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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Secret_Agent_Man who wrote (218993)	1/5/2026 10:54:34 PM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 219927

re <<bla>> ... such a cynic :0))))))) and )

To: Secret_Agent_Man who wrote (218993)	1/6/2026 12:23:11 AM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 219927

Did you say <<brics>> ? Coincidence or synchronicity … amp.scmp.com China to lead joint naval drills with Brics nations in South African watersIt is the first defence cooperation under the Brics framework, with the Russian and Iranian navies reportedly taking part Jevans Nyabiage 2:02pm, 3 Jan 2026 China will lead a joint naval exercise with Brics nations in South African waters next week – the bloc’s first such defence cooperation that is likely to raise alarm bells in Washington. The South African National Defence Force on Wednesday said the exercise – dubbed Will for Peace 2026 – would bring together “navies from Brics Plus countries for an intensive programme of joint maritime safety operations, interoperability drills and maritime protection serials” from January 9 to 16. It said China would lead the exercise but did not specify which other countries would attend. Media reports have named Russia and Iran as participants, with Indonesia and Ethiopia also likely to take part. According to South Africa’s defence ministry, the joint exercise “reflects the collective commitment of all participating navies to safeguard maritime trade routes, enhance shared operational procedures and deepen cooperation in support of peaceful maritime security initiatives”. The joint drills were previously known as Exercise Mosi and held by China, South Africa and Russia in 2019 and 2023. The latest exercise was originally planned for November 2025 but postponed to avoid clashing with the Group of 20summit in Johannesburg. Brics – originally comprising the emerging economies of Brazil, China, Russia, India and South Africa – expanded from 2023 to include Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates. The bloc has mainly focused on economic cooperation and though it has started to play a bigger role in geopolitical issues there has not yet been any defence cooperation under the Brics framework. As rivalry between the US and China has intensified in recent years, Beijing has touted Brics as a key platform for the Global South to challenge US dominance of the global order. US President Donald Trump has vowed to impose trade sanctions if the group takes moves to dethrone the dollar. China has sent its Type 052DL guided-missile destroyer the Tangshan, and its Taihu supply ship to take part in next week’s drills, African news portal DefenceWeb reported on Tuesday. The two vessels – which are part of China’s naval escort taskforce in the Gulf of Aden – stopped in Mombasa, Kenya last Wednesday for maintenance before continuing south. Iran and Russia have also sent warships to South Africa this week, according to media reports. Paul Nantulya, an expert on the Chinese military at the US National Defence University’s Africa Centre for Strategic Studies, said the exercise continued a pattern of reassigning units already on counter-piracy duty for regional drills and port calls. But he said the involvement of Iran – whose tensions with America deepened after the US carried out air strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites in June – and the rebranding of the drills as a Brics event may mark a departure from the previous two exercises. “While this specific drill follows a routine pattern for the [People’s Liberation Army], it remains part of a broader trend of expanding Chinese militaryengagement that is likely to continue throughout 2026,” Nantulya added. He said the PLA “increasingly sees itself as a global force” and that operating with diverse foreign forces “strengthens its operational capacity and enables it to achieve a level of interoperability with selected partners”. Mihaela Papa, director of research and principal research scientist at the MIT Centre for International Studies in the US, noted that China avoided formal military alliances. “[China] instead relies on flexible security cooperation with key non-Western partners, using joint exercises to signal presence and improve operational coordination,” she said. Analysts also said expanding the joint exercise could undermine Pretoria’s claim of neutrality and put further strain on its relations with the West. South Africa’s Democratic Alliance, a party in the coalition government, said hosting sanctioned states risked alienating vital Western trading partners. DA defence spokesman Chris Hattingh told local media that hosting Iran and Russia made it “increasingly difficult for the government to maintain that South Africa is genuinely pursuing a policy of non-alignment”. Francois Vrey, a professor emeritus of military science at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, said conducting joint drills with sanctioned nations could worsen relations with the US. That relationship has soured since Trump returned to the White House, particularly over Pretoria’s land reform policy, a freeze on US aid, and trade. According to Papa, while strained ties with Washington had reinforced Pretoria’s desire for “strategic autonomy”, South Africa’s leverage remained limited as the US deprioritised African security. Jevans NyabiageAfrica Correspondent