The Global South, and we only need look at the BRICS members ARE an order of magnitude stronger than in 1992. It is not a question.
Brazil was a military dictatorship - thanks to a coup orchestrated by the US - from 1964 until 1985. Only seven years later in 1992 they in the beginning stages of rebuilding. They still have a long ways to go but looking at the (IMO flawed but commonly quoted) GDP of Brazil it grew by 7x from 1992 to 2010 (note that Lula left the presidency in 2011). Infant mortality has dropped massively, as has childhood malnourishment. There are similar statistics for China.
The other BRICS nations have "only" grown by 3x or so, but the other statistics are similar to Brazil and China.
BRICs has grown at twice the rate of the US and EU for decades. Compound interest works for political power as well as bank deposits.
The war with Russia has everything to do with subservience to the West. It should be clear however, that "The West" means the US #1, and everyone else can have whatever the US leaves.
Just ask Germany, ostensibly one of the US biggest allies, how they stand. It came out that we were tapping Merkel's phone. We just blew up their friggin' gas pipeline - an act of war - against our own ally.
Why did we do that? For exactly the same reason you list. We in Europe want to integrate Russia into the EU. That is stated explicitly by the US, for decades, as something the US doesn't want.
I agree that we want Russia to respect human rights. We'd also like the US to do that. Starting wars of choice in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria (to name a few in the last 25 yeras) is the ultimate "not respecting human rights."
Yes, it is bad that journalists get disappeared from time to time in Russia. Open slave markets in Libya is about 10000 times worse.
Bill Browder, like his fellow vultures on Wall Street and the city of London were making a fucking fortune raping the financial corpse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. That pillaging was stopped by Putin when he replaced Yeltsin. That is why Bill Browder hates Putin and Russia. Ideological indeed.
I have no family or business in Russia. All my family and considerable business is in the US. All my in-laws and most of my business is in the EU. I gain nothing personally or professionally by Russia winning the war in Ukraine. The opposite actually, as I have considerable retirement assets in dollars that will be hurt by the US losing.
I've been doing business in energy internationally for 30+ years. I see firsthand what sanctions do and have done to countries where we've done business and/or are not allowed to do business - particularly because of my US citizenship.
The earthquake in Syria has proven - even admitted by US MSM - that sanctions hurt average people in the sanctioned counties.
So there are no bananas in St. Petersburg. Ask the people in Hamburg, Middlesex, or Vienna, how they feel about not being able to heat their homes while they eat cheap bananas.
We here in the EU have sanctioned ourselves so that the US and Norway can sell us more expensive LNG. I can afford it, like I can afford the massive inflation in food costs. Most people are not so lucky.
My comment was not meant to be "pragmatic." Just honest.
