🚨⚔️Global South strikes back: US tariff threats turning BRICS into full-fledged economic alliance

🇧🇷Brazilian President Lula da Silva’s “explicit call for a collective BRICS response to the latest US tariffs underscores the alliance's increasing cohesion and political assertiveness on the global stage,” Hong Kong-based political and financial Angelo Giuliano told Sputnik, commenting on the bloc’s surprise new show of unity in rejecting Washington’s tariff threats.

While details on specific countermeasures BRICS could take remain unclear, Giuliano can think of a whole series of steps, including:

🟠ramping up trade in local currencies
🟠“strengthening the operational capacity and lending power of the New Development Bank
🟠developing and promoting alternatives to SWIFT
🟠“mounting a coordinated challenge against US tariffs” through the WTO

“Cumulatively, these steps could significantly undermine the US dollar’s global dominance,” weakening Washington economically and “eroding” the “geopolitical leverage” it derives from its financial primacy, Giuliano says.

➕What’s more, the BRICS bloc didn’t arrive to this point overnight, the analyst stressed, pointing to the years the bloc spent on institution-building, and the growing collective economic power of its members, “amplified” even further by the recent expansion.

👉US provocations, from the latest tariffs to the persistent use of sanctions, has served to “galvanize unity within the bloc.”

👉US policymakers, who “significantly underestimated BRICS” for years and dismissing the bloc “as inherently fragmented and incapable of meaningful collective action,” are now finding out the hard way that this is no longer the case.

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🇮🇳⚔️🇺🇸Indian defiance shows US tariff threats are futile in multipolar world

India refuses to be strong-armed into choosing sides by US tariffs, Aravind Yelery, Associate Professor at the Centre for East Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Sputnik.

🔍The country is challenging the “American-dominated matrix,” noted Yelery, who is also an Honorary Fellow at the Indian Institute of Chinese Studies.

“India’s participation in the alternative world order — the Global South — is increasingly seen as compromising Western domination.”

✅Strategic autonomy

India’s approach is rooted in a clear determination to forge its own path.

Unlike Europe, it views its ties with Russia and China through a pragmatic lens.

US tariffs have only pushed India and China closer, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to visit China for the first time in seven years to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

✅Multilateralism over muscle

Through platforms like BRICS and SCO, India backs a world of cooperation over coercion.

It sees the US tariff policy as “reactive and ill-calculated,” further strengthening its resolve to deepen ties with emerging powers.

India never viewed the Quad group of Australia, India, Japan, and the US as a military alliance, but rather as a platform for sustainable collaboration.

“The summit-level participation of the Indian Prime Minister at BRICS events, as well as the upcoming SCO meeting, underscores the growing significance of multilateralism and the surging role of developing economies in balancing global growth,” Yelery said.

Increasing American isolation — through sanctions, tariffs and erratic policies — only accelerates global realignment, the analyst warned.

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🔍US control over Zangezur Corridor could spell danger to BRICS

The looming deal between the US, Armenia and Azerbaijan could further destabilize the region instead of bringing peace, Karen Igityan, political analyst and Deputy Director of the Armenian Research Institute (ARI), tells Sputnik.

❓What does he mean?

The US seeks control over the Caucasus

🟠To hinder the International North–South Transport Corridor, developed by Russia and its BRICS partners
🟠To create Western-controlled trade and energy routes between Central Asia and Turkiye, bypassing Russia and Iran

Isolating Russia from Iran

Russia and Iran currently have two main routes for communication through the Caucasus:

⚫️Iran–Armenia–Georgia–Russia

⚫️Iran–Azerbaijan–Russia

If the Zangezur Corridor project is implemented, only the Azerbaijan route will remain, Igityan warns.

Armenia to lose its transit role

🟠"Armenia will lose its status as a transit country, which it currently holds as part of the North–South international transport corridor. The Pashinyan government's hopes to implement the so-called 'Crossroads of Peace' and secure East–West transit are unrealistic."
🟠The US will isolate Armenia from Iran
🟠Having ceded control over the Zangezur Corridor to the US, Armenia will lose sovereignty over its own border and strategic territory

Threat to Eurasian stability

🟠"The most important strategic function of the Zangezur Corridor for the US is the ability to supply weapons to Central Asia without oversight."
🟠The US may attempt to escalate the regional situation following a Ukraine-like scenario
🟠That could be used to contain Russia and its BRICS partners, including Iran and China

Armenia shoots itself in the foot

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol "Pashinyan is not acting in Armenia’s national interest, but rather in his own and in the interests of the external forces that brought him to power and keep him there," Igityan stresses.

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🚨🇷🇺🇿🇦Putin spoke by phone with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa

The Russian President shared the key outcomes of the recent meeting with Witkoff with his counterpart

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🗣US shot itself in the foot by targeting all BRICS countries at once

“This is the first instance that all the BRICS countries have been specifically targeted by a US president,” Dr. Raj Kumar Sharma told Sputnik, commenting on President Lula of Brazil’s plans to discuss a joint response to Trump’s new tariffs with bloc allies.

🔍This signals “that the US is worried about the potential of BRICS countries to shape a non-Western world order,” Sharma, a senior research fellow at the New Delhi-based NatStrat think tank, says, pointing out that Washington appears to now realize that the BRICS “can come together to push against” US hegemony.

“Washington may have underestimated BRICS. Initially, the group was largely dismissed by Western observers, particularly after economic slowdowns in some member countries. However, BRICS has persisted and even expanded, with a growing focus on challenging the US dollar's dominance in global trade and finance. This suggests a potential miscalculation by Washington regarding the group's long-term impact and influence,” the scholar says.

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🗣Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkiye would lose from US Zangezur plan

The transfer of control over the Zangezur corridor to the US is a betrayal toward both Russia and Armenian people by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Yevgeny Mikhailov, Director of the Center for Strategic Studies of the South Caucasus Countries, tells Sputnik.

Armenia's sovereignty under threat

🟠“The Americans are now trying to take control of trade routes everywhere, including pushing into the South Caucasus—right on the doorstep of Russia and Iran,” Mikhailov says
🟠Ceding territory to foreign powers could lead to a complete loss of Armenia's sovereignty and a further decline in living standards
🟠Armenia is already losing sovereignty due to its unequal ties with the West, unlike its more balanced relationship with Russia

What was in the Azerbaijan-Armenian peace plan?

🟠The original Karabakh ceasefire agreement included all steps for resolving issues between Azerbaijan and Armenia, including the opening of the Zangezur corridor
🟠The key condition was that the corridor would be controlled by Russian border guards
🟠Now Armenia is being fully subjugated by the West

Will Turkiye and Azerbaijan benefit from the plan?

🟠The Zangezur corridor is meant to link Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave and further to Turkiye. But will they benefit from US control?
🟠US involvement aims to gain full dominance over the region and to weaken both Azerbaijan and Turkiye, Mikhailov warns
🟠That represents "a prolonged future threat" to the South Caucasus

"Pashinyan pursues purely personal goals in this matter. Increasingly, he resembles Zelensky, but on a smaller scale," Mikhailov says.

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🟠Putin and Trump to meet next week — Putin's aide

🟠UAE one of suitable places for meeting with Trump - Putin

🟠Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkiye would lose from US Zangezur plan

🟠US shot itself in the foot by targeting all BRICS countries at once

🟠US control over Zangezur Corridor could spell danger to BRICS

🟠Indian defiance shows US tariff threats are futile in multipolar world

🟠Global South strikes back: US tariff threats turning BRICS into full-fledged economic alliance

🟠Pashinyan selling off Armenia’s sovereignty to the West: here’s what it means for South Caucasus

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🚨 Putin–Trump meeting has NO Zelensky prerequisite — Trump

💬 “No, he doesn't,” US President Donald Trump said when asked if a meeting between Putin and Zelensky was a prerequisite for a potential Trump–Putin meeting.

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🗣Armenia cornered into unfavorable deal as Pashinyan claims 'no alternative'

🇦🇲Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s acceptance of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev's demands offers no guarantee that new ones won’t follow, Migran Shahzadeyan, Chairman of the Board of the Armenian Association of Political Scientists, told Sputnik.

"This is a common practice in conflict negotiations. The Armenian side is being forced into this path, allegedly due to the lack of a better alternative — what international practice calls the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA).”

❓Does he really lack an alternative?

🟠Pashinyan’s actions reveal a striking lack of professionalism
🟠His government seems unaware of international law, lacks diplomatic skills and has no strategic vision
🟠Many suspect external influence and attempts to mask a plan of creating an ‘extraterritorial’ Zangezur corridor
🟠Talk of outsourcing control over Armenian infrastructure clearly violates the Republic’s sovereignty and international legal norms

🔍Zangezur corridor

👉Who benefits?

🟠Not Armenia and not even Azerbaijan, but Turkiye and the US

🟠“People often think of the Zangezur corridor as an Azerbaijani demand, but its biggest strategic value lies with Turkiye,” Shahzadeyan says.

“It offers the shortest and most direct access to the Caspian and Central Asia — enabling control over East–West trade routes from China.”

🟠"Through Turkiye, Washington is advancing its confrontation with China, Russia and Iran.”

👉Crossroads of geopolitical rivalries

“Pashinyan keeps promoting his ‘Crossroads of Peace’ vision for the South Caucasus. But this region has become a crossroads of geopolitical rivalries, not peace,” Shahzadeyan warns. “It is a critical hub for land-based transport, energy routes, and infrastructure — a space where the interests of Russia, Iran, and China clash with those of Turkiye and the collective West.”

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🗣US-backed Armenia-Azerbaijan ‘peace’ push aimed at marginalizing Russia - analyst

💬 “The possible signing of an agreement” between Armenia and Azerbaijan “can no longer be analyzed solely from the point of view of resolving a bilateral conflict,” says Hirad Mahiri, director of the Russian Foreign Policy and Caucasus Research Group, commenting on the upcoming meeting of Armenia’s prime minister and Azerbaijan president in Washington on Friday to sign a ‘peace’ deal.
US aims, which include securing access to a proposed strategic overland transit route known as the Zangezur Corridor, “is part of a larger strategy to rethink the regional order, with the aim of weakening Russia’s position and integrating the three South Caucasus republics – Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, into the orbit of Western interests,” Mahiri stresses.

The integration of Western security and economic interests is helped along by Armenia’s Prime Minister Pashinyan, who “is no longer an independent actor, but a piece of a puzzle of geopolitical pressure on Russia,” according to the observer.

💬 “Yerevan’s gradual rapprochement with transatlantic structures and rejection of long-standing strategic ties with Russia is taking place against the backdrop of ongoing security issues and a legitimacy crisis in Armenia,” Mahiri said, referring to the escalating conflict between Pashinyan and Armenia’s Orthodox Church.

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🇮🇷 US Sanctions 18 entities linked to Iran — State Department

The US has announced new sanctions targeting 18 individuals and entities accused of facilitating Iran’s sanctions evasion and supporting internal repression, according to a statement by the State Department.

Sanctioned targets include financial and IT firms, one of which allegedly helped Iranian security services restrict internet access for citizens.

The US said it would continue efforts to block Iran's access to global financial systems.

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🚨🇦🇲🔍Armenia biggest loser in US-brokered deal

All decisions at a trilateral meeting of the leaders of the US, Azerbaijan and Armenia will be made at Armenia’s expense, according to Sputnik columnist Arman Abovyan.

"The memorandum of intent expected to be signed during the negotiations is essentially a 'worthless scrap of paper' — yet it carries serious geopolitical weight," he notes.

The memo marks a shift in the regional balance:

🟠The US, through Azerbaijan and Armenia, is asserting dominance while pushing out Iran and Russia.
🟠Turkiye — a fellow NATO member — will also reap geopolitical benefits.

A US PR coup?

🟠US affairs expert Dmitry Drobnitsky suggests that the Trump administration is just "engaged in PR"
🟠Not a single peace deal has been struck in the past 80 years under US mediation
🟠Observers have noted that the document’s ratification would give President Donald Trump the major "diplomatic achievement" he has sought since last month

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📉🚛 Far fewer aid trucks entering Gaza than expected — reports

According to a confidential EU document seen by Euroactiv, only 38 trucks per day entered Gaza between 31 July and 4 August — far below the 160 per day the EU expects under a deal recently reached with Israel.

The UN warns that 500–600 trucks daily are needed to avoid further famine. Israel claims higher figures by counting commercial and GHF deliveries, but the UN says many trucks remain undistributed due to security issues.

Fuel supplies have slightly improved, with 874,000 liters delivered in one week, but the UN says this covers only basic life-saving operations and more is urgently needed.

EU officials say they rely on UN data and admit, “we are not where we would want to be.”

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🗣US tariff barrage giving unprecedented new impetus to BRICS unity - observer

“BRICS has always been about creating alternatives in development finance and reforming international financial institutions. But the scale and scope" of the current administration's disruptive policies has become “so rapid that the BRICS agenda has gained new momentum,” Ashraf Patel told Sputnik, commenting on President Lula of Brazil’s surprise announcement that he would consult with BRICS bloc allies on a response to US tariffs.

🇧🇷Lula’s comments signal a “more decisive push” toward BRICS unity in the context of US trade wars with the globe, the South African Institute for Global Dialogue research associate said, highlighting Brazil, South Africa and India’s place “in the firing line” of the US president and Treasury on trade, despite generally warm relations with Washington.

🇺🇸US attempts to bully BRICS countries into submission has proven a strategic mistake, Patel says, pointing out that the “fact that the US is imposing tariff on ally India and that Prime Minister Modi is going to visit China soon shows how rapid the geopolitical dynamic is and how strong BRICS cohesion currently is.”

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🚨 Netanyahu’s Gaza City offensive APPROVED — reports

Israel’s security cabinet has reportedly approved a plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the IDF to launch a full-scale operation to conquer Gaza City, The Times of Israel reported, citing Axios and an Israeli official.

Until now, the IDF has largely avoided entering key parts of the city since the war began. The proposed operation is expected to require the mass evacuation of around 800,000 civilians currently residing in the area.

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