Russia and China create their own orbit

atimes.com ^ | Nov 11, 2006 | M K Bhadrakumar

[Tailgunner Joe]

While interacting with a select gathering of "Russia hands" from Western academia, media and think tanks recently, President Vladimir Putin ventured onto the topic of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in terms, as he put it, that would be a "revelation ... something probably I have never said to anyone before".

Putin, known for his reticence and choice of words, revealed that the Kremlin did not "plan" for the SCO's present standing, but had only set its sights on the organization's potential to resolve the "utilitarian question of settling borders" between China and its post-Soviet neighbors. SCO includes China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

He continued, "After all, to be honest, I know that somewhere within the depths of various governments and intelligence services there are people thinking that Russians and Chinese are up to something here, that they have got some kind of secret mechanism and are planning something."

Putin summed up explaining SCO's raison d'etre. "It's simply that after the collapse of the bipolar world, there was a real need for the emergence of centers of influence and power. This is simply an objective reality."

Curiously, Putin was speaking just ahead of the sensational "revelation" in Moscow last week that the first-ever joint military exercise of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO - Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) and the SCO would be held next year.

Code-named Peace Mission Rubezh, the CSTO-SCO exercise will be staged in Chebarkul in Russia's Volga-Urals area. Significantly, the heads of state of the participating countries - Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Belarus and Armenia - are expected to witness the exercise. Russian commentators have speculated that the attendance of SCO observer countries (Iran, Pakistan and India) cannot be ruled out.

[Tailgunner Joe]

...after the collapse of the bipolar world, there was a real need for the emergence of centers of influence and power

In other words, the end of the Cold War means the end of the "Russia-China split" and the end of "detente." Russia is more determined than ever to support all of the USA's enemies in order to foster a "multipolar" world against US "hegemony."

[snowrip]

Ahhhh, the constant evolution of the Clinton legacy continues.

Keep your powder dry.

[GSlob]

Let them. They richly seserve one another. If only they could be saddled with more basket cases...

[Thunder90]

The CSTO is codeword for USSR.

[wildcatf4f3]

look ya gotcher choice here

russia ruled by

1 Mafia who used to be KGB

2 KGB who used to be Mafia

it's there version of the 2 party system.

[wolfcreek]

The words *bi-polar world* scare me.