Does our world possess clearsighted leaders? Such a question must be asked when a grave and common threat looms up. Or when serious thinkers perceive it exists. Does the havoc that uncontrollable AI may wreak on our planet, joined to the fear that AI may in fact be uncontrollable, constitute such a threat?
I don’t know, and will say nothing about “Wild AI.”
The global leadership question was however invited by the BRICS summit that ended in New Delhi on Sept 13, where Putin was a central figure. According to the Hindustan Times, “Vladimir Putin used his BRICS address to declare (on Sept 11) that the world’s ‘old leaders’ are being replaced by new engines of economic growth. The Russian president said BRICS states produced more than 40 percent of global GDP over the past five years, compared with 29 percent for the G7, while blaming Western sanctions for debt, deficits and industrial decline.
“Putin also argued that over 30,000 sanctions had failed to break Russia, instead strengthening its economic sovereignty. With India, China and other BRICS powers expanding their influence,” asked the Hindustan Times, “is Putin declaring that the West’s era of global economic dominance is ending?”
“Members” & “Partners”
Whatever Putin may have said, no one can claim that BRICS – named after Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – is emerging as a stable alliance. The other BRICS members are Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. In addition to these 11 “member” countries, ten are named as BRICS “partners”: Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
According to the Indian Express, the BRICS summit adopted (on Sept 12) “the New Delhi Declaration, laying out common positions on issues ranging from trade and terrorism to artificial intelligence and institutional reform. The group expressed concern over rising tensions and condemned the use of tariffs.” Adds the Express: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held a gala dinner on Sept 12 for the leaders of the BRICS nations. Apart from the leaders of the participating countries, [India’s] union ministers and chief ministers of several [Indian] states were also present. Notable absentees included Chinese President Xi Jinping and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed.
Skips the Banquet
Xi skipping the banquet was certainly curious. As for eighty-year-old Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, better known by the single word Lula, he did not join the Delhi summit because he is concentrating on his country’s elections next month. Lula desires a fourth term. His chief opponent will be Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the imprisoned former president, Lula’s old rival and Trump’s ally, Jair Bolsonaro.
Most BRICS members and partners have close, in fact indispensable, economic relations with the US and with Western Europe. Some BRICS members have fierce rivalries with other BRICS members, Saudi Arabia with the UAE, for instance. Moreover, BRICS members Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have military alliances with the US.
In an apparent sign of diplomatic progress between Tehran and Abu Dhabi, who’ve been divided by the war in the Middle East, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sept 13 that the two countries want to “turn the page” on the conflict.
“We had a constructive exchange with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi,” Pezeshkian said a day after a meeting with Sheikh Khaled Bin Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.
“It was agreed that we would turn the page, look to the future and build it together,” he added.
Meanwhile, Trump said (Sept 13) that he “does not care” if Gulf countries meet with Iran to speak about the future of the Strait of Hormuz and said that it was “up to them” if they meet senior Iranian officials for talks.
Do Interests Align?
Can a grouping like BRICS be strong when two of its founding members, China and India, are neighbors in sharp disagreement over the border between them? Whose armed soldiers face one another at several points on a long border?
Another question may be even weightier. Given the size and depth of people-to-people relations between India and the Western world, and the comparative paucity of such relations between India and China, or between India and Russia, can BRICS really be stronger than the alliance of interests between, for example, Washington and New Delhi?
Also pertinent is this question: given the huge losses Russia has suffered in its war with Ukraine (which may have taken equal or bigger hits), can BRICS compete with a combination of the world’s democracies, even when the latter’s mutual bickering is as loud as it is today?
Its theoretical potential may seem vast, but in actuality BRICS is not yet much more than a grand show. Next year, we might mark, the BRICS summit will take place in Beijing.
AfD’s Success In Saxony-Anhalt
The small, landlocked state of Saxony-Anhalt, one of Germany’s 16 units, lies in the large space between the cities of Hanover to its west and Berlin to its east; it has a population of around 2.14 million out of a national total of 83.5 million. Prior to Germany’s 1990 reunification, Saxony-Anhalt was part of the German Democratic Republic (or GDR), as Communist East Germany was formally called. More than 80 percent of those living in Saxony-Anhalt have no religious affiliation, Wikipedia informs us.
What are we to make of the electoral success in this Saxony-Anhalt of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)? Did the party succeed because it opposed immigration, underlined German nationalism rather than European unity, and called on Germans to move away from guilt for Nazi crimes towards pride in Germany’s national qualities?
We may not have the answers, but perhaps much of the pro-AfD vote reflected dissatisfaction with Germany’s current economy and with the traditional Christian and Socialist parties presently running the country. The extent of conscious support for AfD’s agenda may be hard to gauge. We may mark, however, that Elon Musk was “thrilled” by the result. According to The Guardian, Musk posted “Gut gemacht!” – the German phrase for “well done” – on X when the results came in and expressed happiness in a dozen other ways too.
A hundred years ago, after their nation’s defeat in World War I, many Germans had bought the convenient theory that a small minority, their country’s Jews, were a big reason for the defeat and for Germany’s problems generally. We know what happened as a result of Germany’s appetite for that theory.
A century later, will large sections of Germany now fall for the line that immigrants from other parts of the world, and Muslim immigrants in particular, constitute their biggest obstacle? Wikipedia tells us that in 2025 Germany had between 6.6 to 7 million Muslims with a migrant background, which came to 8 to 8.5 percent of the population.
Germany’s “Non-Germans”
The German government provides statistics on the country’s “foreign” population, which numbered around 14 million on Dec 31, 2025. Of these, close to 12.4 million were born outside Germany. More than two-thirds of these 12.4 million, nearly 8.4 million, were born in 18 European countries. Of the Muslims now living in Germany, the great majority have origins in Turkey, which is seen as a European country, or in Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq.
Non-Muslim “foreigners” in Germany greatly outnumber Muslim ones, with Ukraine, Romania, Poland, and Italy leading this largely European list.
For any German or non-German today to conclude that Germany’s problems emanate primarily from its immigrants or its Muslims – whether these Muslims are Asian, Middle Eastern, or European -- would be as devoid of rationality as it was when Germans in the 1920s and 1930s thought that Jews had created most of their difficulties.
It is not comforting to find that for many in Germany, France and elsewhere in Europe, and in the UK, “Muslims” have replaced “Jews” as the “explanation” for the woes they feel. Until his defeat in April of this year at the hands of Peter Magyar, Hungary’s Viktor Orban blamed Muslims, immigrants, and multiculturalism for his country’s problems. One hopes that strong young voices will soon be heard in Germany, France, and elsewhere in Europe that make a more convincing diagnosis. And that more persuasive solutions will be offered than the ones with which AfD managed to impress Saxony-Anhalt.
Still Unfree & Untried
Six years ago, on Sept 13, 2020, Delhi-born Umar Khalid, talented young scholar, thinker, and activist, was seized on allegations of masterminding riots that had taken place in February of that year in India’s capital. The law invoked for his arrest was the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, India’s primary legal measure against terrorism and secession. “Sources” claimed that the government possessed “solid evidence” against him.
Umar Khalid has not been allowed any bail since then. No clear statement of charges against him has been provided. No trial has begun. Thirty-three when arrested, Umar is 39 now. His PhD thesis on the Adivasis of Jharkhand has been published as a book, but Umar Khalid remains behind bars. His continuing incarceration without trial creates a blot on India’s democracy that no summit or PR exercise can dissolve.
Thanks to brilliant, assiduous, and courageous YouTubers – Ravish Kumar, Akash Banerjee, and others – that blot has been viewed by scores of millions of Indians. Now that India’s mood seems to have changed, will the Modi government be under pressure to start a trial or permit Umar Khalid’s release on bail?
