And they're proving it. The Western block is around a billion people. There are nearly 8 billion people on the planet now. On the import side - you can buy fre

And they're proving it. The Western block is around a billion people. There are nearly 8 billion people on the planet now. On the import side - you can buy fresh Mexican avocados from any grocery chain anywhere in Russia (the logistics behind that are not trivial). As can you Japanese whiskey, Korean appliances, Chinese cars and a whole other host of products that Soviet citizens could have never even dreamed of. And of course, all the western stuff just he labels are in various foreign languages. On the export side - oil products to India, China and others are up big time. As are high tech heavy industry products (machines of various types) but you don't hear about much but what do you think powers Chinese aircraft? Nuclear reactors, rockets (hello, NASA). They produce as much steel as the US (with half the population) as well as very important agricultural inputs. And there's more than BRICS going on right now. There's also: - International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC) - Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) - Northern Sea Route (Russia's been busy building nuclear icebreakers) - Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) - Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) And I'm sure there are others I'm missing.