An event held at the Russian Embassy titled “BRICS 2.0—A Metamorphosis of Globalization,” sponsored by Russia Direct, a monthly magazine with news on Russia, brought together some pro-BRICS intellectuals to counter much of the recent slander about the alleged imminent break-up of the BRICS. While much of what they said was of some interest, most of the presentations were narrowly focused on particular items of the BRICS agenda, without really getting to the heart of the matter.

Most interesting, however, was the presentation by Aleksei Mozhin, the Executive Director of the IMF for Russia.  He noted that the BRICS configuration came out of the aftermath of the G20 Pittsburgh summit in 2009. 

In the Q&A, the first question was asked by EIR‘s Bill Jones.  Referring positively to what Mozhin had said, Jones continued, “That crisis is still ongoing and getting worse.  One too-big-to-fail bank today would set off an unequaled systemic crisis.  Total debt, including derivatives and other exotic instruments, is estimated at $2 quadrillion.  This can never be paid, no matter how much austerity is imposed on the world’s population.  The establishment of the BRICS and AIIB, as well as the Silk Road Economic Belt, represents a new trajectory, away from the insanity of a bankrupt speculative financial system, toward a system based on credit for infrastructure.  While Europe and the U.S. still feel that they are stakeholders in this failed system, the reality of the economic collapse will force them to revise that judgment.  And anyone who looks at the total collapse of infrastructure in the United States will understand the mood-swings. This trajectory, of BRICS, the AIIB, and the Silk Road, is the only possible trajectory for humanity today, because continuing on the other path will lead to total devastation.”

Almost all of the speakers nodded agreement as Jones spoke.

Mozhin responded,

US Secretary of State John Kerry told the Financial Times on Wednesday in regard to the COP 21 Global Warming Conference in Paris: “It’s definitively not going to be a treaty… They’re not going to be legally binding reduction targets like Kyoto or something.”

French President Hollande went berzerk. “If the agreement is not legally binding, there will be no agreement,” he told the international press in Malta on the sidelines of the EU-Africa migration conference. “I know how difficult it is,” Hollande said, in reference to the opposition to a binding agreement in the US Congress. “But we must give the Paris agreement, if there is one, a binding character in the sense that the commitments that are made must be kept and respected.”

The Guardian reported that a global poll last week found that residents of China and the US were among the least concerned about climate change.

The spokesman for the EU Climate Commission, Miquel Arias Canete, said in response to Kerry’s comment, “The Paris agreement must be an international legally binding agreement.” French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius had said it was obvious that any agreement in Paris would contain legally binding elements, and suggested that Kerry was “confused” about the point.

It is not just the US Congress, of course, but India and China, which will not submit to binding suicide in Paris, as they refused to do in Copenhagen in 2009.

There is no comment as yet from the White House. 

British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, a confirmed republican, attended his first session of the Queen’s Privy Council and did not kneel before the Queen when he was sworn in as a member.  The custom is to kneel on a stool before kissing the Queen’s hand.  According to the Guardian Buckingham Palace does not force Privy Council members to do things they are not comfortable with.  Speaking to ITV News before the ceremony, Corbyn said, “I don’t expect to be kneeling at all, no.  I expect to be nominated to the Privy Council and that’s it.”

The Guardian quotes the Royal Encyclopedia on the protocol: “The new privy counselor or minister will extend his or her right hand, palm upwards, and, taking the Queen’s hand lightly, will kiss it with no more than a touch of the lips.” They are also to swear to defend the monarch against “all foreign princes, persons, prelates, states or potentates.”

The late Labour cabinet minister Tony Benn said in his diaries that he kissed his own thumb instead of the Queen’s hand.

Corbyn now has the privilege of being called “Right Honorable” as a title.  More important, membership in the council entitles Corbyn to access to security information and briefings.