Central Asian Security Summit To Be Held Against Anti-US Backdrop

TERRORWARS

Russia and China will come to the SCO summit after having signed a joint communique on the "21st century world order" last week, in which they urge the international community to desist from "attempts to monopolize and dominate international affairs." AFP photo.

Almaty (AFP) Jul 04, 2005
The leaders of Russia, China and four Central Asian states are to meet for a two-day anti-terrorism summit in Kazakhstan starting Tuesday following a week of criticism directed at growing US influence in the region.

Anchored by Russia and China, two countries that reaffirmed their strategic alliance by vowing to oppose any one state's "domination of international affairs" on Friday, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will also bring together the leaders of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

"The SCO has become an important factor in establishing a just and rational new international political and economic order," Russia and China said in a joint communique last week.

Styling itself as a counterweight to US global dominance, members of the organization have expressed their uneasiness over a growing US presence in Central Asia.

The group has made fighting "extremism" in Central Asia a number one goal, in the face of growing western criticism of the hard-line methods used by governments in the region to counter unrest.

"Up to now we have not come across a situation where we could not tell who was the terrorist and who was the freedom fighter. We believe in our region we have a very clear view about these people," the Chinese head of the SCO, Zhang Deguang, said in Beijing ahead of the summit.

Analysts view the rhetoric, coming ahead of a summit in a region where the United States has two military airbases and is viewed as proponent of regime change, as a veiled swipe at US foreign policy.

Allies in the global war on terror, US and Russian views over Central Asia diverged when a popular revolt viewed in Russia as having been backed by the United States deposed Kyrgyzstan's president Askar Akayev.

Moscow and Washington are also at loggerheads over Uzbekistan where troops suppressed a revolt in the city of Andijan in May, in which rights groups allege 1,000 people were killed.

Russia and China have publicly backed Uzbekistan's authoritarian president Islam Karimov over the incident, amidst widespread condemnation of the events in the West.

Meanwhile, India, Pakistan and Iran have requested observer status and their representatives are expected to attend the summit.

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INTEL WARS

Turf War Rages Over New Intel Reforms

Washington DC (UPI) June 30, 2005
The Bush administration Wednesday announced its response to the recommendations of the president's commission on intelligence - agreeing to establish a new intelligence service within the FBI, set up a national center to oversee efforts to counter the spread of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons technology and appoint a new senior official to manage all human intelligence activities.

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