The Kazan BRICS summit unfolded against a backdrop that seemed almost scripted: the world’s largest emerging economies convened in Russia, a nation cloaked in sanctions and diplomatically isolated from the West. But this gathering in Tatarstan was no mere diplomatic courtesy call. Instead, it was a striking statement—a defiant message from BRICS to the Western world, and a calculated maneuver by Russia that brought its geopolitical aspirations into the spotlight. Far from a casual conference, t...