The Guardian view on Brics growing up: A new bloc seeks autonomy – and eyes a post-western order
Yet its size hides its contradictions. The grouping's call for more inclusive global institutions sounds welcome, but there is a preponderance of autocracies within its own ranks. Brics is right that international law should be upheld in Middle Eastern conflicts. But it climbs down from its moral pedestal by condemning Ukraine's strikes on Russian infrastructure – while staying silent on Moscow's relentless attacks on civilians.
The acronym 'Bric' – Brazil, Russia, India and China (South Africa wouldn't join until 2010) – began as a Wall Street bet on rising powers challenging the west. But what defines Brics today is a subtler, more strategic ambition: to insulate themselves from Washington's gravitational pull while cooperating to build a joint hi-tech industrial base. There are things that the Brics get right. Financial global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund are in need of reform; the rich world has failed to honour climate finance promises. The group's understandable response in the face of inaction is to create its own development bank to promote a form of green industrialisation.
A pre-summit agreement on a formal collective Brics stance on funding climate action will help. Rapid growth in renewable energy means fossil fuels now account for less than half of the bloc's total electricity generation. Given the climate emergency, such progress can only be welcome. Brics member states now lead in green tech and boast booming consumer markets – offering both the tools and the scale to drive industrial growth.
The postwar order stood on three pillars: US dominance, hydrocarbons and open trade. Today, all three are cracking, largely because of the US itself. Many Brics nations have little to gain from backing oil when the world's biggest producer is the US. Donald Trump's threat of higher import duties on the bloc's members speaks to the US turn against global trade. By placing tariffs on Brazil over its internal politics, Mr Trump turns economic diplomacy into personal vendetta – and highlights how the rules-based order is unravelling.
This moment presents both a challenge and an opening. Tariffed in the west, Chinese firms pivot to Brics. So the United Arab Emirates cashes in – winning local production and tech transfers from Beijing that the west won't permit. Brics' vision of smart, clean growth fits the gaps in the global order. But it isn't united: Russia's green potential is buried under its fossil fuel policy. Saudi Arabia hedges – flirting with Brics while clinging to the US, with deals in the balance. Most of the group's member states are nervous that a powerful China could tower over the rest. Strikingly, however, its leader, Xi Jinping, did not attend this summit.
The Brics nations can still close ranks. Their most technical yet revealing move is to start building financial 'plumbing' to bypass western systems. The group isn't ditching the dollar – but its members know what exclusion feels like: India had credit denied after the 2008 crash; Iranian banks have been sanctioned since 2012. The bloc's success will depend not just on ambition, but on the capacity to coordinate across national interests.
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The Guardian
36 minutes ago
- The Guardian
In Gaza, we know why Israel wants to herd us all into one camp – our lives are bargaining chips
After 21 months of war, the Israeli minister of defence, Israel Katz, has proposed a new initiative to force all Palestinians in Gaza into a camp on the ruins of Rafah. I lived west of Gaza city, just five minutes away from the beach. I used to see the waves from the roof of our house. The area was marvellous, with luxury architecture, hotels and tourist resorts. Since the war began, I have been moving between the northern, western and eastern areas of the city. We were unable to settle in one place because Israeli ground invasions continued to move from one area to another. Later, the Israeli army named these areas 'North Gaza' as part of its apartheid policy, dividing Gaza into north and south and treating them differently. I remember at the beginning of the conflict when the planes dropped evacuation leaflets saying: 'You must now head to the south of the valley. You are in a dangerous combat zone.' My father told me and my siblings that these leaflets were nothing but a displacement plan. The south was not safe, and we had to stay in northern Gaza. Before 7 October, we could move freely from north to south without any restrictions. This was one of the features that distinguished Gaza from the West Bank. However, when many people rejected Israel's orders at the start of the war, the IDF established a checkpoint between the north and the south. Israel said that anyone seeking food should travel to the south of Gaza and never return to the north. In fact, it implemented a starvation policy as a means of displacement. People who couldn't stand the hunger left, but we stood firm in our decision not to submit. I remember being poisoned during last year's Ramadan. There was nothing in the markets except weeds, whereas the south was brimming with goods. We were dying of hunger and exhausted as we were displaced from one area to another. Relatives who had been displaced to the south told us it was safe. But then, Israel invaded Rafah and destroyed it, killing many. After this, those who had fled became crowded in the centre of Gaza along roads, living in tattered tents. They were unable to return to the north across the Netzarim checkpoint. A young man, Omar Marouf, only 22 years old, decided to return to northern Gaza across the checkpoint. We still do not know what happened to him. Was he killed? Then the aid was cut off. Up and down the territory we were being bombed and starved, sometimes shot while queueing for what little food was being allowed in. According to Katz, Rafah will become a 'humanitarian city', but no one in Gaza can believe this claim. I asked my grandfather, who, aged four, witnessed the displacement of the Nakba in 1948, about the purpose of Katz's plan. 'Is this plan a prison within a prison?' I asked. 'There is no point in going there,' he responded. 'We are already in a prison with closed doors.' There will be death in every corner of Gaza as long as it is occupied. Neighbouring Arab countries have denied us refuge, especially Egypt. Currently, it only receives people from Gaza as patients and refuses to grant them residency. The people of Gaza believe the plan is nothing more than an Israeli pressure tactic against Hamas, hoping it will waive the demand that Israel withdraws from the Morag axis – an Israeli 'security corridor' between Rafah and Khan Younis. Gaza's people are waiting for another pause in the conflict with empty stomachs. Young people have stopped queueing for aid, hoping that a truce is near and that there is no need to risk their lives. This truce, even if it is for 60 days, is the only chance for us to breathe. I do not know what will happen if these negotiations fail. This ceasefire is our last hope to live in peace, even if for a short while. Nour Abo Aisha is a freelance writer based in Gaza
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Israel assassinates terrorist who held British hostage captive
The Hamas terrorist who held Emily Damari captive in Gaza has been assassinated in a targeted strike. The Israeli military said that Muhammad Nasr Ali Quneita, who was one of thousands of fighters who invaded southern Israel on Oct 7, was killed in Gaza City as operations in the besieged strip continue and ceasefire talks stall. 'Quneita was a terrorist in Hamas's Al-Furqan Battalions' military intelligence, who infiltrated Israel during the brutal Oct 7 massacre and held Emily Damari hostage in his home at the start of the war,' the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said while sharing footage of the deadly strike. Ms Damari, a British-Israeli who is now 28, was one of 251 people taken captive on the deadliest single day for the Jews since the Holocaust. She was shot and abducted after Hamas gunmen stormed her home in the Kfar Aza kibbutz. The terrorists killed Ms Damari's dog and shot her in the hand before blindfolding her and driving her into Gaza where she was held captive for 471 days. She subsequently lost two fingers. She was released in January as part of a short-lived ceasefire in which 10 Israeli hostages were released in exchange for 400 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, many on terror charges. She and her fellow hostages were denied sufficient food, which was rationed between them, and she also spoke of never seeing the sun during her time in captivity. Speaking to an Israeli broadcaster in May, she recalled a physical altercation with a Hamas captor who had pushed a fellow hostage. 'I started speaking in Hebrew, not Arabic – 'What are you doing?' – and pushed him back,' she told Channel 12. 'He grabbed me by the arm, and I pushed his arm away, until others separated us. 'Would I have gotten a bullet? Fine, then I'll die and won't be in captivity, thank you very much,' she said. 'Sucks for my family, for my friends, but I'll be out of this nightmare.' Ms Damari, who is gay, had to hide her sexuality from her captors during her time in Gaza, knowing that it could be fatal if the Islamist terror group found out. Homosexuality is illegal in Gaza, punishable by prison or even death. 'They can't know something like that, they consider it sick,' Ms Damari said. 'We once asked one of them, 'What if your brother were gay'? he said: 'I'd murder him'.' She told the news channel that during her long captivity she had quizzed her captors on topics from how they built the tunnel to how much they cost to build, the terrorist nicknaming her 'Fuduli,' meaning curious in Arabic. Ms Damari was from one of the worst hit communities on the Gaza border, the rural community of Kfar Aza. In a phone call with Sir Keir Starmer after her release, she claimed she had been held in facilities belonging to the UN refugee agency UNRWA during her captivity. She said she'd been denied medical treatment during her time as a hostage.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
As Gaza's economy collapses, residents turn to ‘money repairers'
On a small round table in the shade, Ihab al-Hannawi is hunched over a broken banknote, doing a job that didn't exist before the war. Fishing from a Tupperware container that contains grubby scraps of cash, he finds and cuts a piece of a matching colour and denomination, applies a special glue, and lets his new creation dry under the hot summer sun. This is how some now make money in the Gaza Strip. Since Israel stopped the supply of freshly printed banknotes of its currency, the shekel, the currency used in Gaza, at the start of its offensive in October 2023, the population has been forced to recycle all it can. 'This paper money has been circulating for nearly two years without replacement. Many people are stuck with worn-out cash that they can't even use to buy basic things,' said Hannawi, 27, in Gaza City. 'When the banks shut down and cash liquidity became a serious problem, paper currency started deteriorating — getting dirty, torn or worn out. I try to help people as much as I can by fixing their notes. Some can be salvaged and used again, but others can't. This job didn't exist before the war — it came into being because of it.' Although it was primarily a cash-based society before the conflict began, with more than 80 per cent of transactions conducted hand-to-hand, the destruction of all 56 of Gaza's bank branches has pushed the monetary system close to total collapse. Three ATM machines are now partially functioning for a population of more than two million, where previously there were 94. The money repairer charges 2 shekels per damaged note, about 40p, repairing some 500-600 banknotes a day — if they are salvageable. He said: 'If the currency is too badly damaged, I tell them honestly — it can't be repaired. I won't accept it if I know it's unusable. I repair the notes depending on their condition. If they're torn, I tape them carefully. If there are stains or marks, I use a rubber to clean them. We also have a special adhesive we apply to the bills, then we let them dry. Sometimes, if a note is missing a corner or an edge, I cut a matching piece from other damaged notes I have and use it to patch the bill together.' After months of Israeli airstrikes, ground incursions and restrictions of food, fuel and medicines, what is left of the Gazan economy now relies on the informal activity of street vendors, stalls and resellers of stolen goods. With industrial zones, banks and factories destroyed or closed, the vast majority of people are unemployed or destitute. Transactions have largely moved to a barter system, facilitated by Facebook, to avoid the skyrocketing commission taken by money changers and brokers still willing to convert digital funds into physical cash. 'Someone would post [online] saying they want to exchange a can of baby formula for a bag of chickpeas or beans. I message them and we agree to swap — just to survive,' said Suheila Saalak from the market in al-Jalaa Street in central Gaza City. She tried to use her last 20-shekel note to buy essentials for her seven grandchildren, but the vendors wouldn't accept her frayed money. 'Emotionally, I can't bear it. I have no other money, just that one 20-shekel bill. Even if I try to withdraw some cash, they charge huge commissions. It's simply impossible.' Samir abu Mudallah, the former dean of the economics faculty and administrative sciences at al-Azhar University, said physical currency was almost non-existent in local markets. 'People are forced to use cash-out services, handing over digital balances to individuals or informal money changers in exchange for worn banknotes, often at a 40–45 per cent commission,' he said. 'While some banks, like Bank of Palestine, have tried to reassure the public that worn currency will be replaced, this has not yet been implemented. Sadly, some traders have exploited the situation and refuse to accept even slightly damaged 5 or 10-shekel notes.' Last year, the Palestine Monetary Authority, based in the West Bank, tried to introduce a new digital payment, which in its early stages attracted half a million users, but it failed to take off, as merchants continued to insist on cash. Any goodwill that might usually accompany supply and demand has dissipated for a desperate Palestinian population. Naji Shabat, a displaced father of three in western Gaza, found himself walking nearly 5km just to change his money in order to buy food. Whether he pays by cash or through a banking app, the commission is 'outrageous', he said. 'Either way, we're being crushed. Even inside Gaza, traders are putting a lot of pressure on us, and people are making things harder for each other. Yesterday, I went out to buy a few ingredients for cooking. I walked nearly five kilometres — six or seven streets — just to find someone who would accept the 50 shekels I had. One said he didn't have change, another said the money was too damaged, and a third told me the prices were sky high.' Shabat said the prices on the streets multiplied by the day. One kilo of flour has risen to 70 shekels, which will turn to 130 shekels as the merchants will not accept digital payments, and cash must be withdrawn. The entire sack of flour has gone up 3,650 per cent, from £8 to £325. One litre of cooking oil was £1.30, and has risen to £15, while a kilo of tomatoes that previously sold for 40p is now £13. 'I can't afford to buy nappies or milk for my grandchildren,' said Saalak. 'It breaks my heart that I can't meet their most basic needs. A single can of baby formula now costs 170 shekels and one pack of nappies has reached $100 (£73).' Most of the population has long run out of cash and relies on aid. In recent weeks, that reliance has meant a chaotic and dangerous rush for essentials at the newly designated aid distribution sites, run by private American contractors and fortified by the Israeli military. • Divided over Gaza: the Israeli soldiers who fight on and those who refuse More than 800 people have died around these sites since they started operating in late May, adding to the death toll of 58,000 Palestinians in the 21 months of war, according to the Hamas-linked health ministry. On Sunday, eyewitnesses said that ten Palestinians, including six children, were killed by an Israeli drone strike while waiting to fill water containers in central Gaza. The Israeli military said it was investigating a 'technical error' with a strike targeting an Islamic Jihad 'terrorist' that caused the missile to fall dozens of metres from its target. Israel has long maintained that the aid distributed by long-established international organisations was either being stolen by Hamas fighters, kept for themselves or resold to pay its fighters. The UN made almost 400 efforts to co-ordinate aid outreach with Israeli authorities in June, but Israel denied the organisation entry in 44 per cent of such attempts. Israel has itself delivered 32 truckloads a day since the collapse of the last ceasefire in February. • The five obstacles to a Gaza ceasefire deal Similarly, for more than four months this year, no fuel entered Gaza, despite being vital for almost every service. Bakeries, health, social services, water desalination plants and humanitarian organisations have to rely on generators to provide electricity during frequent power cuts. A small amount of fuel was finally allowed into Gaza this week, a move welcomed by the UN. However, the organisation added that it was 'far from enough' to meet the daily needs of the population. 'The fuel shortage has deeply affected the economy, driving prices up by over 550 per cent, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. This has made basic goods unaffordable, and even basic movement or commuting for citizens has become incredibly expensive,' said Abu Mudallah. With negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appearing to stall, experts say Gaza's economic crisis will only deepen, along with the needs of the population.
