Saudi Arabia Joins BRICS (bloomberg.com)

Must be nice for despotic states to share their woes with each other.

BRICS could have been something. But Xi wants a posse, so they’re over expanding it to (a) counterbalance India and (b) give Xi photo shoots with a bunch of world leaders. That at the expense of a narrow group of heavyweights who can move mountains.

China traded a G-7 competitor for a discount League of Nations.