The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO): Index Timeline

"NATO OF THE EAST"
Updated 13.06.09.

by Sarah Meyer Index Research

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What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?

“Logic: if such a thing as an irresistible force exists, then no object is immovable, and vice versa. It is logically impossible to have these two entities (a force that cannot be resisted and an object that cannot be moved by any force) in the same universe.

Semantics: if there is such a thing as an irresistible force, then the phrase immovable object is meaningless in that context, and vice versa, and the issue amounts to the same thing as asking, e.g., for a triangle that has four sides.” Wikipedia.

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Two events delighted me last week: the Nobel Prizes, and Condoleeza Rice’s initial discomfort while talking with Vladimir Putin in his dacha outside Moscow. Ms. Rice has never endeared herself to Mr.Putin. At this meeting, Ms. Rice said Iran (like Iraq) was "LYING." This from a Gold Star member of the US Lying Factory. The U.S. objects to Iran oil deals as well as the Iranian shift from the Dollar to the Euro. It is really hard for the rest of the world to believe that mainstream media are again drum-thumping the Bush-Cheney nuclear accusations for their next war for oil, in Iran. The real US problems with Iran lie unexplored.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was founded in 2001 by the leaders of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Other countries are clamouring to be part of this group. The SCO's member states cover an area of over 30 million km2, or about three fifths of Eurasia, with a population of 1.455 billion, about a quarter of the world's total.Its working languages are Chinese and Russian. There is a US / Russian 'special interests' tiff over Azerbaijan. "The strategic course of Eurasia and global energy reserves hangs in the balance at the Caspian Sea Summit" in Tehran.

The members of the SCO say NO to American "interests." This is unlike the Arab League, who perhaps succumb too easily to the extortions and $s in Condi's pockets on her imperial itinerary. With the resistance of Russia and China and other SCO members, has the United States met its Waterloo? Is the U.S. intentionally setting up another 'cold war' between US-NATO and the SCO? Ms. Rice said "No". Will the thrust of the destructive U.S. drive be reined in by Russia and China? Further, it doesn't take much imagination to guess which country allegedly wants Putin dead.

Most of the western Mainstream Media continue to give scant attention to the SCO. Open your eyes, corporate darlings … there is an interesting crossroad ahead! Don't get blogger-snookered as you did with Bremer's oil law. Do some proper research this time before another US disastrous war engulfs us all.

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THE SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANISATION (SCO)

Chinese President Hu Jintao (7th L) and the other top leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and leaders of some countries and international organizations pose for a group photo at the 7th meeting of the Council of the SCO Heads of State in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, August 16, 2007. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit starts in Bishkek
16.08.07. Xinhuanet.com. Leaders of SCO's six member states -- Chinese President Hu Jintao, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and Uzbek President Islam Karimov -- addressed the summit and inked a long-term treaty of good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation. Leaders and representatives from SCO's observer countries -- Mongolia, Pakistan, Iran and India -- also delivered speeches at the summit.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization Seeks to Expand Energy and Security Influence
16.08.07. Peter Fedynsky. VOA news. The six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization has concluded its one-day summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, amid calls from two of its energy-rich members for the creation of an Asian energy club. VOA correspondent Peter Fedynsky reports, from the Kyrgyz capital, the summit's call for a multilateral approach to global problems is an indirect reaction to American influence, around the world.

red rag to bull?
Ahmadinejad Denounces US Missile Defense Shield at SCO Summit
16.08.07. Fars News. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said a proposed US missile defense shield in central Europe would threaten "all Asia".

Soldiers participate in the "Peace Mission 2007" anti-terror drill in Chelyabinsk of Russia on Aug. 17, 2007. The final stage of the "Peace Mission 2007" anti-terror drill, sponsored by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), began Friday in Chelyabinsk in Russia's Ural Mountains region. (Xinhua Photo/Li Gang)

SCO leaders observe joint anti-terror drill
17.08.07. Xinhuanet.com. Heads of state and defense ministers from the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) gathered in Russia's Chelyabinsk on Friday to observe a joint anti-terrorism drill. … The drill was the final stage of a first ever joint military exercise involving all the six member states of the SCO, namely China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. AP / Washington Post carried this story (17.08.07).

SCO summit meeting issues joint communiqué
17.08.07. xinhuanet.com. the leaders agreed on further developing all-round cooperation within the SCO framework and exchanged in an in-depth way views on the current regional and international issues, the communique said. See Photo Gallery

Shanghai Cooperation Organization Should Implement Human Rights Principles
17.08.07. Human Rights Watch.

China, Kazakhstan sign joint communique on promoting relations, trade
18.08.07. xinhuanet.com. Special Report: President Hu visits two nations, attends SCO summit

SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION SUMMITEERS TAKE SHOTS AT US PRESENCE IN CENTRAL ASIA
20.08.07.J. Kucera, eurasianet.org. Most international headlines focused on the thinly veiled swipes at Washington taken by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Russian President Vladimir Putin. … US State Department spokesman Sean McCormick could barely disguise his disdain when discussing the SCO summit, in particular the group’s decision to entertain Iran as an observer. "If they [SCO leaders] want to associate with them [Iranian officials], that’s up to them," McCormick said just before the summit’s opening. … The question of how to approach the SCO seems to be vexing Washington. Some hawks see the group as a nascent "anti-NATO," but that would be an overreaction, suggested Sean Roberts, a Central Asian affairs fellow at Georgetown University in Washington, DC…. "While they could do much to destabilize Afghanistan, there is a limited amount of things they can do to help the country," said Marvin Weinbaum, a former top US intelligence official on Afghanistan now at the Middle East Institute in Washington . … "In the long run, countering the US [military presence] is the more important goal [than countering Islamist extremist forces] so getting American forces out would be a gain," said Russell Ong, a China security expert at the School for Oriental and African Studies.

China, Russia to launch joint drill in Moscow
21.08.07. xinhuanet.com. In Moscow, in September. "Cooperation 2007" will be the first international anti-terrorism exercise for China's armed police outside China. The drill was in accordance with the principles of Shanghai Cooperation Organization and related agreements signed by the two countries, said sources from China's armed police.

Misconceptions About the SCO
21.08.07. Moscow Times. This is, unfortunately, just an excerpt from this paper.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization guards China's back
21.08.07. Chinapost.com. The SCO member states boast a total area of 30 million sq. km, occupying about three-fifths of the Euro-Asia Continent, and with 1.489 billion people, account for a quarter of the world's population. It is far bigger than NATO or the EU. Not yet a mutual defense pact, it is heading that way, as Sino-Russian military ties with the central Asian states deepen.” History of the regions … “With U.S. influence waning in Central Asia, the SCO is gaining clout as a leading security organization in the energy-rich region.”

NATO steps up monitoring of Russia
23.08.07. T. Harding, Telegraph. With map, but no mention of SCO.

This statement, from Playing the Cold War Card (Moscow Times, 23.08.07) is also applicable to the NATO mission:
“What is most important, however, is that the Peace Mission 2007 training exercises -- despite all of its claims -- have no application whatsoever in the fight against terrorism. It is obvious that the army is the wrong tool for battling terrorists . The bombing of the Moscow-St. Petersburg train shows that a conventional army cannot prevent a terrorist act. Law enforcement agencies must be the ones to combat terrorists, using their agents to infiltrate the ranks of terrorist organizations. Fighter jets and bombers, like the ones paraded with so much fanfare in Peace Mission 2007, are of very little use in this struggle.”

Dan Simpson, a retired American diplomat, gave a description of SOC and its exercises in the Toledo Blade (22.08.07), and said It is unlikely that the SCO will go away, so the United States should seek more actively to work with it, to keep it from working against us.

The new 'NATO of the East' takes shape
M K Bhadrakumar, Asia Times. ‘It is certainly a measure of the SCO's success that the United States and Japan are knocking at its door, anxious to gain "observer" status. … the massive shift in the templates of great-power politics in recent years also has provided impetus for the SCO's growing clout. … Where does the SCO fit in the "new cold war?" The question can take different forms. A variant would be, "Is the SCO turning into a NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization]-like military alliance? … What stands to reason from the above is that the two (China, Russia) leaderships may have for the first time discussed the common challenge facing the two countries, emanating out of the US plans to deploy the missile-defense systems in Central Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. … avrov added, "We and China are analyzing the US global missile-defense plans targeting Europe and the East."

Iran Again Fails to Secure Shanghai Cooperation Organization Membership
28.08.97. Worldpoliticsreview.com. For several years, Iranian officials have sought to strengthen their ties with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Iran became a formal observer nation at the July 2005 SCO summit, but the country's leaders have continued to pursue full membership. In April 2007, the Iranian Foreign Ministry submitted an official application to this effect. Even before the seventh annual SCO summit convened in Bishkek on Aug. 16, however, the existing SCO full members announced that they would indefinitely postpone accepting new members.

NATO or Shanghai?
30.08.07. ahram.org. Now that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has become a political and military reality, and now that NATO has stretched to our regional borders and has exerted its influence in powerful ways within these borders, should not Arab governments begin to consider formulating a new foreign policy?


SEPTEMBER 2007

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Future of Central Asia
06.09.07. state.gov. Speech by Evan A. Feigenbaum, Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, The Nixon Center Washington, DC

Asia's Dangerous Divide:Beijing and Washington are building new alliances throughout the continent
09.09.07. Newsweek. Around the same time Abe was in India, 6,500 troops from Russia, China and four Central Asian countries converged on the Siberian city of Chelyabinsk to show off their own armed prowess. The "Peace Mission 07" exercise was held under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)—a group formed by Beijing and Moscow in 2001 that is ostensibly dedicated to combating terrorism.

What is Shanghai alliance up to? U.S. unsure
14.09.07. worldtribune. The Stated Department does not understand why China continues to exclude the United States from the Shanghai Cooperation organization a State Department official said last week, despite intelligence indicating that the SCO is being used by Beijing to drive the Unites States out of Central Asia. Evan Feigenbaum, dep. Assist. Sec. Of state said … “We don’t fully understand what the S.C.O does.” [is this for real, or is the US really THAT naïve?]

Majlis center highlights co-op with SCO
16.09.07. presstv.ir. The Majlis research center has stressed IRAN’S purposeful defense and security cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. [ more grist for US war machine?]

Joining SCO doesn't rank among N. Korea's current priorities - source
16.09.07. interfax.ru.

SCO countries Ministers of Extreme Situations meeting to be held in Kyrgyzstan
17.09.07. eng.gazeta.kz. "From September 17 till September 21, 2007, the 3d meeting of ministries and departments chiefs of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries responsible for prevention and liquidation of extreme situations consequences will be held in Bishkek", - reported Kyrgyzstan Ministry of Extreme Situation press service.

PUNDIT SPEAKS IN FAVOR OF IRAN JOINING SHANGHAI BLOC
18.09.07. EurasiaNet . Knyazev said the SCO could help Afghanistan in its fight against the drugs trade, given "inability" of the US-led coalition forces to stem drug production in the country.

Strategic Chess
18.09.07. asiasentinel.com. Do four-power military exercises and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization foreshadow a new sphere of conflict?

Exclusive: Indonesia: Russia Opens the Pacific Front
19.09.07. David J. Jonsson, familysecuritymatters.org. Military cooperation is an instrument for containing the U.S. hegemony in the region. … Collective Security Treaty of Organization (CSTO) and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO): Far from being an isolated phenomenon of bilateral cooperation, the Moscow-Teheran axis in the defense sector results as being part of a wider Euro-Asiatic security network that aims to involve other minor regional states such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, and Byelorussia. These states are united in the Collective Security Treaty of Organization (CSTO), ratified in 1992, and in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), composed of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and China. Iran is not a member of the CSTO but participates as an observer. Relations between Teheran and the CSTO are, however, helped by Beijing’s mediation, former member of the SCO and strategic partners of the CSTO. As can be seen from the complex structure of alliances, Moscow aims to build a security and defense network in the Asian region involving Iran as potential “containing” factor against U.S. influence.

SCO Fails to Solve Its Expansion Dilema
19.09.07. diplomatictraffic. For the second year in a row, the existing members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) declined to allow new countries to join the organization as members or formal observers.

The Sino-Russian Alliance: Challenging America's Ambitions in Eurasia
23.09.07. Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, globalresearch.ca. Essay headings in this excellent article are: Encircling Russia and China: Anglo-American Global Ambitions Backfire; Standing in the Way of America and Britain: A “Chinese-Russian-Iranian Coalition”; “Velvet Revolutions” Backfire in Central Asia; Major Geo-Strategic Error; The Baker-Hamilton Commission: Covert Anglo-American Cooperation with Iran and Syria?; Something’s Amiss...; Iran’s Political Leverage; Has the March to War been Interrupted?
Sir “Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” These precepts of physics can also be used in the social sciences, specifically with reference to social relations and geo-politics. America and Britain, the Anglo-American alliance, have engaged in an ambitious project to control global energy resources. Their actions have resulted in a series of complicated reactions, which have established a Eurasian-based coalition which is preparing to challenge the Anglo-American axis. … The military pact of the Shanghai Treaty Organization (SCO)also follows the same softly worded format. It is also worth noting that Article 12 of the 2001 Sino-Russian bilateral treaty stipulates that China and Russia will work together to maintain the global strategic balance, “observation of the basic agreements relevant to the safeguard and maintenance of strategic stability,” and “promote the process of nuclear disarmament.” [2] This seems to be an insinuation about a nuclear threat posed from the United States.” Included are treaty articles that are relevant to the mutual defence of China and Russia against American-led encirclement and efforts to dismantle both nations.

Moving Towards Multipolarity In World Affairs
23.09.07. naresh nadeem, cpim. VIEWED in context of the seven-year 200 billion dollars rearmament plan which the Russian Federation president, Vladimir Putin, signed earlier this year, the recent testing of the “Father of All Bombs” by the country signifies a spurt in the arms race in the world --- in an era that is supposedly free from the Cold War mentalities. Interestingly, the test was conducted on September 11, sixth anniversary of the 9/11 and 34th of the CIA-engineered assassination of Salvador Allende. … Undoubtedly much more important than all the above developments, however, is the metamorphosis the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has undergone of late. Though the SCO was formed more than a decade ago (in April 1996, to be precise), it began to make its presence felt only in the last three to four years. This regional grouping, with the Russian Federation, People’s Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as members, granted observer status to Mongolia in June 2004 and to India, Pakistan and Iran a year later. This grant of observer status to some countries was a gesture signifying that the SCO intended to expand its economic and related interests beyond Central Asia.

China, Russia vow to strengthen strategic trust
27.09.07. chinadaily. China will work with Russia to enhance strategic mutual trust and substantial cooperation to advance the China-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation to a new stage, Chinese President Hu Jintao said Thursday. … Hu also said Chinese government supported legislative exchanges with Russia, hoping the two sides would strengthen the cooperation in the multilateral organizations including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Scrambling for Khazak oil
28.09.07. isaintel. A deepening dispute over the world’s largest recent oil find is raising fears among western mineral extraction firms and governments. … western consortiums on edge … ? involvement with SC0?

CSTO to strengthen cooperation with SCO
29.09.07. englishpeople. The CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is to increase cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said reports from the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek on Friday.

Is India Aligning in a New Cold War?
30.09.07. S. Chaulia, worldpress. Even as Russo-American tensions smolder from Eastern Europe and Central Asia to the Arctic seabed, the secretary of state is denying the onset of a renewed Cold War. Yet, unmistakable signals of a counter-balancing effort by Russia and China were sent last month through the largest-ever war games of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (S.C.O.), a six-nation anti-United States alliance.


The SCO logo, reminiscent of US logos over their bases. The US, US-NATO and the SCO apparently see "Peace Missions" as bombing the hell out of everything, killing civilians and destabilising world order .

OCTOBER 2007

Experts: SCO could enlarge to include Pakistan, India, Mongolia and other countries
01.10.07. APP. At a discussion arranged at the International Institute of Strategic Studies on “The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation and Sino-Russian Strategic Rapprochement” on Thursday afternoon, the two international affairs experts Oksana Antonenko and Roger McDermott discussed both the economic and military aspects of the organisation and called for a stronger European Union-SCO links.

* Gang of Four
03.10.07. Vijay Prashad, Counterpunch. Seato; Condoleeza Rice in India to isolate Iran, Asia’s ‘peace pipeline’ - Rice promised to make up for the energy shortfall with nuclear energy. The centrality of the nuclear deal for the Bush team was not economic, but it was to find another level for its political project of isolating Iran.. The US government demanded a quid pro quo for the nuclear deal with India: India must vote against Iran at the IAEA (which they did in 2005 and 2006, "coerced" by the US. Representative Tom Lantos (Democrat) fulminated, "I want to be damn sure that India is mindful of US policies in critical areas such as US policy towards Iran. India cannot pursue a policy vis-à-vis Iran which takes no account of US foreign policy objectives." Encircle China; The Shakening of the East: As NATO expands eastwards, and as the Quad comes into effect, both China and Russia have reacted with exertions of their own. In a forthcoming book from New Delhi's LeftWord Books, the former diplomat M. K. Bhadrakumar considers that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is becoming a "NATO of the East." In the US, meanwhile, a handful of people know about Bush's agenda on the high Asian seas. Bush is unpopular, but Bushism is a doctrine widely shared among the ruling elites. The Democrats and the Republicans are united in their view that US primacy must be preserved at all costs, and that China and Iran threaten this position. The anti-war movement's concentration on Iraq, and now Iran, is strategically important, but it also serves to blind the public on the broader agenda, notably what is unfolding in the Indian Ocean, in the South China Sea and in the Sea of Japan.

Role of SCO in regional security grows, Almaty conference
04.10.07. inform.kz This was underlined practically by all the participants of an international conference on “SCO in search of new understanding of security”, opened today in the Kazakh Institute of Strategic Research in Almaty under the President of Kazakhstan, Kazinform correspondent reports.

East: Making Sense Of Post-Soviet Alphabet Soup
10.10.07. rferl. The dizzying assortment of regional alliances -- together with their perplexing acronyms -- is one of the legacies of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Sino-Russian embrace leaves the US out in the cold
12.10.07. J. Steele, Guardian. Moscow and Beijing are closer now than in the Communist period. An anxious America is left struggling to be heard. ‘ Now Russia and China are together and the US is out of the loop. It is a stark fact that Condoleezza Rice and defence secretary Robert Gates cannot ignore today as they start two days of talks in Moscow. No more easy concessions from Moscow and Beijing. Both powers are big boys and can bargain as hard as anyone from Washington, whether neocon or "realist". … The countries' economies differ - one reliant on exports of energy, the other on low-wage industrial products, but they are complementary. Each is a good customer of the other. At the policy level, their partnership functions most strikingly in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a body established six years ago. Working less formally until then as the Shanghai Five (other members were Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan), the group succeeded in resolving all the outstanding Sino-Russian disputes over the borderline. Now the SCO helps to accelerate Russia's rising military links with China, not only the export of weapons but also in licensing and joint production. It has proved so successful that India, Pakistan and Iran want to join, presenting the SCO with the same widening-versus-deepening dilemmas that the EU knows so well. … Whether their system is best described as "bureaucratic capitalism" or "authoritarian capitalism", Russia and China are firmer friends today than they were in their Communist period. They have given a new meaning to "triangulation". The west should take note.

The Sino-Russian Alliance: Challenging America's Ambitions in Eurasia
14.10.07. Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, globalresearch.ca. Preface: The Caspian Sea Summit and the Historical Crossroads of the 21st Century; Tehran’s Rising Star: Failure of the Anglo-American attempt to Encircle and Isolate Iran; The Nabucco Project, Eurasian Energy Corridors, and the Russo-Iranian Energy Front; MAPS; The Baltic-Caspian-Persian Gulf Energy Corridor: The Mother of all Energy Corridors?; Eurasian Energy Corridors: Two-Edged Knives?; The “Great Game” Enters the Mediterranean Sea; Gas, Oil, and Geo-Politics in the Mediterranean Sea; Oceania versus Eurasia in the Mediterranean Littoral; Extensive Notes; Sources for Maps.

Iran may join Caspian naval force if sea status clarified
15.10.07. rian.ru. The Iranian expert ruled out the participation of other countries, including the United States or Europe, in the proposed security grouping, but said cooperation under the project could be coordinated within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) or other existing security structures in Central Asia.

Nepal wants to make cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
18.10.07. turkishweekly. Nepalnews.com has published an article by Bhaskar Koirala entitled "Nepal's interest in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization". The author is a member of the ChinaStudyCenter and is associated with the Poverty Alleviation Fund. Text of article included.

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Vladimir Putin. Photograph: Viktor Korotayev/AP

Condoleezza Rice. Photo AP

For articles concerning the recent Putin / Condi confrontation, see US-NATO 'Missile Shield' Programme: Index Timeline (updated regularly).

Other related articles

PNAC: Rebuilding America's Defenses - A Biopsy on Imperialism; Part II: "Special Interests" - The Persian Gulf

Iran War: Resource Info (24.01.07)

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Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in the UK. She is a member of the BRussels Tribunal Advisory Committee

The url to Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is: http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/10/shanghai-cooperation-organisation-sco.html
shorter url: http://tinyurl.com/2wofjl

UPDATES


Azerbaijan Emergences Minister Kamaleddin Heydarov meets with NATO senior officials
16.10.07. apa.az. US sticks its nose into Russia-influenced area, again.

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[In case you missed it]

Russia: Historic Agreement Reached with NATO
No date or source of article. The historic accord, which was formally ratified by Russia and NATO's 16 member nations at a May 27 ceremony in Paris, France, appeared to clear the way for NATO's expansion into Central and Eastern Europe. In July 1997 NATO is expected to invite the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to become NATO members. The agreement followed months of diplomacy intended to soften Russian opposition to NATO enlargement. Russia has repeatedly protested that NATO's expansion into the territory of states that were once allied with the Warsaw Pact—a defunct military alliance of East European Communist nations and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)—was provocative and threatened Russian security.
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VIDEO Putin's Iran Visit , Al Jazeera.


Iran wins security pledge at Putin summit
16.10.07. P. Naughton, timesonline. After initial talks with his host, President Ahmadinejad, Mr Putin joined the leaders of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan for a summit of Caspian Sea states - and quickly issued a barely-coded warning to the Azeris against military cooperation with the West. Russian media have speculated that Washington might be trying to negotiate with Azerbaijan on the right to use military facilities in the Caucasus republic for a campaign against Iran, although Azeri officials have denied any such plans. Today's summit did not reach agreement on their main objective - how to divide up the Caspian and its huge oil and gas reserves. But the five Caspian presidents did agree not to let a third country use their soil for an attack on any of the other coastal states. The summit communiqué … also stressed that "under no circumstances will they allow (the use of their) territories by third countries to launch aggression or other military action against any of the member states".

Common exercise, different goals
17.10.07. YU Bin, IHT. In mid-August, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) … conducted a multi-state military exercise in central Russia, code-named "Peace Mission 2007." The SCO allowed some 80 nations to observe the drill - but not the United States, an omission that was widely noted. … Washington's perspective on the SCO is divided: On one hand, the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are fought close to SCO peripheries. But as the world's only regional security group that does not include direct participation of the United States, SCO is also a distant force for the world's sole superpower, still in its "unipolar moment."

Energy-rich Caspian becomes center of U.S.-Russia power struggle
17.10.07. J. Dempsey, IHT. Is the Caspian a sea or a lake? The answer has immense repercussions for the energy industry. If it is a lake, there are no obligations by countries that flank it to grant permits to foreign vessels or drilling companies. But if it is sea, there are international treaties obliging those countries to an array of permits. Over the past few years, the United States has been trying to establish alternative energy routes that would weaken the regional dominance of Russia and Iran, while Russia has sought to control the transportation routes across these waters. When Vice President Dick Cheney visited Kazakhstan last year, he used the occasion to launch a fierce attack against President Vladimir Putin of Russia, accusing him of rolling back democracy and suppressing human rights. By delivering the speech in Kazakhstan, the Bush administration was staking out U.S. influence in the region, where it has stepped up plans to build a pipeline that would bypass Iran and Russia. the Caspian summit produced no breakthrough. IRNA, the official Iranian press agency, said the five leaders agreed to form an economic cooperation organization. They are to meet next year in Azerbaijan, leaving open for the moment the viability of a trans-Caspian pipeline and the Nabucco project but confirming Russia's influence in the region. [ you can bet that Cheney / Rice will be rushing back and forth with coersion / $s in their pockets before then!

Caspian summit a triumph for Iran
18.10.07. Kaveh Afrasiabi, Asia Times. the summit has been a great success for Iran as well as Russia and the other participants (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan), and Tehran is likely to capitalize on it as a stepping stone for full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), considered a security counterweight to NATO and US "hegemony"... it is as much shared interests as common worries and concerns, eg, the US's unbounded interventionist policies, that have now brought Iran and Russia closer together and to the verge of a new strategic relationship. After all, both Iran and Russia are today objects of American coercion, their national security interests and objectives imperiled by the US's post-9/11 militarism and its feudalistic ossification of the international order. … a prominent message about the need to democratize the international order by erecting effective barriers to the American "leviathan", as shown by specific agreements reached at the summit, including prohibiting other countries from using the littoral states for attacks on one another "under any circumstances'', and disallowing any ship not flying the national flag of a littoral state on Caspian waters. MAP.

Putin attacks US, announces new nuclear weapon
18.10.07. timesofindia. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday chastised the United States over its policy in Iraq and Iran, and announced "grandiose" military plans, including development of a new nuclear weapon. In a nationally broadcast [3 hour] link-up with ordinary Russians across the country, Putin called the US intervention in Iraq a "dead end" and called on Washington to set a deadline for the withdrawal of troops. In a nationally broadcast link-up with ordinary Russians across the country, Putin called the US intervention in Iraq a "dead end" and called on Washington to set a deadline for the withdrawal of troops. In a video link-up with servicemen at the Plesetsk nuclear missile base, Putin said that Russia would build another nuclear submarine next year and was also planning a "completely new" atomic weapon.

Eurasia Strikes Back: No War With Iran Likely
18.10.07. Srdja Trifkovic, globalresearch.ca. The terms of the Declaration , with 25 Articles, signed at the Caspian summit.

US - NATO moves into Putin's Patch: Azerbaijan.
NATO Begins New Co-operation with Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan

Caspian Summit: Putin Puts Forward A War-Avoidance Plan
22.10.07. Muriel Mirak-Weissbach, globalresearch.ca. Putin has grasped the fact that what the Cheney Crowd is threatening is World War. The Russian President's trip--the first of a Russian head of state since the 1943 Tehran conference of war-time powers--was geared to register his government's commitment to prevent a new war in the region, at all costs. That new war is the one on the strategic agenda of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, against Iran.

FM: Premier Wen to attend SCO meeting
29.10.07. china.org.cn. Premier Wen Jiabao will attend the sixth Meeting of Prime Ministers of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be held in Uzbekistan's capital of Tashkent from November 2 to 6, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao said at a regular press conference on Thursday.

NOVEMBER 2007

6th meeting of Shaghai Cooperation Organisation kicks off
02.11.06. irna.ir. The 6th Meeting of prime ministers and vice-presidents of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states kicked off here on Friday afternoon. Iran's First Vice-President Parviz Davoudi is attending the meeting as an observer.… Russia, China, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are members of the SCO. Islamic Republic of Iran, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Mongolia have been attending the SCO meetings as observers since four years ago.

Kazakhstan calls to discuss Asian Energy Strategy in the frames of SCO before the end of 2007
11.02.07. gazeta.kz.

Russia to present ideas for Afghanistan’s rehabilitation
02.11.07. itar-tass. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization member-countries are obliged to make a certain contribution to the process of Afghanistan’s economic reconstruction, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said at a meeting of the SCO heads of government in Tashkent. “Russia is already in the process of drafting its proposals on that score, first and foremost, those in the energy sphere,” he said.

Analysis: SCO military or economic pact?
02.11.07. John Daly, UPI. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is holding a four-day meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, starting Friday. While the summit will doubtless end with the usual flurry of statements emphasizing peace and prosperity for member states, the gathering will be most notable for what is absent from the declarations, a vision of what the grouping actually entails, particularly as regards energy exports. … The one point on which both Moscow and Beijing concur is to limit or end U.S. military influence in Central Asia, and the SCO scored a notable triumph towards that end when in late 2005 Uzbekistan unilaterally ended U.S. access to its airbase facilities in Karshi-Khanabad in the aftermath of the May Andijan uprising. … The issue is now whether the SCO summit will hearken its benevolent colleagues in Moscow and Beijing or continue to listen to the dulcet siren songs of the West’s persistent “neo-liberal industrial-consumerist system.” Despite soothing noises from both Moscow and Beijing, given geographical realities, it would seem more than likely that Central Asia will use the SCO seminar to advance heretical naked capitalist agendas, i.e., boosting remuneration rates for its energy exports, flipping Russia and China into a nasty bidding war for Central Asian energy.

Iran’s VP says SCO decisions positive
03.11.07. irna.ir.

China, Uzbekistan issue joint communique, pledging to enhance bilateral ties, co-op
04.11.07. xinhuanet. The communique said the two countries will respect each other's rights to choose their own paths of development. Neither country will allow a third country to use its territory to engage in any activities which would harm the other country's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, it said. Both sides reiterated that the treaty signed by SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) members in Bishkek in August on long-term good-neighborhood, friendship and cooperation has laid a solid legal foundation for long-term, mutually-beneficial cooperation among SCO member states.

SCO: Implementation crucial for economic, trade ties among its members
05.11.07. englishpeople. A series of vital, substantial achievements have been scored at the Sixth Meeting of Prime Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held Friday or on November 2, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The meeting beefed up cooperation in the economic and trade sector and humanity field. .. more enticing, innovative ideas for cooperation were tabled at the meeting instead of evading relevant thorny issues on hand. .. The Chinese side, with its particular heed given to cooperation in its adjacent areas and the providence of assistance to cooperation for their enterprises, suggested convening meetings for senior health and agricultural officials of the SCO nations and the first-ever meeting of health ministers of member nations. Such meetings are expected to play a direct role to spur implementing the agreement and further expand cooperation to the welcome of member nations. .. Meanwhile, the meeting has proposed, among others, to intensify the implementation of large-scale investment items, strengthen cooperation in the energy, information, and science and technology spheres, and implement model highway and bridge projects that have already been devised, cope with traffic congestion that has long tormented the central Asian nations and develop railway networks in the region.

Tajikistan eyes stronger ties with Iran
10.11.07. presstv.ir. n a meeting with visiting Iranian Energy Minister, Parviz Fattah in Dushanbe on Saturday, Rakhmon stressed the importance of speeding up the work on the 220-MW Sangtoudeh 2 Power Plant, which is being built by Iran in southern Tajikistan. He said Tajikistan would strongly support Iran's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) during the organizations next meeting to be held in Dushanbe in 2008.

JANUARY 2008

Russia will hold the presidency in SCO by 2008 - 2009
03.01.08. gazeta.kz. By 2008 - 2009 the presidency in Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be held by Russia, as reported to the agency in the press service of the SCO.

The US in the Pacific
03.01.08. Hannah Middleton, political affairs. A seismic shift is taking place in world affairs as the major Asian countries strengthen their political, economic and military relations creating the potential for a counterbalance to unfettered US military power. ... This emerging bloc of nations is not only built on military power and cooperation but on the steadily growing economic might of China, India and to a lesser extent, Russia. Their economies are growing at a rapid pace, their exports to other countries are massive, their imports of raw materials are huge and oil agreements and the necessary oil and gas pipelines between the countries in the region are being constructed... “The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries are going to be the new powerhouse of the world.

FEBRUARY 2008

Tajikistan considers that Iran could become full member of SCO gradually
12.02.08. asiaplus.

'EU and NATO should deepen their relations with Kazakhstan'
12.02.08. turkishweekly. ... ... Sticking to reform process and creating a prosperous nation that would be a balancing actor in the region is something expected from Kazakhstan and its policy makers. This country’s role in Shanghai Cooperation Organization and its role in OSCE is important in this context.

Iran, Tajikistan may sign military pact
17.02.08. turkishweekly. Predicting that in accordance with ongoing developments in two countries' relations, Iran would in near future become a main member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the weekly wrote, Tajikistan, as one of the six main members of Shanghai Organization, plays a key role there, and can influence the other five members on benefits of accepting Iran as the seventh main member."

FODDER FOR THE BUSHFIRE

Iran & Russia can rid world of dollar's slavery
17.02.08. iranmania. n's Ambassador to Moscow said Iran and Russia, as major energy suppliers, can rid the world of US dollar's slavery by promoting oil and gas deals using different currencies, IRNA reported. Gholam-Reza Ansari further emphasized in an interview with 'Echo Moscow Radio', "We have been trying to launch an Oil Stock Market in Iran and also trying to find substitute currencies for Iran's oil sales, that can be Russia's ruble."

Iran, China enjoy common views
19.02.08. presstv.ir.

Backing Kazakhstan's 'great game'
18.02.08. Guardian. The European Union has a limited time to help Kazakhstan become a western ally and benefit from the country's oil and gas resources. The challenge is clear. Russia and China will not wait for the EU to make up its mind about whether Kazakhstan is a worthy partner. Kazakhstan already plays a key role in the Shanghai cooperation organisation (SCO), a group that comprises Central Asian countries, along with Russia and China. The SCO focuses on regional security, economic ties, and cultural cohesion in much the same way as the OSCE and EU do. There is little doubt that the SCO is an instrument for Russia and China to make the case for a multi-polar world based on regional security blocs that counterbalance American strategic hegemony. It would therefore be tragic if the EU missed the opportunity to tie Kazakhstan firmly to the west. There may not be many more chances.

Towards the Conquest of the Middle East and North Africa: The U.S., the E.U. and Israel join hands
18.02.08. Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, global research. The Mediterranean Union: NATO’s Role in Conquering the Middle East and North Africa; NATO Expansion in the Mediterranean: Paving the Way for E.U. Enlargement; Israel to join the E.U. and NATO; Western Energy Security, NATO, Israel, and the Bigger Picture; The Divided Political-Military Relations that exist in Europe are Replicated in the Mediterranean; NATO and the Persian Gulf: Rivalry with the Eurasian Heartland?;

MARCH 2008

SCO to regularly hold anti-terror drills: official
01.03.08. china daily. "The SCO member states have a common understanding that the exercises of this kind should be held on a regular basis. Probably, their periodicity will be not rarer than once in two years," Russian news agencies quoted him as saying. The SCO held the "Peace Mission 2007" drill in Russia last year [see above], which was the first ever joint military exercise involving all the six member states of the regional mechanism, namely China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Russia throws a wrench in NATO's works
15.03.08. M K Bhadrakumar, asia times. ... Russia will attend the alliance's summit meeting on April 2-4 in Bucharest, Romania. It is clear that NATO will defer to a future date any decision to put Ukraine and Georgia on its Membership Action Plan. This means effectively that the two former Soviet republics cannot draw closer to NATO for another year at the very least, which in turn implies that the earliest the two countries can realize their membership claim would be in a four-year timeframe. ... But cooperation with Russia involves NATO embarking on cooperation with CSTO and possibly with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as well. (Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, addressing the Security Council in New York on Wednesday, proposed that for effectively combating drug trafficking originating from Afghanistan, a system of security rings promoted by Russia in the Central Asian region in recent years would be useful and that the potential of CSTO and SCO should be utilized.)

Red Rag to Bull Cheney's push for Iran war
Iran announces it is seeking membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
24.03.08. IHT.

SCO Chief welcomes Iran's SCO membership
28.03.08. mathaba. Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Bolat Nurgaliyev on Thursday welcomed Iran's bid for membership in the Organization.

China hails Iran move to join SCO
28.03.08. presstv.ir.

It’s Time to Promote Peace in Afghanistan
30.03.08. John W. Warnock, global research. [At the NATO conference in Bucharest], Russia will be representing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The Russians and their allies in the two organizations are proposing a joint NATO-CSTO agreement for the settlement of the Afghan conflict. This proposal appears to have the support of the governments of France and Germany and several other European NATO countries. The new governments in Pakistan are supporting a negotiated settlement to the Afghan war. This is an opportunity for the Canadian government to take the initiative and promote this new peace initiative.

Iran: Russia, China Unlikely To Welcome Tehran Into SCO
30.03.08. rferl. Iran, India, Mongolia, and Pakistan currently have observer status in the SCO, while Afghan government officials have also attended meetings of the SCO as observers. The group -- established in 1996 as the Shanghai Five before changing its name in 2001 -- comprises China, Russia, and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. ... SCO membership would also give Iran some degree of protection against threats from the United States. "Secondly, Iran wants -- under the SCO wings and as a full member of the group -- to get a guarantee against possible U.S. and Israeli [military] action against Iran," Sazhin says. "Here, I mean a guarantee against a possible, hypothetical military resolution for Iran's nuclear crisis." But most experts say it is unlikely Iran will becoming a SCO member anytime in the near future. Although leading SCO members Russia and China have long given some support at the UN to Iran against U.S. and EU pressure aimed at curtailing Tehran's nuclear program, experts say Moscow and Beijing would not risk precipitating an open confrontation between the SCO and Washington and Brussels.

APRIL 2008

SCO Chief Welcomes Iran's Membership
03.04.08. fars news.

Red rag (cont.)

US irked by Iran's joining SCO
09.04.08. presstv.ir. The US says it will use all means to prevent Iran's influence in the region including its membership in Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
/ Washington would work with countries in the region to stop any attempt by Iran to "influence governments or political parties,” said US assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher on Tuesday.

China


US says Shanghai bloc not turning into military alliance
09.04.08. AFP. The United States said Tuesday a Central Asian bloc dominated by Russia and China was unlikely to turn into a military alliance, but expressed concern over Iran's potential membership.

China proposes strategic partnership with Pakistan
11.04.08. thai Indian. Hu suggested the two countries act in close cooperation at various international and regional forums such as the UN, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations, and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

TARGET IRAN, Part 1; US sanctions send Iran into Asia's arms
11.04.08. China Hand, asia times. From a Western-centric point of view, the United States and its allies are pushing Iran into a corner in its efforts to rein in what Washington considers Iran's move towards becoming a nuclear power. A broader perspective would indicate that we might simply be driving Iran into the arms of Asia. On March 24, Iran's official media reported that Iran will apply for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), headed by China and Russia and containing a fistful of continental Asian states. Connoisseurs of irony will find fodder in Iran's reported appreciation of the SCO's goals of "anti-terror, anti-extremism, and anti-splittism" as well as its discovery of the deep cultural # affinity between Iran and Asia. But consider this: The two largest customers for Iranian oil are China and Japan.
# China has surpassed Germany as Iran’s biggest trading partner.
# The main market for Iran's gasoline purchases has switched to Singapore.
# The main investors in Iran's energy industry - led by China - are all Asian.

China and America: The Tibet Human Rights PsyOp
13.04.08. Michel Chossudovsky, global research. The human rights issue has become the centerfold of media disinformation. / China is no model of human rights but neither are the US and its indefectible British ally, responsible for extensive war crimes and human rights violations in Iraq and around the World. The US and its allies, which uphold the practice of torture, political assassinations and the establishment of secret detention camps, continue to be presented to public opinion as a model of Western democracy to be emulated by developing countries, in contrast to Russia, Iran, North Korea and the People's Republic of China. 1. Human Rights Double Standards 2. The Geopolitical Chessboard (SCO); 3. Encircling China; 4. The Eurasian Corridor; 5. Weakening China from within: Covert Support to Secessionist Movements' 6. The Lhasa Riots (and Video) ; 7. The Role of US Intelligence; 8. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED); 9. PsyOp: Discrediting the Chinese Leadership; 10. PsyOp: Discrediting the Chinese Leadership' 11. The Olympic Torch; 12. Global Economic Implications

Beijing quiet on Musharraf moves on gas pipeline
16.04.08. times of India. The Chinese foreign ministry on Tuesday steered clear of the new issues thrown up by Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, who invited China to join the Iran-India-Pakistan gas pipeline project. / Musharraf also suggested that China can play an important role in defusing the Afghanistan crisis through the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The foreign ministry expressed confidence that India would ensure safe passage of the Olympic torch in New Delhi on April 17. Any disruption of the torch relay would only "show the true nature of sabotage of the separatists", Jiang Yu, ministry spokeswoman, told reporters.

The Eurasian Corridor: Pipeline Geopolitics and the New Cold War
22.08.08. Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research. The ongoing crisis in the Caucasus is intimately related to the strategic control over energy pipeline and transportation corridors. On SCO, see section: The Pipeline Guardians: NATO, SCO




JUNE 2009

De-Dollarization: Dismantling America’s Financial-Military Empire: The Yekaterinburg Turning Point
13.06.09. Prof. Michael Hudson, global research. Challenging America will be the prime focus of extended meetings in Yekaterinburg, Russia (formerly Sverdlovsk) today and tomorrow (June 15-16) for Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and other top officials of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The alliance is comprised of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrghyzstan and Uzbekistan, with observer status for Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia. It will be joined on Tuesday by Brazil for trade discussions among the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China). / The attendees have assured American diplomats that dismantling the US financial and military empire is not their aim. They simply want to discuss mutual aid – but in a way that has no role for the United States, NATO or the US dollar as a vehicle for trade. US diplomats may well ask what this really means, if not a move to make US hegemony obsolete. That is what a multipolar world means, after all. For starters, in 2005 the SCO asked Washington to set a timeline to withdraw from its military bases in Central Asia. Two years later the SCO countries formally aligned themselves with the former CIS republics belonging to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), established in 2002 as a counterweight to NATO. / Yet the meeting has elicited only a collective yawn from the US and even European press despite its agenda is to replace the global dollar standard with a new financial and military defense system. A Council on Foreign Relations spokesman has said he hardly can imagine that Russia and China can overcome their geopolitical rivalry, suggesting that America can use the divide-and-conquer that Britain used so deftly for many centuries in fragmenting foreign opposition to its own empire. / What may prove to be the last rites of American hegemony began already in April at the G-20 conference, and became even more explicit at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 5, when Mr. Medvedev called for China, Russia and India to “build an increasingly multipolar world order.” What this means in plain English is: We have reached our limit in subsidizing the United States’ military encirclement of Eurasia while also allowing the US to appropriate our exports, companies, stocks and real estate in exchange for paper money of questionable worth.

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