Random Thoughts

Nineteen scholars, diplomats and veteran politicians from the BRICS nations – including Dr. Shashi Tharoor, former Indian Ambassador to Iran, K.C. Singh, Former Finance Minister in Brazil, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay – have written to BRICS leaders urging an end to the conflict in Syria.
They say that an urgent response is needed to continued violations of international humanitarian law in Syria.
An Open Letter to the BRICS Heads of State:

Russia’s economy is expected to bounce back in 2017 [PPIO]
Type of Government: Federal [semi-presidential] Republic
Current Leader: Vladimir Putin
Population: 142,355,415 (July 2016 estimate)
Language(s): Russian
Ethnicities: Russian 77.7%, Tatar 3.7%, Ukrainian 1.4%, Bashkir 1.1%, Chuvash 1%, Chechen 1%, other 10.2%, unspecified 3.9%
Religions: Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, and other Christian 2%
Capital City: Moscow

India’s economy was the best performing in 2016 [Xinhua]
Type of Government: Federal parliamentary republic
Current Leader: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Pranab Mukherjee
Population: 1,266,883,598 (July 2016 estimate)
Language(s): Hindi 40%, Bengali 8%, Telugu 7% (see below)
Ethnicities: Hindi 41%, Bengali 8.1%, Telugu 7.2%, Marathi 7%, Tamil 5.9%, Urdu 5%, Gujarati 4.5%, Kannada 3.7%, Malayalam 3.2%, Oriya 3.2%, Punjabi 2.8%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.2%, other 5.9%

China is moving from an export-based economy to one that is driven by domestic products and services [Xinhua]
Type of Government: One-party Communist state
Current Leader: Xi Jin Ping
Population: 1,373,541,278 (July 2016 estimate)
Language(s): Mandarin, Cantonese
Ethnicities: Han Chinese 91.6%, Zhuang 1.3%, other (includes Hui, Manchu, Uighur, Miao, Yi, Tujia, Tibetan, Mongol, Dong, Buyei, Yao, Bai, Korean, Hani, Li, Kazakh, Dai and other nationalities) 7.1%

Photo taken on May 6, 2014 shows souvenirs on display in front of a poster of late South African President Nelson Mandela, in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa [Xinhua]
Type of Government: Parliamentary Republic
Current Leader: President Jacob Zuma
Population: 54,956,900 (2015 estimate)

[Xinhua]Type of Government: Federal republic
Current Leader: Michel Temer, President
Population: 205,823,665 (July 2016 estimate)
Language(s): Portugese
Ethnicities: white 47.7%, mulatto (mixed white and black) 43.1%, black 7.6%, Asian 1.1%, indigenous 0.4% (2010 est.)
Religions: Christianity 90% (predominantly Roman Catholic) Spiritist 2.2%, other 1.4%, none 8%, unspecified 0.4%
Capital City: Brasilia