While Washington drowns in its own culture wars and Brussels clings to the dying breath of post-war liberalism, a quiet insurrection is reshaping the global order — one trade deal, currency shift, and diplomatic fracture at a time.

This is not a war of drones or proxy militias. This is a nonviolent but lethal reordering of global power, waged by the world’s so-called “periphery” — and its name is BRICS .

In 2024, the formerly symbolic BRICS coalition — comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — stunned the world by announcing a historic expansion. Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE, Egypt, and Ethiopia officially joined, consolidating a new bloc that now represents more than 3.7 billion people and over 40% of global oil production.
Al Jazeera confirmed the BRICS expansion, calling it “a direct challenge to Western influence on global institutions.”

This wasn’t just a diplomatic move. It was a direct assault on Western centrality, achieved without a single bullet. The BRICS states didn’t just reject the dollar — they rejected the very ideology of Western universality.

For decades, the petrodollar system — pricing oil exclusively in US dollars — was the invisible pillar propping up American hegemony. But that system is now unraveling, thanks to Beijing and Riyadh.

In a move that once would have been unthinkable, China has successfully begun settling oil trades with Gulf countries in yuan, bypassing the dollar altogether.
Saudi Arabia’s active negotiations to price some oil sales in yuan signal the slow death of the dollar’s global monopoly.

Why does this matter? Because energy is the bloodstream of global finance, and oil priced in anything but dollars represents the functional end of American monetary dominance. The West no longer controls the terms of the world’s most essential commodity.

While the West continues to believe sanctions are tools of deterrence, Russia and Iran are actively converting them into engines of innovation.

Under relentless US and EU financial blockades, both nations have turned inward — and toward each other. In 2023, Moscow and Tehran integrated their banking systems, eliminating the need for SWIFT and insulating their economies from Western pressure. Reuters covered this bold integration, noting how the two countries are building a parallel system to the West’s financial regime.

This isn’t symbolic cooperation. It’s the infrastructure of a post-Western global economy, where sanctions are irrelevant and trade is conducted on sovereign terms.

For decades, Saudi Arabia was the keystone of American power in the Middle East, bound by oil-for-security arrangements dating back to 1945. That era is officially over.

Today, Riyadh is hedging against the West, exploring BRICS membership and actively participating in the bloc’s strategic alignment — despite US pressure. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has refused to formalize a US security pact, citing a broader vision of Saudi independence. The Wall Street Journal details Saudi Arabia’s geopolitical pivot, revealing its growing ties with China and Russia over Washington.

The House of Saud is no longer a US vassal. It is becoming a sovereign pole in a multipolar world.

Africa is no longer begging for inclusion in Western institutions — it is building its own. One of the most profound examples is the launch of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) — a cross-border platform that enables African nations to settle transactions in local currencies.

This bold step eliminates dependency on the dollar and euro for trade across the continent.
African Business confirms the platform’s rollout across key regional banks, empowering African nations to trade on their own terms.

This is more than fintech. It’s a financial declaration of independence from the West.

Even in Washington’s own hemisphere, the winds are shifting. In a quiet but revolutionary step, Brazil and Argentina are laying the foundation for a joint currency, designed to facilitate regional trade without the US dollar.

The Financial Times outlines the proposal in detail, suggesting the regional currency will challenge dollarized trade dependencies across Latin America.

If successful, this move would further fracture the dollar’s monopoly and empower South American economies to align more freely with BRICS .

“We are witnessing the de-dollarization of the global economy in real-time.”

— Nouriel Roubini, former White House advisor and economist

This is not a pivot. It’s a paradigm collapse.

The West’s tools of control — reserve currency, sanctions, and diplomacy — are being methodically neutralized by a coalition it cannot dominate, isolate, or even fully understand.

This isn’t just about money.

It’s a civilizational exodus from the West — and the first chapter of a new world order.

The might of the United States was never just in its military. It was in the monopoly of the dollar. From trade and commodities to global debt markets, the greenback was the lubricant of globalization — a quiet emperor dictating terms through currency dominance.

In an exclusive interview with The Eastern Herald, Dr. Aparna Pande of the Hudson Institute argued that BRICS lacks the structural and monetary muscle to meaningfully challenge the dominance of the US dollar. While de-dollarization is often discussed at summits, she noted that no unified BRICS currency exists, and member states like Russia and China are instead prioritizing their own national interests, pushing the yuan and ruble in separate bilateral........

© The Eastern Herald