Eurasia News

  T he BRICS meeting on 6-7 July 2025 took place in a tense international context, marked by stagnating economic growth in the West, the prolonged conflict in Ukraine, tensions in the Middle East, and an industrial revival in Asia. The summit occurred as BRICS member states seek to strengthen their role in the global architecture, but it was also marked by the physical absence of two key leaders: Xi Jinping was absent for the first time since 2012[ 2 ], and Vladimir Putin participated only online[ 3 ]. Among the participants were Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – President of Brazil (host and rotating BRICS president), Narendra Modi – Prime Minister of India, Cyril Ramaphosa – President of South Africa, Prabowo Subianto – President of Indonesia (admitted as a member on 6 January 2025), and Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan – President of the United Arab Emirates. This meeting is shaping up to be a turning point, with the potential to accelerate the process of de-dollarisation and the ...

        "When politicians play with the pencil on the map, the drums of war begin to beat." — Otto von Bismarck I. Brief History S yria, under French mandate after World War I, gained independence in 1945, subsequently experiencing a highly turbulent political and social period marked by numerous military coups until 1970, when General Hafez Al-Assad seized power through a coup. A referendum in the spring of 1971 legitimized his leadership, establishing an autocratic rule based on the military and secret services, widely supported by his Alawite coreligionists (a minority), who held the most important positions in the power structures. The natural passing of Hafez Al-Assad in 2000, one of the longest-serving heads of state in the Middle East, was linked by many analysts to the beginning of Syria’s decline in regional influence. His successor, his son Bashar, assumed power instead of his elder brother Basel, who had been groomed for leadership but died in a t...