Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi is his full name but he iscalled by his last name, like most in India. He is the new Prime Minister of India after leading the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) into adecisive victory in the last election. We knew of Janata as the nationalisticparty averse to vestiges of foreign imperialism (not difficult to understandsince India keeps referring to Sonia Gandhi as an Indian politician rather thanthe Italian Signora Edvige Antonia Albina Maino that Indira’s son Rajiv Gandhimarried). The BJP has evolved to bebroader in scope and more positively assertive to things Indian rather thanjust a party of anti-colonial powers. PM Modi is from Gujarat, southwest ofNew Delhi and southeast of Pakistan’s Karachi, bordering into the Arabian Sea. Lothal would be familiar to those who readtheir 6thgrade Social Studies book at SVES as part of the Indus Valley Civilization thattraded with Egypt and Persia in olden times. Controversial Modi was denied a U.S.visa in 2005. He is not one of UncleSam’s favored politicians. TheNehru-Gandhi dynasty still prevails (Sonia and Rajul’s resignation, Presidentand Vice-President, respectively, in the Congress Party was refused afterwinning only 44 seats in the 534-seat legislature), but the simple vegetarianModi proved to be an astute politician, visiting Singapore, Japan, and China toestablish closer ties with Gujarat, rather than the models of the westernworld. (Google Modi’s history ofleadership as Chief Minister of Gujarat, particularly on his environment and povertyelevation record.) My interest is not on the politicianModi per se as to what he representsin the economic shifting of the world’s economy from the global stock marketmodel to more bilateral and multilateral models that emerge when parties inconsultation find mutual interests. Thepowerful axis of Tokyo-New York-London that lords the global economy from theirRolls Royce is finding competition in an emerging multilateral relation ofparties who were outside the power circle until now. They are called BRICS but it is not becausethey operate together in their trade policies that make them a threat to thewestern model. It is because they offeran alternative, a thinking-outside-the-box, as it were, to the current situation. BRICS for those who do not pay too closeattention to Forbes and WSJ are Brazil, Russia, India, China, and SouthAfrica. Though a rejuvenated Portugalafter Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Lisbon, Brazil has a widely mixed populationwith the African gene considerably miscegenated with the Amerindian indigeneand the Euro immigrants. One only has tolisten to the energy of the Afro-European music beat from Recife to Sao Paolo toknow in one’s bones that doing the Samba at the Mardi Gras is more than just aswivel of the hip. Ditto to South Africa,energized by the Boer but chastened on its apartheid history by Suweto. Neither are beholden to EU’s clutches. Due to Crimea in the Ukraine, EU/USAcousins of the Russian descendants of Nicolas and Catherine west of the Urals havebeen chastised. Vladimir Putin isshowing up at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures inAsia (CICA) this week in Shanghai. Kazakhstan’sPresident Nazarbayev suggested the formation of the forum and consultation bodyat a UN General Assembly in 1992, with the Secretariat in Almaty. Turkey held the last chairmanship (2012-14)and China hosts the office in the next two years (2014-16). The Fourth Summit this week has Russia,India, and China comparing notes. (Ukraineand the US hold observer status and we will be forgiven if we note that the NSAalready has sufficient data not to be too worried about any surprises!) President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Indiarepresents the country so it is too soon to expect any Modi-fied influence onthe group. We note Putin’s presence because Russia’scurrent situation helped make a little known fact suddenly relevant. The border town of Suifenhe in Heilongjiang, northwestof Vladivostok, already allows the Ruble as legal tender with the Renminbi. To be sure, downtowns Harbin and Manzhouliare closer architecturally to Petrogard than Xi’an, and my visits to bordertowns like Shiwei, Mohe, and Heihe had Chinese-speaking Euro-Russians, andRussian-speaking Chinese, but Europe’s pushing away of Putin after Crimea opensthe Russian Far East to collaborative endeavors between the erstwhile cool-heeledneighbors. We noticed that border townsdo not hesitate to use foreign currencies (including the U$) in their retailtransactions. A pipeline for gas and oilis also about to completed from Russia to Manchuria. Modi’s Gujarat uses Chinese designservices for infrastructure. His pet visionof the new Gujarat International Finance Tec City looks like the skyline ofPudong and Beijing. If India, China andRussia meet more than just to share tea and sympathy in Shanghai, and share thewarmth with Brazil and South Africa, we definitely have a new world in ourhands. j'aime la vie pinoypanda2031@aol.com yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!