BRICS is a response to the ‘odious’ Western system – former Pentagon official

Washington’s “weaponization” of the dollar will drive more countries toward the economic group, Michael Maloof has predicted

This week’s BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan will entice more countries to join the growing group, and Washington only has itself to blame, former Pentagon analyst Michael Maloof told ex-British MP George Galloway on Sunday.

Speaking on Galloway’s Mother of All Talk Shows (MOATS), Maloof applauded Russian President Vladimir Putin for recognizing that countless states around the world are seeking a more inclusive economic system and looking, in Maloof’s words, “to get out from under the odious sanctions of the West and the financial system that has really encumbered them.”

“The United States is in charge of the ‘Rules Based Order’, which means that they can not only make the rules, but break them at will, and we’ve seen this constantly in its own decision making. And the world is saying ‘we’ve seen enough of this crap,’” he told Galloway.

”We’re going to be seeing challenges to the hegemony of the dollar, [and] the weaponization of the dollar and the Western system, and we’re already seeing mechanisms that will be offered at this summit this week,” he continued.

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After it was effectively excommunicated from the Western financial system over the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Russia stepped up its efforts to settle foreign trade in rubles and other currencies. “We did not refuse to settle transactions in dollars. Rather, we were refused, and were simply forced to look for other options,” Putin explained at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok last month.

Putin noted that Russia and its BRICS partners are now using national currencies in 65% of mutual trade settlements. According to Reuters, Russia will propose a new blockchain-based international financial system at this week’s summit. While Moscow has not commented on Reuters’ report, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov previously told RT that Moscow and other BRICS countries are working on a new cross-border payment infrastructure independent of the Western SWIFT system.

The willingness of the US and its allies to weaponize the dollar and shut rival powers out of the Western system has pushed even Washington-friendly countries like Brazil, India, and the UAE to seek alternate arrangements, Maloof said. This, coupled with the fact that sanctions have driven Russia and China into an ever-closer partnership, demonstrates that “you don’t see strategic thinking coming out of the United States anymore,” he told Galloway.

READ MORE: BRICS to discuss new global financial system – Reuters

BRICS was originally founded in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining in 2011. Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates joined in January 2024. Saudi Arabia has yet to ratify its membership after being invited to join.

Russia currently chairs the group. More than 30 nations, including NATO member Türkiye, have applied to join.