For the next two days, South Africa will host world leaders including Xi Jinping of China, Brazil’s Lula da Silva and Narendra Modi of India. Russia’s Vladimir Putin was initially invited, but couldn’t travel to Johannesburg due to a warrant of arrest issued by the ICC. It relates to alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Those gathered for this week’s BRICS summit, will discuss an alternative currency to the US dollar, trade and expanding the BRICS bloc. In recent months, dozens of countries including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Argentina, Iran, Egypt and Nigeria expressed interest to join. Some political commentators say BRICS could challenge the dominance of the United States and its western allies.