Punjab, Sept. 12 -- India is hosting the BRICS Summit as chair while the group is divided over the war between the United States and Iran. The task in New Delhi is to find language that countries on opposing sides of that conflict can all sign.
Why the split is hard to bridge
BRICS has never been a bloc in the way NATO or the EU is a bloc. It is a grouping of large economies with overlapping grievances about the existing financial order and very little else in common. That has been its strength - it asks members to agree on structural questions rather than on foreign policy.
A live war removes that convenience. Iran is a member. The United States is not, but is the counterparty. Every member has its own exposure, and a communique that sa...