Leaders from across the developing world are landing in New Delhi right now, but the diplomatic red carpet hides a massive mess underneath. Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, coupled with fierce economic rivalries, are testing whether BRICS can actually survive its own rapid expansion.
You see, the block used to be a neat acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Now it has ballooned into an eleven-member club representing roughly half the world's population. That sounds impressive on paper. In practice, it means putting bitter rivals and conflicting political systems into the exact same room and expecting them to agree on how to run the planet. Expanding on this topic, you can find more in: Why The Alternative For Germany Will Not Stop With Saxony Anhalt.
The Trouble With Expanding Too Fast
Expansion sounds great for headlines, but it creates diplomatic headaches. BRICS isn't a homogeneous block of anti-Western states, no matter how much cable news pundits try to frame it that way. You have traditional adversaries like India and China sitting right next to regional rivals like Iran and Saudi Arabia, plus Egypt and Ethiopia.
They share one big goal: wanting more say in global institutions. Beyond that baseline agreement, their interests clash wildly. Experts at NBC News have provided expertise on this trend.
Take the ongoing conflicts tearing through Europe and the Middle East. Russia sits at the table while actively waging war in Ukraine. Iran holds full membership status while tensions with the West and regional neighbors boil over. China backs both Moscow and Tehran. Meanwhile, India tries to walk a tightrope, maintaining deep energy and defense ties with Russia while strengthening its strategic partnership with Washington and Europe.
Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, points out the obvious truth. The Global South isn't a single united bloc. Managing or mediating these massive geopolitical fractures is nearly impossible for a group with such competing foreign policy objectives.
India and China Face Off Behind Closed Doors
For host nation India, this summit is a delicate chess match. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government wants to use the event to manage its touchy relationship with Beijing. Border tensions have simmered since 2020, and China remains India's primary strategic rival in Asia.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is making his first trip to New Delhi in seven years. That visit marks a significant diplomatic thaw, but nobody should mistake it for a permanent hug. Trade and business ties remain cold, and New Delhi is fiercely protective of its strategic autonomy.
India has a clear objective here. It refuses to let BRICS morph into an explicitly anti-Western club. New Delhi wants to keep its cards open, dealing with the US, Japan, Australia, and European nations while simultaneously engaging with its largest regional competitor.
De-Dollarization Fantasies Versus Financial Reality
Let's talk about the elephant in the room: ditching the US greenback.
BRICS members love talking about reducing their reliance on the American dollar. They discuss increasing trade in local currencies and building alternative payment systems to dodge Western financial sanctions. Russia, hit hard by international penalties, pushes this narrative constantly.
Yet reality is stubborn. The US dollar is deeply embedded in global trade and finance for a reason. It is liquid, trusted, and backed by massive institutional depth. BRICS nations have wildly different currencies, inflation rates, and monetary priorities. Getting Beijing and New Delhi to agree on a shared financial architecture is like mixing oil and water.
Retired Indian diplomat Mahesh Sachdev puts it bluntly. The goal isn't a frontal confrontation with the global financial system. Instead, developing economies just want to reduce their exposure to a weaponized dollar that gets used for sudden political pressure. It is about risk management, not overthrowing global capitalism overnight.
What Success Actually Looks Like
If you expect BRICS to turn into a cohesive military or economic alliance like NATO or the European Union, you are going to be waiting forever. That is never going to happen.
Instead, success for this expanded grouping looks a lot more modest. It means surviving the weekend without a public diplomatic meltdown. It means keeping the tent big enough for countries to air grievances without burning down bilateral bridges. If New Delhi can secure incremental trade cooperation and keep China talking without compromising Indian security, Modi will count that as a massive win.
BRICS functions best as a pressure valve for developing nations tired of being ignored by Western-dominated institutions. If it stays focused on practical, incremental steps, it retains its utility. If it devolves into a mere photo opportunity for strongmen, its relevance will fade into irrelevance. Stop expecting a global revolution. Watch for small, quiet shifts instead.
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