in 2009, breaks or breaks her. only time will tell for the m o, i am brooks and salon. and here to weigh in on what the addition of another latin america country to the bricks line up could mean is steve gail. he is an attorney and ceo of gil media and nashville, tennessee based public affairs,

media and marketing company. he also happened to serve as the director of inter governmental affairs for the us trade representative's 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 stated 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 rename bricks are expanded with the bricks up, i guess if they add up, you know, that you've 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 to 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 argentina as a competitor, but maybe a good ally, it expanding throughout the south american region. so you say plenty of room for another member. now what is the argentina stand again by joining bricks? i mean, any benefits that would differ from what they get from the g 20. well, argentina 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 having real life steaks. like a lot of folks do. so you have a different demand for the type of be products. and using the whole cows, 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, nist. 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, the us trade representative during the last of the 1st white house, 1st of clinton. i and other proponents were really encouraging the us to look more

north south, not to abandon the east west perspective economically, but to 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 of argent. gina could perhaps take the lead and follow a european model and try to gather more of the 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. now 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's sanctions that have had 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 hurt 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 gonna have to look beyond just the next few months here, the binding 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. the me that's going to do it for this week's episode of modus operandi there show that dig deep into foreign policy. i'm your host manila chan. thank you for tuning in. we'll see you again next week to figure out the ammo. the news i

ah, the united states and many best a good rationality. and i basically called what the u. s. is, you know, the u. s. position visa be sanctioned as a kind of mania. they keep repeating the same actions, and i think they're doing this because they want to show that they still rule the war. but in fact, every, especially against russia, every sanction they have imposed as shown as on the line. how much they don't, a ah, watching it was a shot shorter one. and i'm not going to stay like

a national z. m a who is the aggression today? i'm authorizing the additional strong sanctions today. russia is the country with the most sanctions imposed against it. a number that's constantly growing a little in your senior most in mine, or wish you were banding all imports of russian oil and gas news. i know they plenty of, with the letter from, you know,

with joe by imposing these sanctions on russia has destroyed the american economy. so there's your boomerang, the new me we are. oh i a i now have an e mail folder called k k in coalition for your organization. and what is your response to be a big big main stand up the law.