g'day StR this is a reply to your post just prior to mid-day......
much of what you have written is spot on, and thanks for reminding us of the Whitlam, (who was undermined by the CIA and regime changed), Hawke and Keating legacy. Though I would argue that Howard was the beneficiary of the Iron Ore boom, a master of the fear campaign and a war criminal along with Bush and Blair.
Deng definitely started the ball rolling in China, while Xi has kept it rolling along. It can't be easy managing 1.4 billion people. There are big problems in China but no more than any other country. Is it China's fault that the world came to them and said "can you make this for us?".
There is probably a fair amount of truth in what you say has shaped Putin. However I would argue that Putin is deeply patriotic and rather than hate the advances made in Russia after the wall came down, he hated the rape and pillaging of Russia by a handful of Oligarchs facilitated by a drunken Boris Yeltsin. Throughout the nineties Russia went into a steep decline.
Since Putin came to power he has almost single handedly dragged Russia out of that slump to now be the 6th largest economy in the world. I'm not going to pretend that Russia doesn't have it's problems but Putin has had to be tough because of the forces that would see his country torn apart and I believe while ever he draws breath that will never happen. There would be little doubt that his successors have already been hand picked, fore warned and every bit as tough. Anyone that doesn't believe there are foreign agencies operating in Russia with the sole purpose of undermining Putin and destabilizing the country are just naive.
BRICS has come about simply because of the gross unfairness of the uni-polar system. All the speeches by BRICS leaders including Xi have reflected that fact, although they have been more focused on the message of respect, inclusiveness and fairness in being able to trade internationally in their respective currencies.I did not hear or read where any of the BRICS leaders called for "rules" to advance their power. I did hear them talk of International law and the UN charter.
