The BRICS conference in Kazan can certainly be interpreted in different ways. But to summarize the results of the BRICS group: the mills grind slowly, but they grind.

Some things are on the way, the important construction sites, such as the new monetary system, will take years. Some things are on the way, the important construction sites, such as the new monetary system, will take years, if not a whole decade, to be cast in an institutional form that can compete with the existing system dominated by the G7.

But one very big detail has been overlooked, or chosen to be overlooked, in the western mainstream media: India and China apparently settled their decades-long border dispute on the sidelines of the conference. This is more than just a mere statement, but it obviously goes far beyond the horizon of experience of Europeans in particular, who are busy saving the world's climate on a daily basis.

To cut a long story short: the rapprochement between the two economic and geopolitical giants is a big deal. Stability is all the new economic bloc needs. Stability and credibility of its pillar states is the foundation to get off the starting blocks. This was a big step towards the starting block though!