PARTICULARLY for the Philippines, the advantages of being a member of Brics were highlighted in the group's summit held in Kazan, Russia, last week.
According to the communique issued at the end of the event, Russian President Vladimir Putin had purposely hosted the summit in order to show to the world that the United States' sanction against Russia for carrying out the "special military operation" in Ukraine has failed. In fact, early in the war when Russia countered with its own sanction by withholding its gas supply to NATO countries, people there felt the terrible ache of not having heat to endure the cold of winter. The overall sentiments of political analysts were that the NATO sanctions then had boomeranged. It turned out that Russia has almost a monopoly of gas supply in Europe, and in the case of oil, the second-largest supplier. This should mean that reduced to economics, the war in Ukraine has Russia miles ahead. The reason why Russia has held back on its punches, so to speak, is that, as Putin has worded it, conscious of Russia's defense capabilities, "I will not be the first to use nuclear power. Neither will I be the second."
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