RUSSIA CHINA COUNTER-ALLIANCE: Can the SCO Emerge As a Counterweight To NATO?

By: Andrei Ilyashenko

Source: Global Research
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=30936

It’s impossible not to notice that the SCO has gone beyond the scope of regional problems.

At the meeting in Beijing, the draft final declaration of the SCO member states was adopted. According to RIA Novosti sources in the Russian delegation, the document condemns the U.S. anti-ballistic missile program.

A consolidated SCO position on anti-ballistic missile systems has the potential to become a significant counterweight to NATO’s plans in this area.

Although for many years the SCO treaded cautiously in making foreign policy statements, the organization is evolving.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is in for major changes, judging by the outcomes of the meeting of SCO foreign ministers in China’s capital ahead of the SCO summit scheduled to be held in Beijing on June 6-7.

The SCO was designed in the 1990s as an institution to build up confidence between Russia, China and four Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – primarily in the military sector. The SCO member states were united by the common threat of Islamic fundamentalism, kindled by the dominance of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

However, in the early 2000s, the SCO shifted its focus to combating international terrorism and drug trafficking, as well as cooperation in economic and humanitarian areas. The organization held reasonable, well-balanced positions on international issues and pursued a very cautious policy, never giving analysts reasons to treat it as a serious political, let alone military alliance. India, Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia joined the SCO as observers, while Belarus and Sri Lanka became “dialogue partners.”

But times have changed, and the SCO has changed along with them. The crises in the Middle East, including those triggered by the Arab Spring, the role that Western countries played there, and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and more importantly, from Afghanistan, called for a major revision to the SCO’s approaches and prompted the organization to step up its foreign policy efforts.

As it appears from the speech of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov delivered at the recent Shanghai meeting, from now on the SCO will formulate a common policy for all its participants if crises should emerge in the region. It appears that the new mechanism will be launched as early as next month, on the eve of an international conference on Afghanistan slated for June 14 in Kabul.

“The situation in Afghanistan and around it raises major concerns. We should actively participate in all international discussions on Afghanistan- related problems, coordinating our positions,” Lavrov said. The SCO will obviously take into consideration the decisions of the NATO summit in Chicago, which will take place during the final week of May and address the situation in that country.

Previous statements by the Russian Foreign Ministry made it clear that the nature of the U.S. and NATO military presence in Afghanistan will top the agenda. Moscow and Beijing argue against the continued presence of foreign troops, whose functions go well beyond mere policing there. Moscow would also like to hear a report on the implementation of the UN resolution that served as the basis for carrying out the military campaign in Afghanistan. The SCO’s consolidated position will substantially support the efforts of Russia and China in this area.

Moscow and Beijing’s demands will be backed even more strongly if the number of SCO member states or associated countries grows. During the recent meeting, Lavrov called for approving the SCO membership requests filed by India and Pakistan. Furthermore, the organization is close to deciding in favor of giving Afghanistan observer status and making Turkey a dialogue partner.

It’s impossible not to notice that the SCO has gone beyond the scope of regional problems.

At the meeting in Beijing, the draft final declaration of the SCO member states was adopted. According to RIA Novosti sources in the Russian delegation, the document condemns the U.S. anti-ballistic missile program. RIA Novosti quotes a part of the document, which reads that unilateral unlimited expansion of the anti-ballistic missile system may damage international security and strategic stability. This statement clearly supports Moscow’s efforts to deter the U.S. anti-ballistic missile plans, which, if implemented, may devalue Russia’s strategic potential. However, China is also interested in deterring the U.S., as its nuclear forces are even more vulnerable.

A consolidated SCO position on anti-ballistic missile systems has the potential to become a significant counterweight to NATO’s plans in this area.

However, judging by the published documents and statements, there are no plans to give the SCO military and defense functions. It is possible, though, as the newspaper Kommersant reported, that some additional instruments are contained in the strategy for further development of the organization, which will have to be approved by the heads of the SCO states. The essence of the strategy remains undisclosed, since it is still under negotiation.

G8 nations reach consensus on need for keeping Greece in eurozone

Leaders of the G8 nations at the US presidential country retreat of Camp David following the G8 Summit 2012

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/05/20/242130/g8-nations-reach-consensus-on-greece/

The Group of Eight (G8) leaders have wrapped up their summit in the US, reaching consensus on the need to keep financially-crippled Greece in the eurozone.

They also agreed to ignite growth and slash the debt that has hugely spoiled the European economies.

The joint declaration issued on Saturday by the leaders of the world’s major economies, however, did not mention any specific recommendations on how to tackle the enduring financial troubles of Europe.

The G8 leaders appeared unanimous in their resolve to make sure that Greece, which also faces a political gridlock, stays within the 17-member euro currency zone.

The G8 declaration of support for maintaining Greece in the eurozone points to unforeseen damage to the global economy that may emerge from a Greek departure of the eurozone. The move follows a week of rising speculation that the country may not be able to keep up with its debt payments. This is while the European crisis has already left its marks on Wall Street.

“The global economic recovery show sign[s] of promise, but significant headwinds persist,” read the joint statement of the G8 leaders.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama seized the opportunity as the host of the summit to direct the discussions towards issues favorable to his own re-election campaign, outlining on the closing day of the summit the steps he would take to improve the US economy and elaborating on his economic vision for his potential second term.

Meanwhile, the Fitch ratings agency downgraded the rating of Greece last Thursday to the lowest possible grade for a country that is not in default. The agency announced that the departure of Greece from the eurozone was “probable” in case the month’s elections in the country do not reverse the political trends that have brought in politicians opposed to Europe’s bailout terms.

From G8 to NATO: ‘Russia and China may be on the same side’

Vladimir Putin (L) and Hu Jintao (AFP Photo / Pool / Takuro Yabe)

Source: Russia Today
http://www.rt.com/news/obama-putin-g8-summit-669/

With Putin opting not to attend the ongoing G8 summit at Camp David and Obama passing on an upcoming APEC summit in Vladivostok, much has been made of the bilateral snub. But Russian expert Martin McCauley told RT critics have missed the plot.

As President Obama greeted leaders of seven other major world economies for a working dinner at the start of the G8 summit Friday night, President Putin was not among them. The Russian president said domestic affairs and cabinet appointments had led him to send Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in his place.

With the summit concluding on Saturday, Obama will immediately return to his hometown of Chicago for a NATO summit this Sunday.

Obama likewise announced he would miss the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting this September, since it closely tails the Democratic National Convention; a peak time in his reelection bid.

However, with both leaders set to meet on the sidelines of a G20 summit set to be held in Mexico next month, Martin McCauley, Russia expert from the University of London, told RT critics were too quick to dismiss the leaders’ domestic concerns.

He also said one key player was conspicuously absent at both the G8 and NATO summit, making the G20 a much more fitting format for both Moscow and Washington to hammer out their mutual concerns: China.

RT: Do you think Putin’s refusal to attend would have been a shock to the US?

Martin McCauley: It would have surprised President Obama because the G8 Summit was to originally convene in Chicago and he moved it to Camp David, away from the Windy City, and a NATO meeting just after the G8 summit. Obama thought Camp David would be a more placid place to meet President Vladimir Putin, but President Putin decided to give it a miss this time.



The G20 really doesn’t talk about human rights and democracy, because there are dictatorships, for instance, Saudi Arabia.

RT: Now with Putin giving it a miss this time as you say, do you think the absence of Russia's leader will alter the effectiveness of this meeting?

MM: No, because the key question would be the Greek exit from the euro. It has to be an orderly withdrawal. Anything else would be disaster. So therefore Russia is on the outside of that; the Russian economy is okay. At present the oil price is over $100 a barrel, so therefore Russia feels [it is] in a strong position.

President Putin couldn’t really contribute anything to a solution. He could say, “Right, you have to solve your debt problem, Germany should in fact extend more loans to weak members of the European Union,” and so on. But basically he would be a bystander and most of the discussions will be economic and affect the vital interests of the European Union and also President Obama, because Obama has realized that if there is a euro fallout in Europe, it will affect his chances in America – it will affect the US economy.

So therefore he wants the problem solved, and basically everyone will gang up on Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and tell her that she should relax her austerity plans, that she should take a softer line towards Greece, and a softer line towards paying back bills.

RT: So as you said, a lot of the focus going on at the G8 summit is that of the euro crisis, also with Barack Obama’s reelection campaign and his hope to get in for another four year term. There are some that say that President Putin decided not to go to the G8 because the G20 summit is more important. What would you read into that?

MM: I think that the G8 summit of course is only…the heavily industrialized nations. But also remember that President Hu Jintao is not there as well. Therefore, the G20 is arguably more important. The G8 basically talks a lot about human rights, democracy, and so on. The G20 really doesn’t talk about human rights and democracy, because there are dictatorships, for instance, Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the G20 format is easier for Russia and they can have more influence there.

The interesting thing is…the Russian press is adopting the Chinese view that the shield is really geared against China – it’s not really about Iran or North Korea – it’s really China.

RT: President Obama now says he won't attend a major summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Russia in September, because it coincides with his party National Convention. Both sides deny there's any tit-for-tat involved, there’s no rift between America-Russia relations. Can we read anything into this here, or is it just nonsense?

MM: If Obama says he’s going to stay in America, it means he’s very concerned about reelection. One of the arguments about President Putin staying in Russia is that he’s concerned about the security situation – he wants to stay there on the spot if demonstrations get out of hand – he wants to be the man giving orders. That’s one argument. You can apply the same argument to America, that President Obama wants to be in America at a very vital time. September, October, November – there’s only two months before the presidential election. He can’t really afford to be out of the country. If something goes wrong it could reflect badly on his chances and so on. So maybe Obama is saying, “the presidential race to me is more important than a meeting of Asia-Pacific nations.”

RT:Vladimir Putin is not going to the NATO summit in Chicago that’s due to begin on Sunday. Would he have been expected to attend that too? When you’ve talked about for quite some time now, the whole American and European missile defense that’s been a bone of contention, with Moscow repeatedly calling for it to be a joint missile system between America and Russia, Do you think Putin should be attending that NATO summit in Chicago?

MM: Well, technically he could be invited, but I doubt he will go there, because relations at present are, shall we say, not exactly friendly [regarding the] anti-missile shield. The interesting thing is, in the last week, the Russian press is adopting the Chinese view that the shield is really geared against China – it’s not really about Iran or North Korea, it’s really China. So therefore Russia’s bringing into play the fact that Russia and China may be on the same side opposing the shield, and that they have a common defense interest in restricting American power.

The Chinese don’t like the US navy penetrating Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean. The conflict over the islands, the conflict with Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia, the Americans coming in with Vietnam having some type of understanding with the United States Navy. All of that in fact makes relations between China and Washington rather tense, so therefore Russia can gain from this. They can say to the Chinese, ‘basically we’re on the same side, and we have to restrict America, so if Putin decided to go to Chicago, which I doubt he will, he may actually in fact say some of those things.

EU, US leaders at Camp David for G8 Summit

US President Barack Obama (R) welcomes French President Francois Hollande at the G8 summit in Camp David

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/05/19/241945/g8-summit-kicks-off-in-us/

US President Barack Obama has greeted leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations at the 38th G8 Summit at Camp David in the US state of Maryland.

The summit officially began on Friday, with the Greek and eurozone crises being at the top of the list of topics to be discussed by G8 leaders during the closed-door summit.

Rising oil prices in world markets are also on the agenda for the leaders of the world’s biggest economies.

Meanwhile, Obama and several other leaders have expressed support for newly elected French President Francois Hollande’s calls for turning to growth as a resolution to the ongoing economic crisis rather than imposing further austerity measures, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel has pushed for.

Former French head of state Nicolas Sarkozy also supported austerity.

The G8 leaders are trying to come up with ways to keep Greece within the eurozone.

This is while growing political and economic turmoil in Greece has led to mounting concerns among eurozone financial ministers that Athens would not comply with the austerity measures it agreed to with its European neighbors in exchange for endorsement of a second financial bailout, and would finally have to leave the bloc.

Latest statistics show that the Greek economy has lost 6.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012. Greece could go bankrupt by the end of June if international lenders refuse to prop the country up with a EUR-130-billion bailout fund to keep it afloat and inside the eurozone.

The Group of Eight includes the leaders of Canada, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the US.

UNASUR to discuss Caracas, Bogota

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro (R) at the UNASUR
meeting, which was called to discuss the political crisis between
Colombia and Venezuela, Thursday July 29, 2010



Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=136734§ionid=351020706


South American foreign ministers gather in Ecuador to discuss broken ties between Venezuela and Colombia and find a peaceful solution to the escalating diplomatic row.

The meeting of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) is the first encounter between the two governments since Venezuela severed relations with Colombia last week.

The crisis began after Bogota accused Caracas of serving as a rear base for Colombian rebels.

The left-wing rebel groups have been fighting the Colombian authorities since the 1960s.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro has expressed hope that the issue will be resolved peacefully.

However, Colombia's Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez has expressed doubts over reaching a solution at the UNASUR meeting.

Maduro and Bermudez also traded accusations at the start of the meeting.

Upon arrival in Quito, the Venezuelan foreign minister said that his country had asked the south American states to respond to the "grave threats and grave attacks" posed by Colombia, Reuters reported.

Bermudez, on the other hand, once again accused Caracas of sheltering rebel groups including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN).

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has offered to mediate between the two sides.

China-US summit kicks off in Beijing

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=127543§ionid=351020404


The US and China have launched their annual high-level strategic talks, seeking to put an end to months of disagreement over economic and regional issues.

Some 200 US officials led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner arrived in Beijing on Monday for the two-day Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

The Sino-US summit is expected to iron out a number of economic and political disputes.

Speaking at the event, Chinese President Hu Jintao struck a conciliatory note by pledging to continue efforts to reform the country's currency, the yuan.

However, he gave no timetable and made no specific commitments.

"China will continue to steadily advance reform of the yuan exchange rate formation mechanism following the principles of being independent, controllable and gradual," President Hu said.

The currency issue has become a key sticking point in relations between the US and China, with Washington accusing Beijing of keeping the yuan artificially low to boost its exports.

As an alternative, the US has proposed that China opens up to foreign businesses and allows its currency to trade more freely on foreign exchange markets.

Although the economy is expected to dominate the summit, US sees the talks as yet another opportunity to win China's support for a fourth round of UN sanctions against Iran.

China has expressed serious reservations about imposing new sanctions on Iran, insisting on diplomatic measures for resolving the issue.

Furthermore, China has welcomed a recently-issued declaration by Iran on a potential nuclear fuel swap in Turkey, saying it is a positive step toward the resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue.

Clinton's visit to China is also believed to be aimed at pressing Beijing to back punitive measures against North Korea for the alleged sinking of a South Korean warship.

The North has categorically rejected the accusation, warning that any retaliatory measures will lead to an all-out war.

Tehran summit promotes nuke-free world

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123344§ionid=351020104


Tehran says its upcoming denuclearization conference aims to send the message that nuclear weapons have no place in the world — particularly in the Middle East.

"We would continue to send this very strong message from the capital of Iran, Tehran, the center of the Middle East, that nuclear weapons do not have a place at all in this very sensitive part of the world," Mohammad Mehdi Akhoundzadeh, Iran's deputy foreign minister, told Press TV ahead of the international conference on nuclear disarmament scheduled for April 17th and 18th.

Officials from more than 60 countries as well as representatives from various international and non-governmental entities have been invited to the two-day conference dubbed "Nuclear energy for all, Nuclear weapons for none.”

Akhoundzadeh, who is the secretary general of the summit, also said that the conference did not mean to overshadow the nuclear summit held earlier in the US.

"This is a process, this is not a project. Some may think that this is to overshadow what's going on in Washington but we don't look at it that way," he reiterated.

Iran's ambassador to the Netherlands, Kazem Gharibabadi, said Tuesday that the conference seeks "practical" methods to oblige nuclear-armed countries to dismantle their nuclear warheads.

"Iran's main intention for holding this conference is that nuclear-armed countries take practical steps [towards disarmament]," he said in an interview with ANP, the Netherlands's national news agency.

He added that although the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) came into effect 40 years ago to curb the spread of nuclear weapons across the globe, the international community was seriously concerned about the existence of thousands of nuclear weapons, which have yet to be dismantled.

Gharibabadi added that Tehran's forum would also discuss issues such as globalization of the NPT, the legal consequences of threatening to use or using nuclear weapons, as well as the need to end discrimination in the implementation of nuclear disarmament treaties.

Iran: Nuclear Powers unaccountable in arms expansion

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117744§ionid=351020101


As global disarmament talks begin in Paris, a senior Iranian nuclear official lashes out at atomic powers for holding themselves “unaccountable” in the face of international law.

“Powers, who themselves have used atomic weapons, are testing new generations of nuclear arms, instead of giving into the international disarmament regulations,” Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said in Tehran on Tuesday.

“They are even thinking of expanding these weapons. They hold themselves accountable to no authority whatsoever,” he added.

While the former US President George W. Bush was in office, the Pentagon began a campaign for a return to nuclear testing, based on the scheme that the current US nuclear arsenal would not be adequate for the future.

Washington has also sought to develop new 'low-yield' nuclear weapons and improved nuclear bunker buster bombs to penetrate what it describes as hardened targets buried deep underground.

Jalili's comments come as the 'Global Zero' Summit against Nuclear Weapons kicks off in the French capital, bringing together some 200 political, military, business and spiritual leaders in the hope of finding a way to a total nuclear disarmament.

Speaking ahead of the summit, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon called for meaningful steps to move forward the world's nuclear disarmament agenda.

He also warned of the serious threat that nuclear arsenals continue to pose to the global security.

"Nuclear weapons threaten our security. And every dollar spent on weapons is one less spent on schools, life-saving medicine, or research into life-affirming technologies," he said, in a video message to international officials gathered in Paris.

"There is a need for action at these sessions -- meaningful steps that move us forward," he added, referring to the summit underway and similar upcoming events such as the Summit on Nuclear Security in Washington, just two months away, followed by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in May.


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