Posted on 07/05/2005 11:49:21 PM PDT by familyop
Leaders of a six-nation security bloc led by Beijing and Moscow called for a deadline to be set for the withdrawal of US forces from bases in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
The presidents of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which comprises Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and China, signed a declaration calling for deadlines to be set on the closure of airbases used by US forces in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
"Considering that the active phase of the military anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan has finished, member states... consider it essential that the relevant participants in the anti-terrorist coalition set deadlines on the temporary use" of bases in the SCO area, the declaration read.
The two main coalition bases, one at Karshi-Khanabad in Uzbekistan, the other at Manas in Kyrgyzstan, have each been used to support US-led operations in Afghanistan since 2001.
Germany also has a few hundred military personnel, most of them engineering and medical staff, at a separate base in Uzbekistan, Termez, while a few hundred French forces work from Tajikistan's main airport in Dushanbe.
The declaration also included a call for "non-interference in the internal afairs of sovereign states," seemingly a swipe at growing Western influence in Central Asia, which Moscow has long considered its sphere of influence.
Analysts see the declaration as a blow to US moves to set up a security line across Central Asia to protect vital oil interests and create a barrier against growing terrorism in the region.
The SCO summit marks the first such gathering since popular protests toppled Askar Akayev's regime in Kyrgyzstan in March and a military crackdown in Uzbekistan in May in which hundreds of people are feared to have died.
The leaders' declaration reflects repeated complaints by leaders such as Uzbek President Islam Karimov who have suggested that the West was behind uprisings in three former Soviet republics in the last two years, Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.
The demand for deadlines for the base closures comes despite a recent assurance made by Kyrgyz interim President Kurmanbek Bakiyev that his country would honor existing agreements on maintaining foreign bases in the country.
It reflects ongoing rivalry between Washington and Moscow over their countries' respective roles in the former Soviet Union, as the United States has been pressuring Russia to withdraw leftover bases from Georgia.
Russia and China are so cute when they get angry.
Memo to Russia and China: Fark Off!
We give less than a damn for your opinions.
Why a blow? It ain't like we're leavin' or anything?
Oh, and nice try, China.
OK, fair enough, here is the deadline: The US will leave the Mid East by the autum of 2525; we will let you know if that changes.
I guess we will just have to own Iraq, Afganistan, Pakiland, and India till the end of time.
I guess the honeymoon is over!!
In that case, I demand that Chinese and Russian operatives leave Free Republic (this forum) by tomorrow.
You know, you guys must have done something right to irk the two bully boys in the region who regard it as their own. Regime change in the Ukraine followed by Kyrgyzstan in quick succession.
Mother Russia and PR China are actually acutely feeling the dagger deep through their hearts. If things don't stop, next we will have regime change in these two countries.
PRC leadership to Gitmo!
China and Russia: We will move out when pigs fly.
slightly off topic, but worth adding to this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1431096/posts
"Chinese dragon awakens (prompting fears that Beijing will attack Taiwan)"
The Washington Times ^ | 6/26/05 | Bill Gertz
Posted on 06/26/2005 12:29:08 PM PDT by Halgr
The US should try and *engineer* a split between Russia and China and whittle the Ruskies out of the Chicom league. That should be fastest/cleverest way to tame the Chicoms. The Chicoms are like pussycats without the Russian military hardware.
..........Divide and rule(just like the British)!
Dear Russia and China: NUTS
If the ChiComs care so much about foreign occupations of the Asian steppe, perhaps they can depart from East Turkestan, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and Manchuria!
One word. Cuba.
Or maybe they would like to give up their interests in OUR hemisphere; i.e., the Chinese could give up on their bid to acquire American oil companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and whatever it is they're doing near the Panama Canal.
Seems that all those who we Aid, always stab us in the back.
Why don't they try boycotting USA currency?
That's because they view the area as their own turf.
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