The Iranian Perspective on the BRICS Summit: A brief interview with Press TV

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Earlier today I was invited to comment on the speech by Iranian President Pezeshkian at the BRICS Summit in which he roundly condemned the international community for its failure to take action to stop the genocide in Gaza being perpetrated by Israel and its murderous attacks on Lebanon.

Here is what I had to say:   https://www.urmedium.net/c/presstv/131390

Mr Putin’s remarks at his press conference following the closing of the Summit later in the day made it clear that Iran’s privileged position is all the more enviable given that there will be no further additions to the core BRICS group any time soon. Rumor has it that a list of 13 countries to be named candidate Parter States of BRICS will be released soon. But this year will see no new Member States added to the existing nine.

Transcript of the interview submitted by a reader

Transcript below by a reader

PressTV: 0:00
Independent international affairs analyst Gilbert Doctorow is joining us now from Brussels to offer some more insight on that story. Mr. Doctorow, first of all, let’s start off with the recent comments coming from the Iranian president at the BRICS summit in Kazan. The Iranian president, Mahsa Pezeshkian, condemned the international community’s inaction and lack of efforts on the issues of the West Asia region, namely the genocide in Gaza, the Israeli aggression against the people of Lebanon. And we also saw various other heads of state and member delegations echoing the same call for an immediate ceasefire and a halt to the Israeli crimes in the region.

Gilbert Doctorow, PhD: 0:46
I think he made these statements at the right place and the right time. I say the right place because Iran is now a full member of BRICS, and that is a very important club. Everybody talks about the expansion awaiting BRICS and the 30 countries that have applied to join BRICS. But that is to ignore the fact that by the initiative of the Russians and with the support of the Chinese and other members of BRICS, additions to BRICS will be primarily partner countries. That very few additional member countries will be admitted.

1:27
There may be some admitted in this present summit from, particularly likely from Southeast Asia, but out of the other 30 members or 30 countries that have applied, very few are going to become part of the inner core. Iran is now in that inner core, and he is speaking alongside and is an equal in terms of the voting rights and the chances for influence alongside India, China and Russia. This is a very important forum for him to express these ideas.

PressTV: 2:06
And also in general, if you may give us your perspective on this BRICS summit, there’s been a lot of talk of challenging the current status quo, the current global order. How can BRICS move more swiftly in that direction?

Doctorow:
Well I think that Mr. Putin in his opening remarks to the expanded BRICS meeting, that is, of all the heads of government who were present last night, he expressed points directly answering your question. The common currency for BRICS is off the table. That is too complicated and would take too much time. But the improved messaging between the banks of member countries, establishing something similar to SWIFT but without the American domination, that is going to be coming rather quickly, a means of settling accounts between countries using their own national currencies. That’s going to come quickly.

3:17
But there are other very important developments that Putin set out as to-do projects that are already being pushed. Iran will benefit enormously. These include the establishment of a BRICS exchange for grain, commodity exchange for grain, thereby addressing the manipulation and speculation that has caused such high prices, unnecessarily high prices, to many of the countries of the world that have the least resources to pay for food. It will ensure global food security.

3:54
Then there are the commodity exchanges for gold and for silver. Commodity exchange for other valuables that presently up to the– historically have been dominated by the United States, by the United Kingdom, and which are there subject to American hegemony. All of that will be swept aside. Trading among the BRICS countries and keeping national reserves among the BRICS countries will be much improved, and that will benefit Iran along with the other member states of BRICS.

PressTV: 4:29
Thanks a lot to independent international affairs analyst Gilbert Doctorow, joining us from Brussels.

Translation of my introductory text into German (Andreas Mylaeus)

Die iranische Perspektive auf den BRICS-Gipfel: Ein kurzes Interview mit Press TV

Heute wurde ich eingeladen, die Rede des iranischen Präsidenten Pezeshkian auf dem BRICS-Gipfel zu kommentieren, in der er die internationale Gemeinschaft scharf dafür verurteilte, dass sie nichts unternommen hat, um den von Israel verübten Völkermord in Gaza und die mörderischen Angriffe auf den Libanon zu stoppen.

Hier ist, was ich zu sagen hatte: https://www.urmedium.net/c/presstv/131390

Die Äußerungen von Herrn Putin auf seiner Pressekonferenz nach Abschluss des Gipfels im Laufe des Tages machten deutlich, dass die privilegierte Position des Iran umso beneidenswerter ist, da es in naher Zukunft keine weiteren Neuzugänge in der Kerngruppe der BRICS geben wird. Gerüchten zufolge soll in Kürze eine Liste mit 13 Ländern veröffentlicht werden, die als Kandidaten für die Aufnahme in den Kreis der BRICS-Partnerstaaten genannt werden. In diesem Jahr werden jedoch keine neuen Mitgliedstaaten zu den bestehenden neun hinzukommen.

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Published by gilbertdoctorow

Gilbert Doctorow's latest book, "War Diaries. The Russia-Ukraine War, 2022-2023" is a unique contribution to literature on the war thanks to the author's reports on the Russian home front written during his periodic visits to St Petersburg at a time when Russia no longer issued visas and nearly all Western journalists had left the country. Doctorow's two-volume "Memoirs of a Russianist" published in 2020 also constitutes a category of its own, consisting largely of diary entries rather than reminiscences written decades later.. Volume 2 focuses on the community of 50,000 expatriate managers working and living in Moscow during the 1990s, about which none of his peers has yet to write. Gilbert Doctorow is a professional Russia watcher and actor in Russian affairs going back to 1965. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College (1967), a past Fulbright scholar, and holder of a Ph.D. with honors in history from Columbia University (1975). After completing his studies, Mr. Doctorow pursued a business career focused on the USSR and Eastern Europe. For twenty-five years he worked for US and European multinationals in marketing and general management with regional responsibility. From 1998-2002, Doctorow served as the Chairman of the Russian Booker Literary Prize in Moscow. During the 2010-2011 academic year, he was a Visiting scholar of the Harriman Institute, Columbia University. Mr. Doctorow is a long-time resident of Brussels.

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3 thoughts on “The Iranian Perspective on the BRICS Summit: A brief interview with Press TV”

  1. I might be reading too much into this but, the Iranian president at the brics conference is dressed like a westerner e.g. no tie open shirt, is this a signal to the west? The presidents of Kazakhstan and Belarus were smart enough to be dressed to fit in even though in my opinion they are somewhat interested in the Westernising and would shed crocodile tears if Russia went down.

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    1. You ARE reading too much into who wore what to the Summit. Lukashenko is bound hand and foot to Russia. Considering the threat posed to his rule and to the country of Belarus by the ‘pretender to the throne’ who is bscked by Poland and Lithuania, ready to invade his country at any moment, the idea that Lukashenko would abandon Putin and Russia is out of the question. As for Tokayev of Kazakhstan, he is a graduate of MGIMO, he is fluent in Mandarin and has close ties to China, and his rule was saved a couple of years ago from a Western sponsored color revolution by Russian intervention. Do you mean to say that he will double cross Putin? Also out of the question

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      1. Hello Gilbert,

        I agree that Belarus is now locked to Russia but Lukashenko was playing both sides of the street until the attempted coup d’Etat against him at the last election, according to some of the Russian news outlets I read (translated). Kazakhstan is between a rock and a hard place e.g. Russia and China but according to the same Russian news outlets is playing all sides, like Turkiye seems to be doing. what I meant was that if Russia did go down these countries would have more room to maneuver, Just like Germany and western europe would have if Russia was victorious (which I hope they are).

        Just the musing of an old man interested, curious and privileged to bear witness of the beginnings of a more fair world.

        Jeles Staats.

        PS, President Putin id using the word FAIR quite a bit now.

        https://topwar.ru/ one of my Russian sources.

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