SCO vs NATO?
I have not commented so far on the SCO meeting in Tianjin, which without doubt is a very important geopolitical event,
Moon of Alabama has written an excellent article about the summit and President Xi’s proposal of a Global Governance Initiative as stated in the Global Times:
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday proposed the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) at the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus" Meeting in Tianjin.
"I look forward to working with all countries for a more just and equitable global governance system and advancing toward a community with a shared future for humanity," Xi said when addressing the meeting.
He highlighted five principles for the GGI:
-- First, we should adhere to sovereign equality.
-- Second, we should abide by international rule of law.
-- Third, we should practice multilateralism.
-- Fourth, we should advocate the people-centered approach.
-- Fifth, we should focus on taking real actions.
B. points out that while these principles are agreeable to a majority of the world’s population, they are not attached to policy. No Article 5, as for NATO.
What, for example, could the SCO, in its present form, do about the genocide in Gaza, monstrous as it is?
War with the US? I doubt it. Despite the military power of the SCO.
More meetings will be necessary to hammer out policies, says b. Indeed! But time and events are on the side of the SCO. And the concept of “Global “Governance” is a clue to the power of the SCO and BRICS to do things that the UN promised to do but cannot.
Putin speaks
In the meantime, Pres. Putin spoke at the SCO outlining his vision. He did not begin by focusing on economics and industrial growth among the SCO members, who are now trading in their own currencies, weakening the economic power of the United States and Europe – that came later!
He began by talking about war and international law. Italics are mine:
The day after tomorrow, large-scale events will take place in Beijing to commemorate the victory over Japanese militarism and the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. The defeat of Nazism and militarism was made possible through the unity of peoples across many countries. Out of the outcome of World War II came the United Nations, which is also celebrating its 80th anniversary this year.
The UN Charter enshrined fundamental principles: the primacy of international law, the right of nations to self-determination, sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs, and respect for the independence and national interests of every state. These principles remain valid and unshakable to this day.The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is also built on these very principles.
The right to self-determination was, of course, one of the reasons for Russian’s military intervention in Ukraine in 2022, the DPR and LPR have voted for and declared independence as was their right under international law. As you can see, he is targeting the causes of international conflict and first principles.
He then talked about the many areas of cooperation that are driving progress in the SCO member countries, adding at the end of various facts and figures:
There is no doubt that the SCO makes a tangible contribution to strengthening an atmosphere of cooperation and mutual trust across the entire Eurasian continent. In doing so, it helps lay the political and socioeconomic foundations for a new system of stability, security and peaceful development in Eurasia – a system that would replace outdated Eurocentric and Euro-Atlantic models, take into account the interests of the widest possible range of countries, and be genuinely balanced, thus preventing attempts by some states to ensure their own security at the expense of others.
“Eurocentric and Euro-Atlantic models”? Recent events demonstrate that these
”models” are set up to ensure the security of European and American economic hegemony and the expense of all others. So we are back to international conflict.
Putin then moved to the Ukraine, thanking China and India for their contributions in promoting “peace”.
Of course, one of the SCO’s priority tasks is to maintain stability both within member states and along their external borders. Russia supports the draft programme for countering extremism until 2030 prepared for our meeting, and is ready to contribute to its implementation.
Russia is maintaining stability along its borders and “countering extremism” by an extremist fascist regime (Ukraine/ NATO) not really so different from the ones that China defeated in September 1945 (Japan) and Russia in May of that year.(Germany).
The message is clear: the SCO will not be just an economic organization in the future. It will also be tasked with ensuring security in the EurAsian heartland. And Russia will not just talk — but “implement”.
There are no clearly defined “redlines” yet — but there will be—if that becomes necessary.
The SCO and GGI are warnings to the West, quiet, rational, warnings — but nevertheless meaningful.
As my research in my now book length special article (Putin 4) indicates Putin learned about gangs on the streets of Leningrad when he was 8.
Lesson?
There is strength in numbers. Never fight if you can avoid it. Never brandish weapons and threaten if you are not going to use them. Do not corner your opponents. Just make sure your gang is bigger and stronger than its opponents and can defend itself. Talk. Talk. Talk.
In any case, some things are getting clearer. The US is no longer No.1. And the United Nations is this century’s League of Nations. It needs to be replaced.
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We can all see & hear the politicians in our Western countries today. It's obvious they're being controlled by a higher power. It's obvious they serve the higher power & not their countries or citizens. The higher powers are the international bankers & financial corporations. They've bled their own countries & citizens dry. They've bled the countries dry that have been the victims of conquest & deceit or both. We know the immense resources Russia holds. We know the massive human resources of China & India. The most logical country for the bankers to profit from. Is Russia a huge country with a population that is only one tenth of China & India. They've gotten that used to getting their own way & taking whichever country they decided would be their next victim. They though a financial attack on Russia would cripple them. Not for the 1st time they were very wrong. Now guess which easier target they've got in their sights now. Venezuela, massively resource rich & much closer to the US. This is the reason or one of the many, the SCO countries need to hurry up & get a proper security plan implimented. The psychopaths of the Western banking world have no regard for the plebs dying fighting war & conflicts. They'll happily fund any war for profits. As they won't ever do any of the fighting. A good security plan backed by very strong & huge military power has never been so badly needed. Or an educated Western public not brain washed or manipulated. That's not going to happen, that much is very obvious.
Julian, the graphic comparing the SCO vs NATO/West GDP packs a huge falsehood. First, in terms of trustworthiness, the sources are just plain caca. Dishonourable in the extreme. Second, you know that the figure of "41 Trn" shown, supposedly outweighing the SCO is bloated by incorporating the US GDP figure, a figure that is almost 2/3 hot air, as it represents the Samuelson's way of computing GDP, yielding extreme error in the age of financialised capitalism. The US simply doesn't have a real industrial economy. It's mostly hot air, "lateral" transactions so dear to Wall Street and the rest of those billionaire bunko artists.