By Pepe Escobar posted with permission and cross-posted with The Cradle
Part 1 of 2 on Eurasia
With Iran’s arrival, the SCO member-states now number nine, and they’re focused on fixing Afghanistan and consolidating Eurasia.
As a rudderless West watched on, the 20th anniversary meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was laser-focused on two key deliverables: shaping up Afghanistan and kicking off a full-spectrum Eurasian integration.
The two defining moments of the historic 20th anniversary Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan had to come from the keynote speeches of – who else – the leaders of the Russia-China strategic partnership.
Xi Jinping: “Today we will launch procedures to admit Iran as a full member of the SCO.”
Vladimir Putin: “I would like to highlight the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed today between the SCO Secretariat and the Eurasian Economic Commission. It is clearly designed to further Russia’s idea of establishing a Greater Eurasia Partnership covering the SCO, the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union), ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI).”
In short, over the weekend, Iran was enshrined in its rightful, prime Eurasian role, and all Eurasian integration paths converged toward a new global geopolitical – and geoeconomic – paradigm, with a sonic boom bound to echo for the rest of the century.
That was the killer one-two punch immediately following the Atlantic alliance’s ignominious imperial retreat from Afghanistan. Right as the Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15, the redoubtable Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, told his Iranian colleague Admiral Ali Shamkhani that “the Islamic Republic will become a full member of the SCO.”
Dushanbe revealed itself as the ultimate diplomatic crossover. President Xi firmly rejected any “condescending lecturing” and emphasized development paths and governance models compatible with national conditions. Just like Putin, he stressed the complementary focus of BRI and the EAEU, and in fact summarized a true multilateralist Manifesto for the Global South.
Right on point, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan noted that the SCO should advance “the development of a regional macro-economy.” This is reflected in the SCO’s drive to start using local currencies for trade, bypassing the US dollar.
Watch that quadrilateral
Dushanbe was not just a bed of roses. Tajikistan’s Emomali Rahmon, a staunch, secular Muslim and former member of the Communist Party of the USSR – in power for no less than 29 years, reelected for the 5th time in 2020 with 90 percent of the vote – right off the bat denounced the “medieval sharia” of Taliban 2.0 and said they had already “abandoned their previous promise to form an inclusive government.”
Rahmon, who has never been caught smiling on camera, was already in power when the Taliban conquered Kabul in 1996. He was bound to publicly support his Tajik cousins against the “expansion of extremist ideology” in Afghanistan – which in fact worries all SCO member-states when it comes to smashing dodgy jihadi outfits of the ISIS-K mold .
The meat of the matter in Dushanbe was in the bilaterals – and one quadrilateral.
Take the bilateral between Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Chinese FM Wang Yi. Jaishankar said that China should not view “its relations with India through the lens of a third country,” and took pains to stress that India “does not subscribe to any clash of civilizations theory.”
That was quite a tough sell considering that the first in-person Quad summit takes place this week in Washington, DC, hosted by that “third country” which is now knee deep in clash-of-civilizations mode against China.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was on a bilateral roll, meeting the presidents of Iran, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The official Pakistani diplomatic position is that Afghanistan should not be abandoned, but engaged.
That position added nuance to what Russian Special Presidential Envoy for SCO Affairs Bakhtiyer Khakimov had explained about Kabul’s absence at the SCO table: “At this stage, all member states have an understanding that there are no reasons for an invitation until there is a legitimate, generally recognized government in Afghanistan.”
And that, arguably, leads us to the key SCO meeting: a quadrilateral with the Foreign Ministers of Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Qureshi affirmed: “We are monitoring whether all the groups are included in the government or not.” The heart of the matter is that, from now on, Islamabad coordinates the SCO strategy on Afghanistan, and will broker Taliban negotiations with senior Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara leaders. This will eventually lead the way towards an inclusive government regionally recognized by SCO member-nations.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was warmly received by all – especially after his forceful keynote speech, an Axis of Resistance classic. His bilateral with Belarus president Aleksandr Lukashenko revolved around a discussion on “sanctions confrontation.” According to Lukashenko: “If the sanctions did any harm to Belarus, Iran, other countries, it was only because we ourselves are to blame for this. We were not always negotiable, we did not always find the path we had to take under the pressure of sanctions.”
Considering Tehran is fully briefed on Islamabad’s SCO role in terms of Afghanistan, there will be no need to deploy the Fatemiyoun brigade – informally known as the Afghan Hezbollah – to defend the Hazaras. Fatemiyoun was formed in 2012 and was instrumental in Syria in the fight against Daesh, especially in Palmyra. But if ISIS-K does not go away, that’s a completely different story.
Particular important for SCO members Iran and India will be the future of Chabahar port. That remains India’s crypto-Silk Road gambit to connect it to Afghanistan and Central Asia. The geoeconomic success of Chabahar more than ever depends on a stable Afghanistan – and this is where Tehran’s interests fully converge with Russia-China’s SCO drive.
What the 2021 SCO Dushanbe Declaration spelled out about Afghanistan is quite revealing:
1. Afghanistan should be an independent, neutral, united, democratic and peaceful state, free of terrorism, war and drugs.
2. It is critical to have an inclusive government in Afghanistan, with representatives from all ethnic, religious and political groups of Afghan society.
3. SCO member states, emphasizing the significance of the many years of hospitality and effective assistance provided by regional and neighboring countries to Afghan refugees, consider it important for the international community to make active efforts to facilitate their dignified, safe and sustainable return to their homeland.
As much as it may sound like an impossible dream, this is the unified message of Russia, China, Iran, India, Pakistan and the Central Asian “stans.” One hopes that Pakistani PM Imran Khan is up to the task and ready for his SCO close-up.
That troubled Western peninsula
The New Silk Roads were officially launched eight years ago by Xi Jinping, first in Astana – now Nur-Sultan – and then in Jakarta.
This is how I reported it at the time.
The announcement came close to a SCO summit – then in Bishkek. The SCO, widely dismissed in Washington and Brussels as a mere talk shop, was already surpassing its original mandate of fighting the “three evil forces” – terrorism, separatism and extremism – and encompassing politics and geoeconomics.
In 2013, there was a Xi-Putin-Rouhani trilateral. Beijing expressed full support for Iran’s peaceful nuclear program (remember, this was two years before the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the JCPOA).
Despite many experts dismissing it at the time, there was indeed a common China-Russia-Iran front on Syria (Axis of Resistance in action). Xinjiang was being promoted as the key hub for the Eurasian Land Bridge. Pipelineistan was at the heart of the Chinese strategy – from Kazakhstan oil to Turkmenistan gas. Some people may even remember when Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, was waxing lyrical about an American-propelled New Silk Road.
Now compare it to Xi’s Multilateralism Manifesto in Dushanbe eight years later, reminiscing on how the SCO “has proved to be an excellent example of multilateralism in the 21st century,” and “has played an important role in enhancing the voice of developing countries.”
The strategic importance of this SCO summit taking place right after the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok cannot be overstated enough. The EEF focuses of course on the Russian Far East – and essentially advances interconnectivity between Russia and Asia. It is an absolutely key hub of Russia’s Greater Eurasian Partnership.
A cornucopia of deals is on the horizon – expanding from the Far East to the Arctic and the development of the Northern Sea Route, and involving everything from precious metals and green energy to digital sovereignty flowing through logistics corridors between Asia and Europe via Russia.
As Putin hinted in his keynote speech, this is what the Greater Eurasia Partnership is all about: the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), BRI, India’s initiative, ASEAN, and now the SCO, developing in a harmonized network, crucially operated by “sovereign decision-making centers.”
So if the BRI proposes a very Taoist “community of shared future for human kind,” the Russian project, conceptually, proposes a dialogue of civilizations (already evoked by the Khatami years in Iran) and sovereign economic-political projects. They are, indeed, complementary.
Glenn Diesen, Professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway and an editor at the Russia in Global Affairs journal, is among the very few top scholars who are analyzing this process in depth. His latest book remarkably tells the whole story in its title: Europe as the Western Peninsula of Greater Eurasia: Geoeconomic Regions in a Multipolar World. It’s not clear whether Eurocrats in Brussels – slaves of Atlanticism and incapable of grasping the potential of Greater Eurasia – will end up exercising real strategic autonomy.
Diesen evokes in detail the parallels between the Russian and the Chinese strategies. He notes how China “is pursuing a three-pillared geoeconomic initiative by developing technological leadership via its China 2025 plan, new transportation corridors via its trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, and establishing new financial instruments such as banks, payment systems and the internationalization of the yuan. Russia is similarly pursuing technological sovereignty, both in the digital sphere and beyond, as well as new transportation corridors such as the Northern Sea Route through the Arctic, and, primarily, new financial instruments.”
The whole Global South, stunned by the accelerated collapse of the western Empire and its unilateral “rules-based order, now seems to be ready to embrace the new groove, fully displayed in Dushanbe: a multipolar Greater Eurasia of sovereign equals.
“2. It is critical to have an inclusive government in Afghanistan, with representatives from all ethnic, religious and political groups of Afghan society.”
That should be due to Afghanistan, and nobody else’s business.
Taliban has shown that Pashtuns kill other minorities, although itself is NOT a majority, to rule Afghanistan. The Pashtuns HATES Tajik, Hazarah (Shiites), where they have killed Thousands of them in the past and has continued killing them. They should stop their terrorism to please the power of the day.
This is the Fact so no one trust Talibans. They must obtain the trust of the people.
This is Not acceptable to kill shiites Hazarah in thousands, more than 10000 shiites because they are not Sunni Pashtuns in a few days, thus they must form an inclusive government without threatening them to show that Talibans have been changed in order to be recognized, otherwise they must go to hell. No one should recognize them if they continue their past racist practices.
First, they have to stop hating non Pashtuns who are HALF of the population of Afghanistan. Second, they should show that they have changed by forming an Inclusive government.
The Pashtuns have shown they hate Tajiks, but they never killed the invaders, Americans. In fact they always gave them their services and worked as a foot soldiers for Americans to expand their interest in the region like the Pakistani army and its PM since its ‘independence’. This has become part of their DNA. This is Treason.
The PM of Pakistan must go to hell and leave Afghanistan alone. He was and is a womanizer,send him to Britain where he belongs.
What has our PM done in AFG? he’s only been pm since 2018.. You guys have been at it since before even the British arrived.
Sort out you own problems rather than involving us in your problems all the time. If you can’t live with your pashtuns you should split from them. As it is they cause no end of problems for us as your refugees are a crime wave in my nation whilst hating us with every part of their being…
Afghans have no clue about reality and love nothing more than violence and blaming everyone for their own failures.
Not if they wish to be invited to join an organisation such as SCO. The thing is that Afghanistan has significant ethnic minorities with strong ties to the other members of the SCO – Uzbeks, Tajiks, Hazaras, Farsi (Shia) etc. If Afghanistan is little more than an extension of Pakistan, then it will not be welcome at a Forum such as SCO.
The above quoted demand (“inclusive etc”) is stated unconditionally, without any reference to being a possible future member.
The Dushanbe Declaration says
3.1. Afghanistan and Regional Security
33. Member States believe that it is critical to have an inclusive Government in Afghanistan, with representatives from all ethnic, religious and political groups of Afghan society.
The “believe” actually makes it a softer statement than what is quoted in the article (less of a “demand”).
Still, the SCO members should know the demands from the “West” about “good democracy”, and should not repeat the same.
A true multipolar world means, that every state is independent, and no organisation, be it “The West” or the SCO, can demand anything about how a country organises itself.
Oliver
Every state ideally is independent, but since the lines on the map rarely define nations along ethnic or common interest lines, neighbouring states DO have an interest in the politics of other states to the extent that those impact upon themselves. So the government of Tajikstan will have an interest in the affairs of Tajik minorities in Afghanistan because they will have fluid borders, lots of family relationships and an expectation from their own citizens that they will care for the rights of their compatriots. obviously also the risk of refugee crises and destabilisation of trading and travel if their is trouble in the areas.
Of course the specifics of governance is not the business of neighbours but having enough minority rights protection to maintain stability is of very real interest to neighbours. In the specific case of Afghanistan , I think the call is for inclusivity, so all ethnic minorities have a voice and are not disadvantaged. Failure to be inclusive in Afghanistan will give an opening for hostile forces eg USA/UK to stir up trouble and cause for pressure to fragment the country. it is never an easy task and even the UK is under pressure for fragmentation.
We are talking here about a multipolar world, not about States. I guess that, eventually, the idea of States will fade away……… This will happen when we achieve all of what we intend to achieve with the idea of a multipolar world.
This plan was made by people who really understand how the capitalist world we live in works. It is about supplanting capitalism.
Why should the emirate of Afghanistan be neutral?
Is China neutral?
Is Russia neutral?
Is Iran neutral?
Which country is neutral?
Can anyone kindly help decode this word neutral
What is the alternative to being neutral, as far as Afghanistan is concerned?
Aligned with NATO? Aligned with Turkey and Qatar and Pakistan?
Is Afghanistan to become the fourth brother in Turkey’s gay brothers circus freak show of dancing clowns?
I think Pepe, as an informed observer, is hinting that the Taliban need to form an inclusive democratic government, which would certainly choose to remain neutral and focus on internal development at this point, and would not do anything to piss off any of their neighbors, instead of turning Afghanistan into the perfect breeding ground for headchoppers, which is Erdogan’s wet dream.
If the Taliban attempt to turn Afghanistan into Turkey’s recruiting grounds for ISIS, Iran will open up a new battle front, and the Taliban will be crushed and permanently disabled. I hear Pakistan has very good healthcare for handicapped Taliban
In Tehran, they are waiting for the Taliban to make a single mistake.
And the Fatemiyoun and Zeinabiyoun need something to do.
Democratic and neutral
Isnt that an oxymoron
Is that even possible
Democratic simply is PR facade for crony monopoly capitalism which is basically predatory bankers rule.
Isnt voting futile when media is run by foreign moneyed interests and NGOs are foreign funded and when civil society is foreign educated and raised liberals who have nothing common with the man in the street and the provinces
Neutral is simply code word to accept foreign interference under guise of womens lib, modernity, equality and other nice slogans.
Education of women is code word to allow liberal western ideology in institutions of higher education. Think Malala.
Inclusive means to have people in government who have openly called for foreign intervention
Isnt it the islamic emirate that fought against all this. Now why would they allow a CIA puppet like Amrullah Soleh. Just so that they might be called inclusive.
Let us stop being hypocrites.
The Taliban fought against nothing. Pakistan propped them up for 20 years so the US would have a reason to stay in Afghanistan.
Now the US has made an arrangement with the Taliban to turn Afghanistan into the next ISIS jihadi paradise, with assistance from Turkey, Qatar, and Old Faithful — Pakistan.
Nobody said anything about Amrollah Saleh. You brought him up. There are hundreds of other politicians in Afghanistan that are true nationalists, and are much better educated and more capable of running the country than the Taliban. Their presence in the hierarchy will ensure that the Pashtun Taliban do not sell out all of Afghanistan to nonsensical pseudo-Islamic mumbo jumbo which the Taliban espouse, and which they hold in common with ISIS and Al Qaeda, whom they have been known to host among their ranks as guests.
Democracy is a Greek word, it means rule of the people, and just because the West’s democracy was hijacked by Global Zionism, does not mean all democracy is a sham.
Neutral means Afghanistan should not attempt to project power outside of their borders, for now. Russia, China and Iran, are not neutral, because they are many orders of magnitude more powerful than the Taliban, and they are very responsible actors, while the Taliban are a bunch of thugs and cutthroats. It is in the Taliban’s best interest to remain neutral.
Education of women means women going to school and university, like in every country in the world that isn’t a total backwards shithole like Afghanistan.
Inclusive means the country not being run by Pashtun-only, Taliban-only cultists.
“Inclusive means the country not being run by Pashtun-only, Taliban-only cultists.”
Thanks for your reply.
Thank you, for your constant encouragement and kind words, Yk.
“The Taliban fought against nothing”. You begin your denial with lies. It was the Islamic Emirate (mostly Pushtuns) who were carpet bombed for their resistance to occupation. It was the Emirate (Pushtuns) who fought while the others collaborated. It was Pushtuns who took over after 20 years of war. It will be Pustuns who will determine who are acceptable Tajiks and Uzbeks in position of power and not Iran or Russia. Get this in your mind. It will be Afghans from all ethnicities acceptable to the emirate and not Russia and Iran.
“ISIS Jihadi Paradise”
Wow trying to sustain the fear of big Labels. Islamic Emirate is not only the natural enemy of all these western label groups but is at the receiving end. But keep in mind. The Emirate will not only prevail over these extremists but will eliminate the anglo zionist drug rat line like they did in late 1990s..
“Democracy is a Greek Word”. Stop sounding like a school teacher. Where is this Greek word practised except in discussions in class room lessons. Perhaps “China” is a Democracy or the Russian Oligarchs are democratic or maybe the Iranian pseudo Mullahs. It seems you have drawn a veil over your eyes. When was democracy anything except a PR facade.
The emirate has no designs to project power outside their borders. Isnt it the outside powers who have designs on the emirate. Iran wants a private Afghan Hezbullah. Russia is in Tajikistan. Pakistan wants to appease everyone else.
The emirate is just a month old. All the regional states are like Hyenas waiting to grab a bite. Instead of sending in humanitarian aid and supolies look at these Hyenas.
As for womens education, the west bombed the shit out of women and children and covered it over with slogans of womens education. The emirate is expected to work miracles in one month. Remember there will be women intellectuals and doctors and teachers and all in due time. There wont be any Malalas. At this moment the women and children of Afghanistan need proper nutrition and shelter. They need basic healthcare and sanitation. They need clean drinking water. Everything else can wait a few months.
Now dear sir, tell us what the great Democracies surrounding Afghanistan are ready to provide its people in terms of real assistance – not empty slogans.
And start using the proper terms. It is the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. It is not Taliban. And it is going to stay. Learn to live with it.
I will simply address your overwhelming support for the Taliban.
Let’s start with a case that I can personally attest, as a friend of the family.
https://www.dw.com/en/pakistan-daughter-of-afghan-ambassador-kidnapped-tortured/a-58302421
This girl was kidnapped by the Taliban, in Islamabad, and very badly beaten, and sent home with a threatening message written in Pashto on a banknote.
The poor girl still has nightmares from the trauma, months later.
This is what the Taliban do. Meanwhile, the Pakistanis tried to cover up the whole thing. The family are now in Turkey, with no thought of ever returning to Afghanistan, because it has been made clear to them that they will all be murdered, ie. executed without a trial. What could they have possibly done that is so bad, that it justifies their daughter being kidnapped and tortured? I don’t know, but nothing justifies such an act, in my book.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_killing_of_Iranian_diplomats_in_Afghanistan — Another pointless act of violence and savagery by the Taliban
Another example:
“Following the 1997 massacre of 3,000 Taliban prisoners by Abdul Malik Pahlawan in Mazar-i-Sharif (which the Hazaras did not commit) thousands of Hazaras were massacred by other Taliban members in the same city in August 1998. The slaughter has been credited to a number of factors—ethnic difference, suspicion of Hazara loyalty to Shia Iran, anger at the loss of life suffered in an earlier unsuccessful Taliban takeover of Mazarwas—including takfir by the Taliban of the Hazaras. After the attack, Mullah Niazi, the commander of the attack and the new governor of Mazar, declared from several mosques in the city in separate speeches:
Last year you rebelled against us and killed us. From all your homes you shot at us. Now we are here to deal with you. (…)
Hazaras are not Muslim, they are Shia. They are kofr [infidels]. The Hazaras killed our force here, and now we have to kill Hazaras. (…)
If you do not show your loyalty, we will burn your houses, and we will kill you. You either accept to be Muslims or leave Afghanistan. (…)
[W]herever you [Hazaras] go we will catch you. If you go up, we will pull you down by your feet; if you hide below, we will pull you up by your hair. (…)
If anyone is hiding Hazaras in his house he too will be taken away. What [Hizb-i] Wahdat and the Hazaras did to the Talibs, we did worse…as many as they killed, we killed more.”
Mullah Manan Niazi payed for this with his life, at the hands of the IRGC. And any other Taliban terrorist leader who decides to kill innocent people, especially Shias, will meet the same fate. Get this in your mind, and learn to live with it.
And here are some more examples of terrorism committed by Pakistan’s puppets.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_bombing_of_Indian_embassy_in_Kabul
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_bombing_of_Indian_embassy_in_Kabul
I have barely even scratched the surface.
Are you a member of the Taliban? I didn’t know any of them knew how to read or write. Or an Israeli, perhaps? Why such anger and such fierce defense of a bunch of scumbag terrorists? Do you know how many people are fleeing Afghanistan every day, because they fear and loathe the Taliban?
Why would anyone rush to provide assistance to Pakistani puppets who kidnap little girls and kill diplomats and blow up embassies? Let the Pakistanis continue to provide assistance, that is why they receive billions of dollars of aid from the US.
https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/464778/Abdullah-Abdullah-asks-Iran-to-send-humanitarian-aid-to-Afghanistan — Show us an inclusive government that isn’t entirely dominated by Pakistani puppet terrorists, and we will provide aid, seems to be the gist of it.
https://www.euronews.com/2021/08/24/us-afghanistan-conflict-iran-fuel — “Iran resumes fuel exports to Afghanistan after Taliban request, union says”
“LONDON -Iran restarted exports of gasoline and gasoil to Afghanistan a few days ago, following a request from the Taliban, Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union said on Monday.”
What more do the Taliban need from us? Blood? You speak of assistance, while the fact that Iran had half of Afghanistan stand down in the face of the Taliban blitz, in order to keep the peace, completely over your head.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/13/world/asia/afghanistan-mohammad-ismail-khan.html — “An Afghan warlord who steadfastly resisted the Taliban surrendered. Others may follow his lead.”
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA485209.pdf — “There is little doubt that Ismail Khan, self-proclaimed Amir of Western Afghanistan, has important ties and relationships with Iran.”
https://ifpnews.com/ismail-khan-the-lion-who-went-to-iran-twice-after-captivity — “After the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last month, Ismail Khan was, the former governor of Herat province, was captured by the militants and shortly afterward, his images were published showing him in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad.”
This is all the time that I am going to put into educating you, so listen carefully.
The Taliban are nothing. A bunch of illiterate, uneducated jihadists. Everyone in Afghanistan despises them, as do all of their neighbors. And if the US had wanted them destroyed, their Congress would not have approved $18 billion dollars in financial aid to Pakistan between 2002-2011, knowing full well that much of it would go towards supporting the Taliban. And even now, the US would not have left Afghanistan to the Taliban, if they did not feel like their interests would be served by doing that.
If the Taliban continue to sniff after Pakistan’s asshole, Afghanistan will become an ISIS jihadi haven, which is what NATO’s Erdogan needs to continue to further US-Israeli plans in the region: more headchoppers, because his Turkish troops are a bunch of wimps who only know how to look scary holding machine guns in Istanbul’s tourist spots, and his headchoppers in Syria are dropping like flies. And Pakistan, as a broke country with 200 million poverty-stricken hungry people to feed, will do anything to get a few dollars of aid from the US, even sell their own mothers, or allow the Taliban to abduct the Afghan ambassador’s daughter off the streets of Islamabad and torture her, and then cover it up for them.
If the Taliban do as China, Iran, and Russia suggest and advise, they will have a future, and they can call themselves an Emirate, or whatever they want.
If the Taliban choose Turkey, Qatar, and Pakistan, you can rest assured that the whole thing was an American conspiracy from start to finish.
If they choose to be independent, then they will have proven that they have changed.
If they choose to follow Iran, Russia, and China, then it means they are not as uneducated and ignorant as I take them to be right now.
Place your bets, ladies and gents.
/a-letter-to-the-taliban/
Read an article and calm down.
Despite Pepe’s optimistic views, I doubt if India will truly support this integration plan. Under the Modi regime, India has become racist and militaristic than ever, trying to form its own hegemony in South Asia. As long as they actively participate in the QUAD, they can’t be trusted.
Perhaps India is wooing both camps until a military confrontation occurs, so that they can observe who’s side would likely win and join that side.
Besides, I wonder if none of the C. Asian stans have any idea of joining the Union State. If Russia’s plan of Greater Eurasia succeeds, it would be an incentive for ex-Soviet republics to join the Union.
India is certain to act as the Trojan horse in SCO. What were the pillar members of SCO, China and Russia, thinking when they let India into SCO? How can a Quad member (Asian Nato as the Russians officially described Quad) be expected to act in the long terms interests of China or even Russia? There are too many contradictions within SCO that simply cannot be glossed over.
Again, what is all that about? India is certainly not racist. It’s good they are becoming a strong (regional) power in Asia to counter a Chinese dominance. The one that plays both sides is China, not India. How else would you explain the strong economic ties between China and the USA and their strong surveillance of peoples around the world. Privacy is a good thing, but when it comes to spying the Chinese are as good as the Americans. Ever heard of the Sino-Soviet split? I can’t recall though that India ever separated themselves from Russia…
Looks like you are not in touch with India and its domestic and foreign policies. Unfortunately, India has evolved into a Hindu fascist state where minorities (Muslims, Sikhs and Christian) are subjected to state-sponsored lynching, church burning, demolition of mosques, rape of nuns, and killing of thousands of sikh youth by police in staged encounters. The lower castes (the “untouchables”), who now call call themselves “dalits” (the oppressed), are up in arms against state terror and oppression. India has border “disputes” with all its neighbors because the Hindu vision is of a Hindu India from Afghanistan down to Sri Lanka. You might like to read up on Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other organizations reports on the state of human rights in India. Journalists are “investigated” by security agencies for “anti-national” comments, media companies have their offices raided by income tax office and other government goons and thugs. It is truly a very ugly state of affairs. The only way these thugs stay in power is by having border skirmishes and incidents with neighboring countries, joining up with American-sponsored military alliances, and keeping people in a state of excitable hyper-nationalism.
It’s certainly clear to me that India – just like every other country on this planet – has its problems. But your comment sounds pretty much like something that would come out of Pakistani propaganda to me, but ok. Same goes for Afghanistan that only recently expelled the last members of the Jewish community. Not excactly what I would call countries that protect human rights. India however grant religous freedom to everyone. By the way, not only Hinduism but also Buddhism is native to India. That fact alone proves that writing things like “Hindu fascist state”, what kind of a hateful language you are using. Im appalled…
I cannot inform the wilfully blind, although I tried. May I suggest you research Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. You can also establish that the present Indian leader was barred from entering the US for 10 long years by the US State Dept. for the role he played in the pogroms organized under his leadership. Yes, Budhism is native to India but the Hindus hounded out the Budhists a long time ago. Don’t only listen to Hindu viewpoints, get some inputs from Christians, Sikhs, and Muslims from India. The internet makes research easy, given the will. I got interested when I came to know that Kashmir was kept hostage for more than six months with no internet, no long distance phone facility, curfews, no foreign media allowed, and a presence of 800,000 thousand para-military troops with full freedom to fire and kill. India still maintains in excess of 600,000 troops to keep Kashmir under its control. The reason this topic is important is because the next major war is going to be in South Asia and in the fog of war no one will be interested in the truth.
Akhand Bharat – the root of this hindutva nonsense. You can try to downplay it all you want but this is the ideology driving India
With utmost respect to dissenting voices, I feel that Afghanistan – in their present situation and closer future prospects – should actually and necessarily be neutral.
And should be neutral for the same reasons why Malta, Monaco, San Marino and Andorra are and behave as effectively neutral places.
It is the best, less costly way, the easiest to handle political and economic status to keep and be regarded among all neighbourhood…
And ultimately the one single way out compatible with a more or less stable future.
Neutral does not mean that they can do business with neighbours. The SCO wants to be sure that the Taliban wouldn’t pose a threat to the regional security by becoming a terrorist rathole again. It doesn’t necessarily say that they’d admit Afghanistan into the SCO.
/a-letter-to-the-taliban/
You seem to be misinformed my friend
It is a start in the right direction ! At the very least much better than a 20 year war that achieved nothing except profit and death!
One way to measure the success of EAEU, ASEAN and BRI is through the percentage of Non-$ trade. What percentage of their international trade occurs in the US$, Renminbis, Rubles… National Currencies? They have stated their goal of conducting trade in their respective national currencies. If the majority of their trade is conducted in the US$ then they aren’t independent.
It seems like that the U$A and UK (Financial Empire) are creating a global alliance structure similar to the last Cold War alliances of SEATO (AUKUS/QUAD) and CENTO (Abraham Accords? – ME) to challenge China and Russia. However, many nations aren’t joining their alliances. It is very interesting to see how nations evolve.
SEATO (1954-77)
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international alliance created by the U$A & UK to keep communist powers in check (Communist China, in SEATO’s case). The policy was developed by George F. Kennan, and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. Unlike the NATO alliance, SEATO had no joint commands with standing forces. “Internal conflict and disputes hindered general use of the SEATO military;”
Members: U$A, UK, Australia, New Zealand, (Five Eyes), France, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand
CENTO (1955-79)
The Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO), or the Middle East Treaty Organisation (METO), was a military alliance of the Cold War. It was aimed at containing the Soviet Union. It was formed in 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey and the United Kingdom and dissolved in 1979. U$A’s pressure and promises of military and economic aid were key in the negotiations leading to the agreement, but the United States could not initially participate. John Foster Dulles, led the negotiations and claimed that the U$A didn’t join due to “the pro-Israel lobby and the difficulty of obtaining Congressional Approval.” However in 1958, the US joined the military committee of the alliance.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia_Treaty_Organization
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Pact
No further word on women in the declarations, I note.
Not to reflect the crocodile-tears version of reptilian Western ‘humanitarianism’.
Rather the concern would be to reconnect to the inflection point of more or less indigenous Afghan cultural opening in the pre-Mujahadeen era.
Modi’s strategy for India is unclear.
https://twitter.com/narendramodi?s=20
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1756900
1) “Eurasian integration” is not a solution, to a solution to solution, to as solution, to a solution, to a solution (keep going…) to a problem lies entirely hidden in the modern world, (the intent) a systemic problem that has already been buried by layers and layers and layers of global bureaucracy/ administrations/ red tape/ directorate/ officials/ regulatory commissions/ “the Establishment”/ the system/ city halls/ officialdom/ “powers that be”… (that this article hides under the rug- and this is not the authors fault as it has already -beyond economic remedy.)
2) If the system was set up to create a end goal of a Godless planet.
3) Everything is set up on U$uary/ riba/ to finance control of everything else.
4) Everything “problems” (imposed Godlessness) is running off of this (3) (But this takes a long time too see/ it takes many decades/ centuries/ eons – to unearth the roundabout / pattern / carousel rides purpose play out.
5) To suggest what I am suggest, suggests a level of common sense- that is not academic in nature- because that (economics department/policy) has already been taken over by trillions of layers of deception based on assumptions- giving a mathematics (calculus) reasoning to simply cloud / fog over/ haze/ the root cause of the problem.
6) Apply this simply analogy to the theory of economics- one can not by definition- the “criminals run the asylum” or we will simply keep perpetuation of the cycle.
7) There is not $uply and Demand curve- that was always a lie- prices are not determined by this fake reasoning- if one can start with the assumption of a $upply and demand curve being correct, then one can derive an infinite amount of bogus theory on how to run policy (our current predicament.)
8) The blood flow of the entire systems in controlled by private financial banking systems (global) but all connected in a private circle…their end goal is and always will be “social engineering” of the planet to make it Godless. This is hidden by the very nature of (closed to the public need to run all the world’s affairs)- economic forums- which quickly branch out into every other field (think M & G foundations- and all the other thousands of foundations of planet earth- they did not just pop out out of thin air- they run off of billions and billions of dollars)
9) If I want to “pay” the author “in my own version of money” – I make off of paper and scissors and a marker, and I draw $100..0 figure on it, that person will throw it back in my face.
10) There is no difference between that money and the one the author wants- except- one is allowed to be used (legally). Problem is that- there is no real difference between that money- and “my own version of money” because neither version is anything more than paper.
11) Since around 1970 (Nixon)- money (global) has never been backed by anything (no gold or silver in the global market).
12) Why have private banks 3 times in the history of America- tried and succeeded in taking over the actual printing of money, conveniently taking it our of our hands (the public/ government) and placing it solely in the hands of private banking (cabal) hands.
13) In 1944 the Bretton Woods Monetary Conference- where forty- four (44) allied nations concentrated together to formulate the world’s global $ order after world war II (no coincidence that was when Godless Israel was formed).
14) However, in 1971, Nixon stopped the “run” on Fort Knox, oversees by cutting lose the “dollar” from all gold reserves- which resulted in the implosion of the Bretton Woods Agreement (planned ahead of time).
15) The problem is not related to the dollar/ economic theory/ financial derivatives (mathematics)/global policy- it goes all the way back to who started the fraud ride we are all one- where the problem really all started- in finance- (and that goes all the way back to Sharia law- namely lets get rid of the Root of the problem ( not the myriad of symptoms (designed this way) problems- namely U$uary/ riba– against all scriptures (God)’s instruction. The banking system and feminism (1st group following behind the AntiChrist -World Globe setup) are not going to spit out policy in the Afterword–my point is — stop looking at the problem from a confused deceptive secular point of view.
16) “Medieval Sharia” the author proudly writes- okay- lets define some terms, the author is refusing to define. What is Sharia law exactly. It is anti-satanic (British Pax etc.) laws, unless the author does not believe Satan exists or that the Anti-Christ (Dijaal) is a fairy tail- (check out the dollar bill – a pyramid- the system is built on it- give me a break author- you are not bring in this factor because it is too easy not to– you have centuries and thousands of years of deception layers to (inadvertently) cover all your premises.
17) Sharia law is the closest approximation too God’s law (by definition) that exists in our existence- the author sweeps it under the rug by adding the term prefix “mid-evil—” (nice twist) because our /author’s inability to square “civilization” (I am defining as the perception of materialism as progress) and core values, I am defining as “culture”.
18) The article understands “the civilization” definition but refuses to understand the “cultural” component ( this is out of global design- not the articles fault- the article tries- better then most.)
19) Number (18) is the design it was always the intent to confuse “right and wrong” on a global level. That was always the end goal of bankers – through out the centuries and eras, follow the $$ trail .. (a very small sketch of a much larger problem- but does identify some key drivers -through out history…
-“There is a ban on this town which we destroyed, that they can never return, until Gog and Magog (they refer to themselves by this name in their own secrete societies- they know this are happy about it.) are released and they spread out in all directions.”
Quran, al Anbiyah 21:95-6
This passage is referring to the Global appearance of Zionism (and all their associated secrete(openly Satanic) societies )
These people are responsible for GMO’s/ warfare/ genocides/ abortions (blood satanic offering- when done voluntarily- not to save mother’s life), economic systems based on U$uary- with the end goal of enslaving nations in debt- the key drivers of cultural (austerity) global control.
The cultural global social law driven acceptance of homosexuality- Diametrically opposed to all three monotheistic religions.
Who needs the crusades any more when we have the American-Israeli/NATO forces taking their place against all Muslim nations in all practical applications of policy.
We have become a civilization that has immoral , decadent, and unfortunately godless.
“The first of them (God and Magog) will pass by the Lake of Tiberias (Sea of Galilee) and drink out of it, and when the last of them passes, he will say “There was once water.” Sahah Muslim (saying of Last Prophet) (I checked this hadith 10 years ago- and found it correct- Israel hydrologists already predicted Sea of Galilee was beyond point where it could recoup its water level.
20) I want to go on ..but have run out of time…and ,…
21) Technically do not want to discourage author the subject matter– he still is one of the best– so I am not going any further (I rather he writes then keep us in the dark)
22) Clare Daly is great, but is outlining the our situation, a world war being set up, with the goal of Godlessness before it happens.
23) Have faith.
Momentum from now on will be unstoppable. This level of administrative excellence itself drives huge gains. The West is completely lost.
The full benefit will come when. U.S. aggression on Taiwan explodes and the Taiwanese seek to benefit from a new Eurasia. And contribute.
This rather than go on the “I am a good vassal” trip.
“It’s not clear whether Eurocrats in Brussels – slaves of Atlanticism and incapable of grasping the potential of Greater Eurasia – will end up exercising real strategic autonomy.” – The answer here is that one cannot force a man, or a ship-of-state, to look after his own interests.
One top priority is to ensure that Syria’s sovereignty is restored over the whole territory and that the country can overcome the illegal American sanctions. Russia, China and Iran have a responsibility to make sure such objectives are fulfilled.
I think Russia, China, Iran has strategic interest in lifting sanctions, but I do not think the comment of ‘responsibility’ makes much sense. These countries have responsibility to their own.
A better word would be “interests”. This is the essence of their relationship with Syria. They have security, national, trade, regional, anti-terror, and secular interests in a unitary Syria with all its borders under its own control.
Of course Pepe. The only problem is that, for the most part, SCO countries hardly have anything in common whether culturally or ideologically. Aspirations and interests are totally different. Is it not obvious that Putin actually sabotaged the organization by insisting on the membership of both India and Pakistan. Except for nice political statements there is nothing of essence that all the SCO countries could ever agree upon. SCO is around for a long time already and as organization it has done nothing so far. Such a divergent political organization has no future except as a discussion club. Pepe would never agree.
Agree 100% with your view. Not only is SCO unlikely to succeed as an organization, even as a club it is a joke: a club whose members are perpetually at war with one another (Pakistan and India; India and China).
There are quite a few comments here that underestimate the importance of SCO. Yeah, the members take potshots at each other, but SCO is first and foremost a security organization and more, it is an alliance.
Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance. It is the world’s largest regional organisation in geographic scope and population, covering three-fifths of the Eurasian continent, 40% of the world population, and more than 20% of global GDP.”
Their influence stretches widely. And the United States applied for observer status in the SCO, but was rejected already in 2005 or thereabouts. The list of dialog partners and attendees at all SCO meetings are even bigger ..
There are strong ties with the whole ASEAN organization.
Just take a peek the Wikipedia (not the best I know and I question some of the statistics here, but easy to get a one page overview).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation#Current_leaders_of_SCO_member_states,_as_of_2021
Do not underestimate SCO. Both China, Russia and Iran now are members besides the others. It is a sizable bloc.
My guess is that the next participant is going to be CELAC – /celac-the-community-of-latin-american-and-the-caribbean-states/
Amarynth,
Good information here. You are doing a very yoeman job with the articles and the moderating gently with commentaries.
The blog is much more rational, less idiosyncratic place of late.
Thank you for the long hours and double work load.
Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey must be feeling the gravity beam from SCO.