Dear Colleagues,

In this newsletter issue we first come back on the BRICS+ summit in Brazil, both from a global health angle and broader. On the latter,  Oliver Stuenkel probably nailed it with respect to Trump’s  Truth Social “messaging”: “Labeling BRICS as “anti-American” ignores the obvious: most members, except Russia and Iran, have deep U.S. ties. Trump’s real goal? Raise the cost of multialignment—for countries wanting good ties with both Washington and Beijing.”    In other words, the “balancing act” for countries like India, Saudi Arabia and quite a few others (including some considering to join the grouping), is getting harder.  Others have already coined the term ‘hedged globalization’  whereby countries cultivate networks of diverse partnerships that limit their exposure to either superpower. (On a side note, I quite enjoyed Lula’s framing of  IMF and WB as “a reversed Marshall Plan”, even if it’s perhaps a tad exaggerated.  But I’m guessing Attiya Waris and Lyla...