It all appeared to have begun with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but at a subtle level, it could go deeper than that. South Africa is also a member of the increasingly powerful BRICS, a group of five regional economies with Brazil, Russia, India and China. In the Russian-Ukraine conflict, South Africa has said it is neutral and recently led a group of African countries in an attempt to make peace between the Russians and the Ukrainians. Meanwhile, the US is looking at the conflict through the same lens President George Bush viewed his war on terror. South Africa does not support the sanctions and when recently a “sanctioned” Russian naval vessel docked here, the US ambassador was quick to claim that South Africa was arming the Russians.

Source: The Star June 25, 2023 03:29 UTC