Why the BRICS are real
If one looks at a list of countries by GDP (without price level adjustment), the top countries which do not have a defense pact with the US (or, alternatively, which are not rich) are China, India, Brazil, and Russia. Adding a price level adjustment moves Indonesia ahead of Brazil, but Indonesia’s smart fraction is much smaller than that of Brazil. South Africa, though behind countries like Egypt and Vietnam in the size of its economy, also makes sense in the BRICS grouping due to its status as the only country in sub-Saharan Africa with a substantial smart fraction.
The key to the reality of BRICS is this: not a single one of the BICS countries mandated the enforcement of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, while every rich country outside of a few Gulf States sanctioned Russia. This has also been the case for the new countries in the BRICS bloc, except for, I believe, the UAE, whose sanctions have been less extensive than those of the vast majority of rich countries. The new BRICS bloc countries of Ethiopia, Egypt, and Iran are also countries with a greater population of Germany and have historically had friendly relations with Russia, India, and China.
Though it is true that China and India have had substantially higher economic growth rates and a substantially greater economic size over the past decade than Russia, Brazil, and South Africa, none of the latter three countries is disappearing any time soon -nor are they likely to become puppets of the United States.