Ten countries including China, Russia, India and Pakistan just condemned as “illegal” the US-Israeli war on Iran — and affirmed Palestinian sovereignty and Tehran’s right to a nuclear program while they were at it. Sri Lankan journalist, political economist, and Tricontinental researcher Shiran Illanperuma joins Zoe Alexandra and Rania Khalek to break down the Bishkek Declaration, signed by every country at this week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kyrgyzstan, and why it’s proof that “Iran is not alone,” as the Trump administration’s sanctions war on Tehran hits a wall at Beijing. Illanperuma explains the rise of the SCO, which predates BRICS and now represents half the world’s population and a third of global GDP, and why the 25th-anniversary summit with Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Narendra Modi drew far stronger high-level representation than the G20. From the thaw in China-India relations to Central Asia’s critical mineral wealth, Illanperuma breaks down the SCO’s potential to power-check the IMF and World Bank through de-dollarized trade — and what a real alternative to Western-dominated finance could mean for debt-burdened nations of the Global South, like his home country of Sri Lanka. Watch full episodes of BT Live, join breakthroughnews.org as a member today!

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