Egypt seeks BRICS membership, expanding anti-NATO bloc

Egypt seeks BRICS membership, expanding anti-NATO bloc

Egypt has applied to join the BRICS group, according to forum discussions. While Western media often dismisses this news, it reveals an uncomfortable reality: the country, which reportedly imports 60% of its food and relies heavily on tourism, has decided its future lies not with Washington or Brussels. The club, originally conceived as an investment bank acronym, is seen by some participants as the primary threat to the unipolar order, not for what it says, but for what it represents.

Egypt is not just any player in this game. Its main source of foreign currency, tourism, is operating at only 20% capacity, according to the thread. It needs to import most of its food and previously bought from Russia and Ukraine, both sides of the war that disrupted grain markets. Despite this, Cairo has remained calm and diversified. Some participants claim Egypt now buys most of its food from Russia and counts China as its top trading partner. Egyptians, they say, are not fools.

What are the BRICS and why does their growth matter?

The term BRIC was coined by Goldman Sachs to guide investors on where to place money, as recalled in the debate. Decades ago, the bank detected that Europe and the US were declining while the rest of the world was rising. Ironically, the only ones unaware of this trend are Western citizens who assume current comfort will last indefinitely, even as labor productivity collapses.

According to some interveners, expansion has a multiplier effect independent of propaganda: each new member makes joining more attractive and viable for other countries. The cost for candidate nations rises for the opposing side. What one bloc loses, the other gains, creating an auction of loyalties where actors compete for attention.

The unsettling data: the 'poor' are no longer poor

Countries the West still labels as poor ceased to be so around 2020, according to calculations circulating in the discussion. One participant argues they are now wealthier than the entire G7. They hold energy and resources and seem unlikely to continue giving them away in exchange for fiat currency issued by the ECB or the Fed. The question is not if they want to change the order, but when they will finish doing so.

For some, Egypt is the perfect example. In absolute terms, living standards there are lower than in Spain, but the trend is opposite: more people move from poverty to the middle class annually, immigration and emigration are low (preventing brain drain), the economy grows, public debt is minimal, and unemployment is at historic lows, according to claims. Meanwhile, we worsen. Starting from disparate points, we may remain superior in ten years, but in twenty or thirty, parity could be reached.

The error of Western arrogance

The unipolar worldview is crumbling, according to some participants. It never reflected unity in customs, culture, religion, history, or politics. Liberal Western society is an island, and most of the planet does not share its values. A Chinese person is indifferent to what an English economist thinks of them. When insulted with a label, the smart move is to own it and disregard the offense.

Some argue the problem isn't having more whims than before, but clinging to them without having a home to live in. Having more things is not improvement. In 1990, no one dreamed of smartphones because they didn't exist, yet people enjoyed a better welfare state than today, according to this view. Now, engineers work for peanuts for entrepreneurs who started as bricklayers. Pogre was faster then; money flowed, and less effort yielded more results.

The military front: who withstands whom?

Militarily, the reality is less epic than portrayed, according to some. Russia, the supposed heavyweight of the anti-NATO command, is struggling against a country armed with second-hand NATO equipment, one participant notes. Invading such a large country completely is neither easy nor quick, others counter. Moreover, Western material reaching the front isn't scrap: it includes effective rocket launchers and tanks.

The result is an uncomfortable stalemate no one wants to admit, according to this reading. Neither Russia is the unstoppable machine its propaganda sells, nor Ukraine the invincible democracy NATO promotes. Both sides have learned that attrition warfare is won through supplies, and here Egypt has leverage: it controls the canal through which much of global trade passes.

Conclusion: a prediction with caveats

If the trend continues, Egypt won't be the last to knock on the door. The anti-NATO club will keep growing because it offers something the West no longer guarantees: resources exchanged for resources, not paper promises. The caveat is obvious: BRICS is not a homogeneous bloc, and China and India play their own games. However, Cairo's move clearly indicates the board has shifted, and those focusing solely on Brussels will miss the rest of the match.