What Putin, Chalabi, et al are really up to...I do not
think these people would mind another four years of
the Bush abomination shooting itself in the foot,
draining America's resources, sapping the elan of its
military and fracturing its alliances...The Bin Laden
family is not the only bad influence at work...
Sergei Blagov, Asia Times: While refraining from
overt criticism of the United States, an emerging
organization that embraces Russia, China, and Central
Asian states has indicated its concern over American
unilateralism in the region.
When the presidents of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) - a six-member group that comprises
Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan - met in Tashkent on Thursday, they pledged
to address regional security concerns. The SCO also
vowed to become a full-fledged international
organization. In fact, its efforts can be seen as
aimed at countering US clout in the region.
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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/FF19Ag01.html
Russian President Vladimir Putin made no secret of the fact that Moscow has been keen to use a variety of groups to exert its influence across the region. "The voice of Russia will be heard here," Putin told reporters after the summit.
Central Asia
Shanghai group aims to keep US in check
By Sergei Blagov
MOSCOW - While refraining from overt criticism of the
United States, an emerging organization that embraces
Russia, China, and Central Asian states has indicated
its concern over American unilateralism in the region.
When the presidents of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) - a six-member group that comprises
Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan - met in Tashkent on Thursday, they pledged
to address regional security concerns. The SCO also
vowed to become a full-fledged international
organization. In fact, its efforts can be seen as
aimed at countering US clout in the region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made no secret of the
fact that Moscow has been keen to use a variety of
groups to exert its influence across the region. "The
voice of Russia will be heard here," Putin told
reporters after the summit.
To ensure its voice is heard, Moscow relies on
economic incentives. Russia is to continue providing
economic aid, including low cost energy supplies, to
the former Soviet states, notably members of the SCO,
Putin said in Tashkent.
Before the SCO summit, Putin and Uzbek President Islam
Karimov signed a partnership agreement and a US$1
billion 35-year production-sharing agreement (PSA) to
develop Uzbek natural gas deposits. Under the PSA, top
Russian oil producer LUKoil is to develop the Kandym,
Khauzak and Shady gas fields in the south of the
country, which have 280 billion cubic meters of proven
reserves. LUKoil will have a 90% share in the project,
with Uzbekistan's Uzbekneftegaz holding the remaining
10%.
Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom is also to
invest $1 billion in Uzbekistan, Putin announced.
Gazprom's investment will boost Russian involvement in
Uzbekistan to $2.5 billion, Karimov said.
China came up with its own economic carrot . President
Hu Jintao reportedly offered nearly $1 billion in
credit to the SCO Central Asian states to boost
economic cooperation.
The SCO leaders were joined by Afghan President Hamid
Karzai. Karzai attended the talks as a guest, while
the SCO granted Mongolia observer status. However, the
SCO approved creation of the SCO-Afghanistan contact
group.
Putin said the SCO was open to other states, but it
was too early to discuss Afghanistan's membership. "We
are all interested in normalization in Afghanistan,
but any state should fit certain parameters to become
a member of the SCO," Putin said without elaborating
further.
"We should not rush with accepting new SCO members,"
Uzbek President Islam Karimov said, adding that he
expressed Russia's and China's opinion as well.
It was not said in public, of course, but Russian
commentators explained the SCO's reservations over
Afghanistan's membership as being due to Karzai's
largely pro-American stance. Russia's Kommersant daily
commented that an ultimate goal of the "certain
parameters" argument was to limit growing US influence
in the region.
The presidents signed the Tashkent Declaration, which
calls for enhanced cooperation with Asia-Pacific
forums, as well as urging the creation of a
"cooperative system of regional security" in the
Asia-Pacific. In the declaration, the leaders also
called for close cooperation with the United Nations,
yet another implicit criticism of American
unilateralism.
The leaders also launched the SCO anti-terror center
in Tashkent, a think tank and information exchange
center for member states.
China has been seen as increasing its security ties in
Central Asia through the SCO. Notably, China has
committed itself for the first time to a regional
collective security agreement. The SCO anti-terrorist
rapid deployment forces could be used to help enforce
border security along with other members of the
Shanghai group.
Nonetheless, the SCO still seeks to be a geopolitical
player in Central Asian security developments, a trend
also reflected in bilateral defense ties between
Russia and China. Last December, Moscow and Beijing
clinched a deal under which China would procure $2
billion worth of Russian military hardware and
technologies in 2004.
When in June 2001 the informal Shanghai Five group of
states became the SCO, member states envisioned the
organization as a counterweight to growing US economic
and political influence. In June 2002, the leaders of
the five states plus Uzbekistan agreed to base the SCO
secretariat in Beijing and to establish the joint
anti-terrorism center.
Russia and China have reluctantly tolerated the US
strategic presence in Central Asia. They are concerned
that permanent American bases in the region would be
primarily designed to limit Beijing and Moscow's
influence in Central Asia.
Meanwhile, the US has made moves toward establishing a
long-term presence in Central Asia, in Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. During a visit to
Uzbekistan last February, US Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld indicated that the US wanted to establish
operating facilities and not permanent bases. In
pledging that a potential US presence does not mean a
large-scale military deployment, US officials hope to
limit Russian and Chinese opposition to these plans
for Central Asia.
Moscow has been insisting that the US military
presence in the region is temporary and should be
ended after anti-terrorism action in Afghanistan.
Russia would accept US bases in Central Asia no longer
than the anti-terrorism operation in Afghanistan,
Moscow has repeatedly reiterated. It is understood
that Karimov has drifted towards Russia after being
targeted by Western criticism over human rights
violations.
In the meantime, Russia has been keen to rely on any
post-Soviet grouping in order to push its agenda in
Central Eurasia. Last month, Russia moved to join a
purely Central Asian grouping, the Central Asian
Cooperation Organization, which includes Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Moreover, on June 18-19, two Russia-dominated
post-Soviet groupings, the Eurasian Economic
Commonwealth (EEC) and Collective Security
Organization Treaty (CSTO), hold their summits in the
Kazakhstan capital, Astana. The EEC summit is to
discuss multilateral economic integration, while the
CSTO is to address regional security concerns.
Russia's - and presumably China's - perceived
strategic purpose remains to counterweigh American and
Western influence in Central Eurasia. However, the SCO
and other groupings are yet to prove their viability
as vehicles to check US unilateralism in the region.
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