Turkey and ISIL: Anti-Chinese cooperation

Ruben Kruglov

Ex: http://eu.eot.su 

If the “Islamic State” would have managed to quickly capture the territories controlled by Afghan-Pakistani Taliban and make these territories a part of their proclaimed “caliphate”, the threat of destabilization would be right on China’s doorstep

The latest months showed how deeply Turkey is absorbed by everything that has to do with ISIL. Turkey was behind the stage of the events developing around the “Islamic State” for a long time, aiding its activities only indirectly or unofficially. However, an official statement was made in autumn 2015 in Istanbul, which could be viewed as a sort of Turkish declaration regarding the “Islamic State”.

The statement was made by the head of National Intelligence Organization of Turkey Hakan Fidan, who usually doesn’t make public appearances. Fidan stated: ” ‘Islamic State’ is a reality. We must acknowledge that we can’t eradicate such a well-organized and popular organization such as the “Islamic State”. Which is why I urge our Western partners to reconsider their former notions of the political branches of Islam and put aside their cynical mindset, and together frustrate the plans of Vladimir Putin to suppress the Islamic revolution in Syria.”

Based on the reasoning above, Hakan Fidan makes the following conclusion: it is necessary to open an office or a permanent embassy of ISIL in Istanbul — “Turkey strongly believes in this“.

The story with the date of the statement of National Intelligence Organization head is a curious one. First it appeared in online media on October 18, 2015, but didn’t get much attention back then. The statement of Hakan Fidan became famous after it got republished on the websites of news agencies on November 13 — on the eve of Paris terror attacks, which happened on the night between November 13 and November 14.

It so happened that Turkey urged the West to recognized a quasi-state, which, on its part, refuses to recognize the right of other states for existence. In essence, we see a call to accept the demands of ISIL as a global terrorist. Its demand is well-known — an oath of allegiance to it as the new caliphate.

What does the live participation of Turkey in the life of the “Islamic State” promise to the Islamic world and its neighbors (including Russia)? This question becomes more important in this very moment, after thousands of refugees were transported not without Turkey’s participation from the Middle East to Europe, after the incident with the Russian plane, which was bombing ISIL, downed by Turkey, after the far-reaching claims of Turkish officials. In this regard it is worth to recall another important aspect of Middle Eastern politics.

The fall of Mubarak’s regime in Egypt and the destruction of Gaddafi’s state in Libya in the beginning of the “Arab Spring” almost collapsed the economic communication of these countries with China. China’s economic presence in these countries was rapidly growing. This way, it is understandable that the events of the “Arab Spring” created a barrier for the Chinese economic expansion to Middle East and Africa, which threatened the United States. In other words, “Arab Spring” was also an effective tool in the hands of the USA in its global competition with People’s Republic of China.

Now, studying the connections between Turkey and ISIL, it is necessary to discuss what the expansion of the “Islamic State” means for China.

In autumn 2015 media reported that Turkish intelligence agencies are preparing terrorists among Chinese Uighurs. One could think that the reason here is the traditionally strong ties between Turkic peoples, as well that Turkey is interested in strengthening its influence over the Easternmost part of the Turkic world – Turkestan. All of this is, of course, true. But this isn’t everything that this is about. It is also about Uighur groups being trained and becoming battle-hardened in the ranks of ISIL. There is more and more evidence of the presence of such groups in Syria.

Therefore, ISIL is a new tool, improved after the “Arab Spring“, capable of destabilizing the primary competitor of the USA — China. If the “Islamic State” would have managed to quickly capture the territories controlled by Afghan-Pakistani Taliban and make these territories a part of their proclaimed “caliphate”, the threat of destabilization would be right on China’s doorstep. The capabilities of the caliphatist organization which would have appeared this way — with the prospect of Uighurs joining it — would have made such destabilization inevitable.

However, ISIL failed to quickly advance into the Afghan-Pakistan area. Recall what The Daily Beast newspaper wrote in October 2015 in an article titled “A Taliban-Russia Team-Up Against ISIS?” The newspaper wrote that the representatives of Taliban went to China several times to discuss the problem of Xinjiang Uighurs living in southern Afghanistan. The Daily Beast quoted one of Taliban representatives: “We told them they (to Uyghurs – Author) are in Afghanistan, and we could stop them from making anti-Chinese activities“.

Experts insist that Pakistan (the intelligence agencies of which played a decisive part in creating Taliban) significantly reorients from USA to China. Because the prospects of surrendering its own and Afghani Pashtun areas to the “Islamic State”, which won’t stop at that, is unacceptable for Pakistan. This is what, obviously, caused the turn of Pakistan towards China. And this turn was so drastic that its consequences create a new threat to the USA of expanding China’s influence.

During the Xiangshan Security Forum, which took place in October 2015, Pakistani Minister of Defense, Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif announced the banishment of Uighur militants of the “East Turkestan Islamic Movement”. He said: “I think there (were) a small number in tribal areas, they’re all gone or eliminated. There are no more there.”  Asif added to this that Pakistan is ready to fight against the “East Turkestan Islamic Movement”, because this is not only in the interests of China, but in Pakistan’s own interests.

Next, in the first half of November 2015, Chinese newspaper China Daily announced that the Chinese state company China Overseas Port Holding received 152 hectares of land on lease in Gwadar port from Pakistani government for 43 years (!). Perhaps it is time to admit that China has almost reached the Arabian sea through the strategically important Pakistani region Balochistan (that is where Gwadar is) and that the planned expansion of ISIL to the east didn’t make it in time to prevent this? It is obvious that the struggle of the USA against China will continue on this direction, which is why China hurries to secure the reached results and create its own economic zone near the Strait of Hormuz.

China Daily wrote: “As part of the agreement, the Chinese company, based in Hong Kong, will be in full charge of Gwadar Port, the third-largest port in Pakistan.”

There is a noteworthy detail in this story: Gwadar is considered to be the southern tip of the large Chinese-Pakistani economic corridor. This corridor starts in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of People’s Republic of China. This means that the necessity to destabilize China from there becomes more acute for its competitors.

Since Pakistan and Talibs refuse to radicalize Chinese Uighurs (more than 9 million of whom live in China), this role goes to, on the one hand, Turkey as the Turkic patron of Uighurs, one the other hand — to ISIL as Islamist ultra-radicals. Next, if this Afghan-Pakistani corridor for supplying radical groups to China is blocked for now, it means there is a need for another one. Which one? Obviously, the Turkic world — from Turkey to Turkic countries of Central Asia and Chinese Uighurs. It is more than likely that Russian Volga region and North Caucasus will have to be made a part of the corridor which Turkey and ISIL need to communicate with Uighurs.

Chinese media point out to this since the end of 2014. Back then the news website Want China Times published an article titled ” ‘East Turkestan’ separatists get trained in ISIL and dream of returning to China“. The website referred to the data already published by the Chinese news outlet Global Times. According to this data, Ethnic Uighur radicals flee from the country to join ISIL, receive training and fight in Iraq and Syria. Their goals are to win wide acknowledgement among international terrorist groups, establish contact channels and acquire real combat experience before bringing their knowledge back to China.

Global Times reported, citing Chinese experts, that Xinjiang Uighurs join ISIL either in Syria and Iraq, or in the divisions of ISIL in South-East Asian countries. Next the publication informed that, since the international community launched the anti-terrorist campaign, ISIL now avoids recruiting new members right on its “base”, preferring to separate them by sending to smaller cells in Syria, Turkey, Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan.

The Uighur problem caused the complication in the Turkish-Chinese relations in summer 2015.

Everything started in Thailand. The authorities made the decision to deport over 100 Uighurs to China. On the night between July 8 and July 9, Turkish Uighurs attacked Chinese embassy in Istanbul, protesting against this decision.

In response, Thailand authorities changed their position and declared that Uighur emigrants will not be deported to China without evidence pointing to their criminal activity. Instead… they will be deported directly to Turkey! This wasn’t a novel decision, deportations of Uighurs to Turkey happened before. A total of 60 thousand Uighurs live in Turkey. This means that we are not talking about separate cases of deportation here, but about consistent concentration of Uighur groups scattered around Asian countries in Turkey.

In July the Arab news website “Al-Qanoon” quoted Tong Bichan, a high-ranking China’s Public Security Ministry official. He said: “The Turkish diplomats in Southeast Asia have given Turkish ID cards to Uyghur citizens of Xinjiang province and then they have sent them to Turkey to prepare for war against the Syrian government alongside ISIL.”

Finally, only recently the propagandist resource of the “Islamic State” posted a song in Chinese language. The song contains the call to wake up, adressed to Chinese Muslim brothers. Such calls are a part of the anti-Chinese campaign launched by ISIL. Another video of caliphatists features an 80-year old Muslim priest from Xinjiang urging his Muslim compatriots to join ISIL. The video then shows a classroom of Uighur boys, one of whom promises to raise the flag of ISIL in Turkestan.

All of this leads to the conclusion that among the goals ISIL tries to reach in cooperation with Turkey is the warming up and launching of the “Chinese Spring” in quite observable terms. Such a goal demands “cooperators” to use the territories near China — first and foremost, Turkic states of Central Asia. For example, Kyrgyzstan in this regard is clearly supposed to become the place of accumulation and training of radical groups.

The large world-rebuilding Middle Eastern war is seeking its way towards East, in the direction of China. Which means that new large phases of this war are not too far ahead.

Source (for copy): http://eu.eot.su/?p=5441

This is the translation of an article (first published in “Essence of Time” newspaper issue 160 on December 30, 2015) by Maria Podkopayeva of a series on rebuilding of Middle East and Africa by the West. This rebuilding was launched to give rise to the most violent and bloody regime, such as IS “caliphate”, which is supposed to eventually attack and conquer Russia, China and Europe.

We encourage republishing of our translations and articles, but ONLY with mentioning the original article page at eu.eot.su (link above).

An Ancient Route Rolls On: Questions For Peter Frankopan, Author Of 'The Silk Roads'

NISHANT DAHIYA

The Silk Roads, A New History of the World, by Peter Frankopan, Hardcover, 645 pages, purchase

 

Ex: http://www.npr.org 

The very mention of the Silk Roads creates an instant image: camel caravans trudging through the high plains and deserts of central Asia, carrying silks, spices and philosophies to Europe and the larger Mediterranean. And while these ancient routes may remain embedded in our imagination, they have, over the past few centuries, slowly faded inIMPORTANCE. The region today is home to despotic regimes, failing states and endless conflict. But historian Peter Frankopan thinks that the Silk Roads "are rising again."

In his new book, The Silk Roads, Frankopan has created something that forces us to sit up and reconsider the world and the way we've always thought about it. Western scholarship, he argues, has long ignored the routes linking Europe to the Pacific, the areas he calls "the axis on which the globe spun." So he has chosen to focus firmly on the Silk Roads, for what he calls "a new history of the world."

The book takes us by surprise right from the start: It begins not with the Greeks or the Romans, but with the Persian Empire — Frankopan writes that the Greeks and Romans, when they thought to expand, moved east toward the riches of Persia, rather than north or west into Europe. In an email conversation, Frankopan tells me that he wanted to explore exchange between the East and the West of everything from ideas and beliefs to food andFASHION. "Incidentally, it's not just luxury goods that I track — silks, textiles, spices, ceramics and slaves — but violence and disease, too," he says. "For example, the pathways followed by the Mongols and the Black Death were identical."

As you worked on this book, what struck you as the most important contributions the Silk Roads made to world history?

One thing that I was particularly interested in is the spread of faith along the Silk Roads. All the great global religions — Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as lots of otherIMPORTANT but less well-known belief systems — spread along the web of routes crisscrossing the spine of Asia.

I was also very struck by the scale of the white slave trade in the early Middle Ages — huge numbers of men, women and children were trafficked from Europe to the east in return for silver. I think readers will be surprised by that. But most of all is the fact that the Silk Roads keep on being involved all the time in more or less everything: they play the lead role in the expeditions of Columbus, who was trying to connect to the trade routes of the east; they were crucial to the origins of World War I — whose origins were firmly based in Asia, even though the trigger came from the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo.

We just don't look at this region at all — so have never thought to join up all these dots before.

There is a profound significance to the origins of the Holocaust, too, for example: Documents relating to German agricultural production and needs show that the decision to invade the Soviet Union was closely linked to taking control of the wheat fields of the rich lands lying north of the Black and Caspian Seas. The failure to "extract" the expected harvests from what is now Ukraine and Southern Russia led to discussions first about how to feed back in German controlled territories and then about who to feed. Those in prison camps found their calories reduced and then cut altogether; the jump to genocide was directly linked to the failure of the campaigns in the east.

We just don't look at this region at all — so have never thought to join up all these dots before.

You write, "We are seeing the signs of the world's center of gravity shifting — back to where it lay for millennia." But some argue that the world's center is shifting not toward the Silk Roads but farther East — toward China, Southeast Asia and India.

I can't speak for those who believe that the center of gravity is moving elsewhere. Many seem to think China and/or India exist in a bubble and can be looked at on their own. But I am much more interested in how China engages with Russia, with Iran, with the Middle East and with Central Asia — as well as with Southeast Asia. And that, by the way, is how China itself sees the world. China's signature foreign policy for the next 30 years is ... essentially the construction of a series of new Silk Roads.

China has dramatically rising energy needs as its middle classes grow in number and prosperity. So pipelines bringing oil and gas from mineral-rich countries like Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran have been or are being built to help fuel China's growth. And as a historian, it gives me no small pleasure to realize that those pipelines follow the same paths that traders bringing goods followed 2 1/2 thousand years ago.

Nishant Dahiya is NPR's Asia Editor

Indo-European Dispersals and the Eurasian Steppe with J.P. Mallory

Penn Museum

J. P. Mallory speaks on Indo-European Dispersals and the Eurasian Steppe at the Silk Road Symposium held at the Penn Museum held in March 2011.

Contacts between Europe and China that bridged the Eurasian steppelands are part of a larger story of the dispersal of the Indo-European languages that were carried to Ireland (Celtic) in the west and the western frontiers of China (Tokharian, Iranian) in the east. Reviewing some of the problems of these expansions 15 years ago, the author suggested that it was convenient to discuss the expansions in terms of several fault lines -- the Dnieper, the Ural and Central Asia. The Dnieper is critical for resolving issues concerning the different models of Indo-European origins and more recent research forces us to reconsider the nature of the Dnieper as a cultural border. Recent research has also suggested that we need to reconsider the eastern periphery of the Indo-European world and how it relates to its western neighbors.

J.P. Mallory is Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

More at http://www.penn.museum

Le chamanisme d'Asie centrale et de Turquie : histoire et anthropologie / Zarcone Thierry

La Lucarne et la Nuit

Le chamanisme d'Asie centrale et de Turquie : histoire et anthropologie. Conférence de Thierry Zarcone. Date de réalisation : 27 Mars 2012

America’s Longest War Gets Longer

America’s Longest War Gets Longer

By Eric Margolis

Ex: http://www.lewrockwell.com

Fifteen years ago this week, the US launched the longest war in its history: the invasion and occupation of remote Afghanistan. Neighboring Pakistan was forced to facilitate the American invasion or ‘be bombed back to the stone age.’

America was furious after the bloody 9/11 attacks. The Bush administration had been caught sleeping on guard duty. Many Americans believed 9/11 was an inside job by pro-war neocons.

Afghanistan was picked as the target of US vengeance even though the 9/11 attacks were hatched (if in fact done from abroad) in Germany and Spain. The suicide attackers made clear their kamikaze mission was to punish the US for ‘occupying’ the holy land of Saudi Arabia,  and for Washington’s open-ended support of Israel in its occupation of Palestine.

This rational was quickly obscured by the Bush administration that claimed the 9/11 attackers, most of whom were Saudis, were motivated by hatred of American ‘values’ and ‘freedoms.’ This nonsense planted the seeds of the rising tide of Islamophobia that we see today and the faux ‘war on terror.’

An anti-communist jihadi, Osama bin Laden, was inflated and demonized into America’s Great Satan. The supposed  ‘terrorist training camps’ in Afghanistan were, as I saw with my eyes, camps where Pakistani intelligence trained jihadis to fight in India-occupied Kashmir.

Afghanistan, remote, bleak and mountainous, was rightly known as ‘the graveyard of empires.’ These included Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Timur, the Moguls, and Sikhs. The British Empire  invaded Afghanistan three times in the 19^th century. The Soviet Union, world’s greatest land power, invaded in 1979, seeking a corridor to the Arabian Sea and Gulf.

All were defeated by the fierce Pashtun warrior tribes of the Hindu Kush.  But the fool George W. Bush rushed in where angels feared to tread, in a futile attempt to conquer an unconquerable people for whom war was their favorite pastime. I was with the Afghan mujahidin when fighting the Soviet occupation in the 1980’s, and again the newly-formed Taliban in the early 1990’s. As I wrote in my book on this subject, ‘War at the Top of the World,’ the Pashtun warriors were the bravest men I’d ever seen.  They had only ancient weapons but possessed boundless courage.

During the 2001 US invasion, the Americans allied themselves to the heroin and opium-dealing Tajik Northern Alliance, to former Communist allies of the Soviets, and to the northern Uzbeks, blood foes of the Pashtun and former Soviet Communist allies.

Taliban, which had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, had shut down 90% of Afghanistan’s heroin and opium trade. The US-allied Northern Alliance restored it, making Afghanistan again the world’s leading supplier of heroin and opium. US occupation forces, backed by immense tactical airpower, allied themselves with the most criminal elements in Afghanistan and installed a puppet regime of CIA assets. The old Communist secret police, notorious for their record of torture and atrocities, was kept in power by CIA to fight Taliban.

Last week, Washington’s Special Inspector General for Afghan Relief (SIGAR) issued a totally damning report showing how mass corruption, bribery, payoffs and drug money had fatally undermined US efforts to build a viable Afghan society.  

What’s more, without 24/7 US air cover, Washington’s yes-men in Kabul would be quickly swept away. The Afghan Army and police have no loyalty to the regime; they fight only for the Yankee dollar. Like Baghdad, Kabul is a US-guarded island in a sea of animosity.

A report by Global Research has estimated the 15-year Afghan War and the Iraq War had cost the US $6 trillion. Small wonder when gasoline trucked up to Afghanistan from Pakistan’s coast it costs the Pentagon $400 per gallon. Some estimates put the war  cost at $33,000 per citizen. But Americans do not pay this cost through a special war tax, as it should be. Bush ordered the total costs of the Iraq and Afghan wars be concealed in the national debt.

Officially, 2,216 American soldiers have died in Afghanistan and 20,049 were seriously wounded. Some 1,173 US mercenaries have also been killed. Large numbers of US financed mercenaries still remain in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Noble Peace Prize winner Barack Obama promised to withdraw nearly all US troops from Afghanistan by 2016.

Instead, more US troops are on the way to protect the Kabul  puppet regime from its own people. Taliban and its dozen-odd allied resistance movements (‘terrorists’ in Pentagon-speak faithfully parroted by the US media) are steadily gaining territory and followers.

Last week, the US dragooned NATO and other satrap states to a ‘voluntary’ donor conference for Afghanistan where they had to cough up another $15.2 billion and likely send some more troops to this hopeless conflict.  Washington cannot bear to admit defeat by tiny Afghanistan or see this strategic nation fall into China’s sphere.

Ominously, the US is encouraging India to play a much larger role in Afghanistan, thus planting the seeds of a dangerous Pakistani-Indian-Chinese confrontation there.

There was no mention of the 800lb gorilla in the conference room: Afghanistan’s role as the world’s by now largest heroin/opium/morphine producer – all under the proud auspices of the United States government. The new US president will inherit this embarrassing problem.

The Best of Eric Margolis

Eric Margolis [send him mail] is the author of War at the Top of the World and the new book, American Raj: Liberation or Domination?: Resolving the Conflict Between the West and the Muslim World. See his website.

Copyright © 2016 Eric Margolis

Previous article by Eric Margolis: WWIII Incubator

L’Iran se relie à l’Eurasie avec le Canal Perse

F. William Engdahl

Ex: http://reseauinternational.net

Avec la disparition des sanctions économiques étasuniennes et européennes, il devient manifeste que l’Iran veut aujourd’hui construire, pas détruire comme l’Occident semble le vouloir à tout prix. La toute dernière annonce  est que Téhéran a décidé de se lancer dans un grand projet d’infrastructure qui demandera peut-être une dizaine d’années pour être achevé: un canal navigable, reliant pour la première fois la mer Caspienne au golfe Persique en traversant l’Iran. Compte tenu de la topographie très montagneuse de l’Iran, il n’est pas facile à creuser. Ce sera également un grand avantage pour la Russie et les autres pays bordant la mer Caspienne, ainsi qu’une infrastructure exactement adaptée au grand projet chinois de la Route de la Soie.

Pour sa marine et son commerce, la Russie cherche un lien vers les mers chaudes depuis l’époque des tsars Romanov. Aujourd’hui, sur une voie très étroite traversant Istanbul entre mer Noire et mer de Marmara, les navires russes doivent franchir les détroits turcs du Bosphore, les Dardanelles, la mer Egée et la mer Méditerranée. Compte tenu des relations glaciales entre Moscou et Ankara aujourd’hui, depuis que les forces aériennes turques ont l’année dernière abattu délibérément un jet russe dans l’espace aérien syrien, en violation de toutes les normes du droit international, la traversée du Bosphore par les navires russes est une entreprise très incertaine, malgré les traités internationaux sur la liberté de passage.

D’ailleurs, pour les navires iraniens ou chinois aussi, atteindre les ports méditerranéens de l’Europe, exige maintenant qu’ils traversent le canal de Suez appartenant au gouvernement égyptien. En dépit de la Convention de 1888 de Constantinople, qui accorde le droit de libre accès à toute nation et navire en temps de guerre ou de paix, le gouvernement égyptien, comme cela a été évident lors du coup d’État des Frères musulmans de Mohammed Morsi soutenu par les USA, présente aussi un très important risque politique. En contournant les détroits turcs et le canal de Suez égyptien, le canal iranien offre aussi à la Russie et aux autres États le chemin le plus court vers l’océan Indien.

Téhéran a dévoilé les plans de construction d’une voie artificielle qui reliera pour la première fois la mer Caspienne et le golfe Persique. Son achèvement est prévu dans une dizaine d’années. Elle a d’énormes implications économiques, militaires et économiques.

Le « Canal de Suez » de l’Iran

Du point de vue économique et géopolitique, ce sera, dans tous les sens du terme, un rival au canal de Suez. Selon un article publié par Sputnik International de Russie, le projet a été approuvé en 2012 par l’ancien Président iranien Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, au moment où les sanctions occidentales étaient toujours en place. Le coût avait été estimé alors par Khatam-al Anbiya, une société d’ingénierie appartenant à la Garde révolutionnaire iranienne, à environ sept milliards de dollars. À cette époque, dans une démarche visant à bloquer le projet, Washington avait imposé des sanctions économiques aux entreprises qui participaient au projet. Maintenant, pour d’autres raisons géopolitiques, Washington a levé de nombreuses sanctions et Téhéran va de l’avant.

Le canal de la mer Caspienne de l’Iran a un avantage majeur de sécurité. Il traverse strictement l’espace iranien, espace qui est bien défendu.

Deux itinéraires sont envisagés pour le « Canal de Suez » iranien. Le plus court à l’ouest traverserait le territoire montagneux, tandis que le plus long permettrait l’irrigation des vastes régions désertiques de l’est de l’Iran et éviterait l’étroit chenal d’Ormuz, entre Oman et Iran.

L’itinéraire oriental, entre l’est du Golfe d’Oman et le sud-est de la mer Caspienne a une longueur totale comprise entre 1465 et 1600 kilomètres, en fonction du cheminement interne. Il aurait l’avantage supplémentaire de permettre l’irrigation et le développement de l’agriculture dans les provinces sèches du pays, à l’est et au centre, là où l’absence de précipitations a créé une énorme sécheresse ces dernières décennies. La voie navigable permettrait de recharger la nappe phréatique en eau.

L’itinéraire occidental, bien que plus court, présente des inconvénients majeurs. Faisant environ 950 km, empruntant des lits de fleuves partiellement navigables, il devrait traverser les vallées des montagnes Zagros sur 600 kilomètres. L’inconvénient majeur de cette voie est la traversée des hauteurs de Zagros et des provinces du Kurdistan et d’Hamedan, où il doit grimper à plus de 1800 mètres.

Quel que soit l’itinéraire choisi, et apparemment des raisons de sécurité nationale l’ont fait garder secret jusqu’ici, plusieurs avantages majeurs se développeront à partir du canal reliant la mer Caspienne à l’océan Indien. D’abord, d’une part, il créera le lien maritime le plus court entre le golfe Persique et l’Inde et l’Europe de l’est, du centre et du nord; d’autre part, il sera en concurrence directe avec le canal de Suez et l’instabilité politique égyptienne. Pour la Russie, il aura l’avantage géopolitique majeur d’offrir un accès facile et direct à l’océan Indien, indépendant du canal de Suez et des détroits turcs du Bosphore. Pour l’Iran, sur le plan économique, ce serait un créateur d’emploi majeur. Il ajouterait environ deux millions de nouveaux emplois dans la construction et l’entretien le long du canal. Il permettra aussi à Téhéran de relancer les régions isolées de l’est qui se chargeraient de l’infrastructure, incluant la construction d’un nouveau port moderne dans les régions économiques libres de Bam et Tabas, de chantiers navals et d’aéroports, et des villes prévues. Il permettrait aussi d’éviter ou de réduire considérablement la désertification en créant un obstacle à la propagation du désert vers les terres iraniennes fertiles.

Cela arrive au moment où l’Iran se prépare à devenir membre à part entière de l’Organisation de coopération eurasienne de Shanghai (OCS). L’Iran avait le statut de nation observatrice à l’OCS depuis 2008, mais les sanctions de l’ONU ont empêché sa pleine adhésion jusqu’à janvier dernier. La Russie et la Chine soutiennent fermement sa pleine adhésion, qui sera vraisemblablement ratifiée plus tard cet été, lors de la réunion annuelle. En février 2016, en visite à Téhéran, le Président chinois Xi Jinping a discuté de la participation de l’Iran au projet d’infrastructure eurasiatique de la Chine, de la création d’un réseau de ports et des réseaux ferroviaires à grande vitesse sillonnant l’Eurasie de Pékin à la Biélorussie et au-delà. Il est très probable que Xi et le Premier ministre Rouhani ont aussi discuté de la participation de la Chine au financement et peut-être aussi à la construction du Canal persan, alternative iranienne au canal de Suez.

D’après ce que j’ai observé personnellement lors d’une récente visite à Téhéran, les Iraniens en ont assez de la guerre. Ils ne se sont pas totalement remis des pertes et des destructions de la guerre Iran-Irak initiée par les USA dans les années 1980, ni des déstabilisations US ultérieures. Ils veulent plutôt un développement économique pacifique et être en sécurité chez eux. Le projet du Canal Persan de l’Iran est une belle étape dans cette direction.

1. William Engdahl est consultant en risques stratégiques et conférencier. Titulaire d’un diplôme en politique de l’université de Princeton, il est auteur de best-sellers sur le pétrole et la géopolitique. En exclusivité pour le magazine en ligne New Eastern Outlook.

NEO, F. William Engdahl

Original : journal-neo.org/2016/04/07/iran-links-to-eurasia-with-per...
Traduction Petrus Lombard

Author: Caleb Maupin

Trains Against Terrorism: The New Silk Road Crosses Afghanistan

Ex: http://journal-neo.org

Recent developments around the world concerning the seemingly unrelated topics of railways, heroin production, and international terrorism point toward emerging realities about the global economy.

On April 4, 2016, the 48th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an Amtrak Train derailed in western Pennsylvania. Two Amtrak workers were killed. Accidents on Amtrak and other systems of United States public transportation are becoming much more common. Just a few weeks before, the DC Metro, the second-largest subway system in the country, closed down for an entire day for urgent safety repairs. In January, someone died when a DC metro station filled up with smoke.

Every day, Amtrak train passengers in the United States are transported over a 106-year-old bridge in Hackensack, New Jersey. () It’s widely acknowledged that the decaying railway bridge needs to be repaired, but the funds simply cannot be put together. The plan to replace the bridge was abandoned in 2014 when the funds raised for the project came up $900 million short.

As the US public transportation system decays, it is still highly useful to individuals who support themselves with a certain illicit profession — narcotics trafficking. According to City Lab, train and bus stops are the ideal spot for those transporting cocaine, crystal meth, or the drug which is causing an epidemic throughout the United States: heroin.

The Global Heroin Problem

Every day 78, people in the United States die from heroin overdoses. Heroin use gradually increased in the first decade of the 21st century. By 2012, the rate of heroin-related deaths was four times what it was in 2002. Between 2012 and 2013, the number of deaths skyrocketed by 39%. Heroin addiction is rising all across the United States, and poppy fields are sprouting up across Mexico to meet the demand.

Currently, just over fifty percent of US heroin originates in Mexico. The rest of the heroin can be traced to the country where 90% of the world’s heroin is produced: Afghanistan.

The first poppy fields intended for opium production sprouted in Afghanistan when it was under British economic domination during the 1870s. Heroin sprouted up in many different parts of the world — accompanying the slaughter of indigenous peoples, the singing of “God Save the Queen,” and the institution of public floggings — as a kind of trademark of British imperialism.

Heroin production was a very small factor in Afghanistan until 1979. Following the seizure of power by the pro-Soviet People’s Democratic Party, the US Central Intelligence Agency began cooperating with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar was the top drug lord in Afghanistan, and with the help of the CIA and the Saudi monarchy, poppy fields sprouted up everywhere. As Sunni takfiri extremists from around the world went to Afghanistan to fight against the People’s Democratic Party, the booming heroin industry of Afghanistan was utilized to fund the operations. The Pakistani secret police, cooperating with the CIA and the Saudis, escorted trucks full of heroin across the Afghan-Pakistan border.

The Taliban government that came to power in Afghanistan during the 1990s saw the drug as a violation of Islamic teachings and thus worked to wipe out heroin production. According to the United Nations, the crackdown on heroin in Afghanistan had decreased production “from 3,300 tons in 2000 to 185 tons in 2001.”

After the US invasion following the September 11 attacks, heroin production in Afghanistan dramatically increased. Since 2001, heroin production in Afghanistan has risen to astoundingly high levels. No country in history has ever produced as much heroin as Afghanistan currently does, accounting for 90% of all world production.

The “Trade and Transport” Plan

Heroin production has been key in strengthening another problem in Afghanistan — terrorism. Since 2001, US leaders have been fighting a “War on Terror.” The goal is to  wipe out “terrorism.” However, in each of the countries invaded by the United States since the “War on Terror” began, terrorist organizations have gotten stronger.

Sunni takfiri terrorist groups like ISIS and Al-Nusra had virtually no presence when the secular Baath Arab Socialist Party controlled Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Now extremists, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda, are very prevalent in the country. ISIS has set up shop in Libya since the overthrow of Gaddafi. Years of drone strikes have clearly not created stability in Yemen.

In Afghanistan, heroin dealing has been a key factor in subsidizing a terrorist organization called “Jundallah” which conducts kidnappings, bombings, and other terrorist activities. Jundallah are Saudi-funded terrorists based in Afghanistan who seek to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose clerics they deem to be “Shia Apostates.” They appear to have received assistance from the United States, Britain, and various pro-western regimes in the region.

While Iran has graciously hosted over 2 million refugees since 2001, Jundallah and other anti-Iranian terrorists based in Afghanistan have arranged for heroin to be routinely smuggled across the borders. Heroin addiction is currently a huge problem in Iranian society.

When addressing the United Nations Security Council about the problems of Afghanistan on June 22, 2015, Iranian deputy ambassador Hossein Deghani explained Iran’s plan to aid the country. He said: “In the view of the Iranian government, trade and transport are two main fields for expansion of Tehran-Kabul relations.” He highlighted the fact that Afghanistan is a landlocked country, and that this has limited its ability to export. He talked of the project for the construction of a railroad from China, through Central Asia and Afghanistan, to Iran.

On February 16, the first train to travel from China to Iran successfully arrived. The train was constructed utilizing the most recent innovations in transportation technology, and completed the journey of 5,900 miles in just 14 days. A sea voyage between the two countries takes 30 days longer, at minimum.

China’s 13th Five-Year Plan includes connecting Afghanistan with the emerging Central Asian Rail System. Trains would travel from China’s city of Kashgar to the Afghan city of Herat, and then connect to Iran after crossing Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Access to Iran’s various seaports would ensure that Afghanistan could begin exporting at a much higher rate.

Currently, China’s government-controlled banks are funding railroad projects in 30 different countries. In 2013, China exported $3.23 billion in railroad equipment.

Afghanistan is not a wealthy country. The CIA World Factbook describes it as arguably the most impoverished country in the world. It has no oil deposits. The once-vast timber resources of Afghanistan were nearly eradicated by the British Empire, and the reforestation efforts of the 1980s were abandoned when the People’s Democratic Party was overthrown. Though Afghanistan has almost nothing to offer the People’s Republic of China, the central banks are willingly investing billions into putting a railroad through this deeply impoverished country. Chinese banks are funding the project, even as growth in the Chinese economy is notably slowing.

Stability for Central Asia: Why Invest in Afghanistan?

How is it possible that projects for building new, modern railroads in impoverished Afghanistan can be financed, while financing is unavailable to replace a 106-year-old railway bridge in the richest country on earth? Why do Chinese banks invest in the most impoverished, drug-infested, and war-torn country in the world — while US banks are unwilling to invest in highly developed and industrialized Hackensack, New Jersey?

The answer can be found in simplistic phrases used by Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic. US banks operate as capitalist institutions, where, as Mao put it, “profits are in command.” Banks in the United States lend money in order to make a return on their investment. With the huge rate of public debt amid the shrinking US economy, lending money to replace a dangerous bridge in New Jersey — or to the federal government to beef up the Amtrak system, or to the District of Columbia in order to fix up the DC Metro — is not a smart business move. As the wages of US workers go down, and tax revenue shrinks, “debt crises” are plaguing the western world. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the US government’s slogan was “give a man a job.” During the depression of the 21st Century, the rallying cry is “austerity.” Government workers are being laid off and public services like food stamps, libraries, and fire departments are being cut. It is clearly not a good time to lend money to the US government.

It’s not a good time to lend money to the Afghan government either. The country is arguably worse off than it has ever been before, but the major banks in China operate under a different principal. The government-owned banks in China operate with “politics in command,” to use Mao’s phraseology.

The decision to build and improve railroads in Afghanistan, as well as Indonesia, Thailand, Africa, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere is not a financial decision for China’s banks. It is a political one. The trains that China is constructing all over the world are part of the “One Belt, One Road” policy, and fit into the overall global vision of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi has become well-loved throughout the impoverished countries for his plan to build a “New Silk Road.”

Xi Jinping argues that it is in China’s interest to see people around the world lifted out of poverty. According to Xi, one key to eliminating poverty is the construction of infrastructure. The rhetoric of the Chinese Communist Party on the global stage presents a vision of peace, where countries do not go to war with one another, because they are economically bound together.

In the case of Central Asia, China has a real self-interest in stabilization. The drug-dealing terrorists and extremists of Afghanistan, unleashed and empowered by the US invasion, have recently found their way into China. The recent wave of mass stabbings conducted by extremist groups among China’s Islamic Uyghur minority have not arisen spontaneously. Money from Saudi Arabia and training from the western-backed insurgents fighting against the Syrian government has been used to fund anticommunist takfiris in China’s Islamic regions. Many Chinese people fear that the horrors unleashed in places like Paris and Brussels could eventually happen in Chinese cities if conditions in Afghanistan are not improved.

Stability in Afghanistan means jobs, economic opportunities, and a means of survival beyond heroin trafficking and extremism for the impoverished Afghan people. Working in the interests of Chinese society, not the profits of a few capitalists, Chinese banks are funding infrastructure projects in Central Asia. These banks are not obeying stockholders. They are obeying the Communist Party, which has 86 million members who are trained in Marxist-Leninist ideology, Mao Zedong Thought, and Deng Xiaoping Theory.

The foreign policy goals of the Chinese government, under the leadership of Xi Jinping — who in the US press is widely decried as a “hardliner” and compared to Joseph Stalin — has been to stabilize the world by providing economic opportunity to imperiled regions. If people are not starving and desperate, the world will be a much safer place, not just for China, but for all countries.

Wall Street Bankers: The New Opium Warriors

Who gains from instability? What forces could possibly view as beneficial, economically or otherwise, the rise of terrorist groups like ISIS? Unfortunately, the answer is global monopoly capitalism, headquartered on Wall Street and the London Stock Exchange.

The regimes targeted and deposed by the US “War on Terror” have all been sources of stability and economic independence. The Taliban was wiping out the drug trade, and planning to build oil pipelines. Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had an independent, state-run oil company that was exporting petroleum on the world markets, as did Gaddafi’s Libya. Prior to western efforts to foment civil war, Syria was one of the most stable countries in the Middle East, with religious diversity and a high-quality healthcare and educational system.

Though people in western countries continue to live in fear of terrorist attacks, and a crisis of mass migration is causing political turmoil in Europe, the leaders of western government continue to foment chaos in Syria. Each day, as US leaders work to overthrow the Syrian Arab Republic, ISIS and Al-Qaeda get stronger. Iran and Russia, two countries who have made gigantic efforts to fight against ISIS in Syria, are targeted by economic sanctions from the United States.

Economic development does not only mean alleviating poverty and reducing terrorism. It also means eliminating the monopoly of the west. If countries can remain impoverished and war-torn, Wall Street and London can remain at the center of the world economy, and everyone will be forced to purchase from them. Economic development around the world means western corporations will face new competitors.

In two infamous “Opium Wars,” the British Empire forced China to accept the domination of foreign corporations. The official reason for the war was objections to Chinese tariffs and protection of domestic businesses. The wars were known as the “Opium Wars” because they ensured that Britain could import narcotics, which were key in impoverishing China.

The first time the US military intervened in China was to put down the Boxer Rebellion. In 1899, Chinese nationalists called “Boxers” began to attack symbols of Christianity, which they saw as a foreign religion imposed on the country by western capitalism. They also confiscated opium pipes and lynched drug dealers. The United States Marine Corps was dispatched in order to ensure that the Boxer Nationalist Movement was not successful, and that China remained “the sick man of Asia” as it was widely known at the time.

However, China is no longer the “sick man of Asia.” In 1949, it had a revolution and the Communist Party came to power. China soon seized control of its own natural resources, and began to develop its industries with a planned economy. Prior to 1949, China had no steel industry. Today, more than 50% of the world’s steel is produced in China’s government-owned steel industry. The standard of living inside China has risen drastically in what the Communist Party describes as the “Great Revival” of China to its role as a global superpower.

The New Silk Road Vision and the “One Belt, One Road” policy applies the lessons China learned over the course of the 20th century. China’s billions of people have learned that the hope for reducing poverty, drug addiction and other societal ills is with central planning, infrastructure, and public control over the economy.

The United States at this time could serve as a case study in the tragic results of “profits in command.” Crime rises, civil liberties are stripped away, and police routinely kill innocent civilians as corporations make money from “prisons for profit.” The US military is all over the world functioning as part of a “military industrial complex” that stimulates Wall Street. Culture is in decline as Hollywood and television drop to vulgarly low levels. Reality TV shows and superhero action films, pornography and other guaranteed money-makers are everywhere as enlightened artistic expression is rare. Homelessness rises as millions of houses sit empty. Hunger rises amid agricultural surplus. The irrationality of a profit-run economy is on full display as the entire society spirals into a low-wage police state. The fact that media circus clown Donald Trump espouses racism and promotes violence doesn’t prevent him from being a serious contender in the presidential election.

With our transit systems in decay and heroin addiction rising, perhaps it is time for the United States to start learning from China’s alternative vision.

Caleb Maupin is a political analyst and activist based in New York. He studied political science at Baldwin-Wallace College and was inspired and involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.

Tibetan Mysticism, Russian Monarchy, Holy War: von Ungern Sternberg — an Interview With Andrei Znamenski

Tibetan Mysticism, Russian Monarchy, Holy War: von Ungern Sternberg — an Interview With Andrei Znamenski

In People of Shambhala's latest podcast, Andrei Znamenski speaks about Roman von-Ungern-Sternberg, alittle-known but important character in late revolutionary and early-Bolshevik Russia. A fanatical monarchist, von-Ungern-Sternberg wanted to save Russia -- and by extension European and Asian nations -- from Bolshevism and the upheavals of revolution, and sought support for his worldview and militarism in Tibetan mysticism.

Von-Ungern-Sternberg took many wrong ideological turns, and his self-imposed mission ended in failure. Yet, this strange and enigmatic character represents some of the darker aspects of the convergence of the early twentieth century fascination with Tibetan legend, mysticism, and magic with geopolitical aims.

Links:

Andrei Znamenski's YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/maguswest

Andrei Znamenski's Amazon profile:
http://www.amazon.com/Andrei-A.-Zname...

Music by Lino Rise (www.linorise.de)
Lino Rise — "Initiate Frame I".

Other links:

Andrei Znamenski’s Amazon profile
MagusWest, Andrei Znamenski’s Youtube channel.
The Beauty of the Primitive by Andrei Znamenski.
Red Shambhala by Andrei Znamenski.
The Bloody Baron by James Palmer.
The Baron’s Cloak by Willard Sunderland.
Buddhists, Occultists and Secret Societies in Early Bolshevik Russia: an interview with Andrei Znamenski

China’s Counter-Terrorism Calculus

Publication: China Brief Volume: 16 Issue: 2

By: Jacob Zenn

Ex: http://moderntokyotimes.com

The Jamestown Foundation

China’s growing global footprint, escalating conflicts and the spread of terrorism in theaters ranging from Syria to Afghanistan and Southeast Asia have created openings for non-state actors to target Chinese interests and citizens overseas. Accompanying China’s growing global footprint and the spread of terrorism in theaters ranging from Syria to Afghanistan and Southeast Asia have created openings for non-state actors to target Chinese interests and citizens overseas. Traditionally, militant groups within China arose from independence movements with ethnically-linked narratives. Their suppression within China, as well as China’s growing international exposure, led some of these groups to build relationships with international terrorist groups abroad: while they could not survive wholly within China, they found breathing room in the form of operational space with co-ethnics outside of the country. This is primarily the case for Uighur movements commonly referred to by the catch-all name “East Turkistan Independence Movement(s), or (ETIM).”

Given China’s rising engagement in the Middle East—from President Xi Jinping’s series of state visits this January, to a role in the Iran nuclear deal, to a growing military footprint on the peripheries of the region boosted by the recent commitment to building a base in Djibouti—an assessment of non-state terrorist threats, particularly from Al-Qaeda and its sub-affiliate, the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), and the Islamic State (IS) and its “Provinces,” to China, as well as Chinese perceptions of them, is appropriate. This assessment is useful in understanding the differences in costs to China’s human security versus national security objectives. As such, the knowledge of how non-state actors influence Chinese policy and actions is relevant for governments and analysts in assessing China’s foreign policy, as well as providing opportunities for engagement on issues of overlapping concern.

Al-Qaeda and Islamic State Threats to China

Al-Qaeda / Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP)

Anti-Chinese Uighur militants shifted from operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan to forming the TIP in 2006 (China Brief, May 23, 2014). Since then, the TIP has become part of Al-Qaeda’s structure. Although it is not an Al-Qaeda “affiliate” on the level of AQIM in Northwest Africa, Al-Shabaab in East Africa, AQAP in Yemen and Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria, the TIP now operates alongside Jabhat Al-Nusra and can be considered a “sub-affiliate.” Moreover, before the TIP adopted the Syrian war as its own cause in 2013 (in part to seek reciprocal support from jihadists for its goals in Xinjiang), leading Al-Qaeda figures, such as the late Khalid Al-Husaynan and late Abu Yahya Al-Libi, issued statements in support of the TIP (Terrorism Monitor, May 24, 2015). More recently, in 2015, Abdullah Al-Muhyasini, a Saudi preacher close to Jabhat Al-Nusra, also issued statements supporting the TIP (Islom Awazi, December 2, 2015). Al-Qaeda affiliates, such as AQIM and Al-Shabaab, have formally promoted the TIP and its cause to “liberate East Turkistan,” while the TIP, in turn, has also issued statements in support of mainstream Al-Qaeda figures, such as a eulogy for AQIM sharia official Abu al-Hassan Rashid al-Bulaydi on January 7, 2016.

Beyond its propaganda with Al-Qaeda, the TIP has often claimed responsibility for major operations domestically in China, including:

• Bus-bombings in several cities before the Beijing Olympics in 2008;
• A truck hit-and-run on pedestrians and mass stabbing attack in Kashgar on Ramadan Eve in 2011;
• A low-sophistication suicide car-bombing in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in October 2013;
• A mass stabbing at the Kunming Train Station in March 2014;
• An apparent double-suicide bombing (or suitcase bombing) at Urumqi Train Station in April 2014; and
• Car-bombings and explosions killing at an Urumqi market in May 2014 (Terrorism Monitor, May 24, 2015)

However, as TIP’s propaganda and fighters have shifted their focus from Afghanistan—and even Xinjiang—to Syria, the TIP has become involved in “cheerleading” attacks in Xinjiang than masterminding them. Rather, the “masterminding” of the most recent attacks in China appears to have been carried out by loosely inter-connected cells across the country. These cells have some coordination with each other as well as with Turkey-based Islamist organizations that run fake passport schemes and assist Uighur men and their families migrate from China through Southeast Asia to Turkey (and sometimes to the TIP or other settlements under rebel control in northwestern Syria) (Today’s Zaman, January 14, 2015; Yenisafak.com, June 30, 2014).

While the TIP may be primarily a propaganda platform for recent attacks in Xinjiang, Istanbul-based East Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association (ETESA) also praises—or at least justifies—attacks. These include the aforementioned attacks as well as others that the TIP has not claimed, such as the assassination of the pro-Chinese Communist Party leading imam at the Id Kah mosque in Kashgar in 2014, and a large-scale attack at a coal mine in Xinjiang in October 2015 (SCMP, July 30, 2014). Either these attacks occurred outside the scope of the TIP or were so locally ordered and executed (and minimally reported on outside of China) that the foreign-based TIP did not take notice.

The Islamic State

The Islamic State brought China into its focus in 2015, although a predecessor to the Islamic State in Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) featured at least one Chinese fighter in its propaganda as early as 2013 (YouTube, March 18, 2013) The Islamic State’s more recent focus on the Uighurs may have been a reaction to the increasing numbers of Uighurs—reportedly up to 1,000 fighters—fighting in the TIP (and therefore with Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Al-Nusra). The Islamic State’s promotion of the status and cause of Uighurs in its ranks included:

• Two videos and tweeted photos of an elderly Uighur man who made “hijra” (exodus or migration) from Xinjiang to Syria with his family (shanghaiist.com, June 4, 2015);
• Suicide attack “martyrdom” claims of Uighurs (and other Central Asians) in Syria and Iraq; and
• An Islamic State-produced nasheed (Islamic chant) in Mandarin Chinese, which represented a general outreach to Chinese Muslims, including Huis, Kazakhs, and possibly Uighurs who speak Mandarin more fluently than Uighur (although the quality of this nasheed was lower than typical Arabic language ones.

For China, the recruitment of TIP jihadists—China’s traditional opponent—into Islamic State represents an evolved and hitherto unknown threat. While these recruits arguably make the TIP weaker, higher levels Uighur militancy in the Islamic State is a “devil that China does not know.” It is possible that the Islamic State could generate traction within China where, since 2006, the TIP has not—that is, if the Islamic State has the tools to be as effective in social media and propaganda outreach in a more closed media environment like China as compared to Europe.

The Islamic State has also likely begun to compete with the TIP in recruiting Uighurs along the trafficking networks in Southeast Asia that assist Uighurs to travel to Turkey and Syria. Four Uighurs stood trial in Indonesia in 2015 for trying to meet with the Mujahidin Indonesia Timor (MIT) in Sulawesi, which is a militant group based in Central Sulawesi, whose leader, Santoso, pledged loyalty to Al-Baghdadi in 2014 (Jakartapost, December 1, 2015). In addition, numerous Islamist organizations in Indonesia have expressed support for the Islamic State and served as feeders for Islamic State recruitment in Syria and Iraq. One man known as Alli, was part of a group of three Uighur militants arrested outside of Jakarta in December 2015 with a bomb-making manual and lists of jailed Indonesian terrorists, as well as Indonesians in Syria who joined the Islamic State. Counterterrorism officials suspected members connected to this cell were involved in the Erawan Shrine bombing in Bangkok, Thailand on August 17, 2015 (Bangkok Post, December 26, 2015). Alli was also reported to be part of the network of Al-Raqqa-based Indonesian Islamic State militant Bahrun Naim before Naim masterminded a series of attacks in Jakarta on January 14, 2016 (Jakarta Globe, December 24, 2015; Time.com, December 28, 2015).

Assessment of Threats

TIP / Al-Qaeda

Despite the increasing numbers of attacks by networks of Uighur militants in China, the threat to China from such attacks remains an issue of human security—not national security. The rising death toll of Chinese citizens in these attacks are “only” in the several hundreds each year. Even if they were in thousands, however, this would hardly lead China to yield to the demands of groups like the TIP and ETESA for the construction of an Islamic state and ending, among other policies:

• The migration of Han Chinese from eastern China to Xinjiang;
• Use of Chinese language in schools in Xinjiang;
• Encouragement of inter-marriage between Han and Uighurs and job offers for Uighur women in eastern China (where presumably they would assimilate or marry Han Chinese);
• Restrictions on offspring (Uighurs and most Chinese minorities have, however, had fewer restrictions as part of the former “one-child policy” than Han families); and
• Testing of nuclear weapons in Xinjiang (Militant Leadership Monitor, December 30, 2011)

Beyond attacks in China, what also could place pressure on China are actions by states. Thus, TIP, ETESA and other Islamist organizations have adopted a “Palestine strategy” of framing China’s rule in Xinjiang as an “occupation,” delegitimizing Chinese sovereignty, and ultimately seeking an international referendum on Xinjiang’s status (presumably parts of northwestern Xinjiang where Han already far outnumber Uighurs would not be included in such a vote). [1] This strategy may be of greater relevance to China as a state than the human security losses as resulting from Uighur militancy (China Brief, May 23, 2014). While the prospects of any such referendum occurring in the near-term future is highly unlikely, there is some evidence that this narrative is finding sympathetic ears:

• Then Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called Chinese rule in Xinjiang a “genocide” in 2009 (Hurriyet, July 14, 2009);
• The TIP held territory in northwestern Syria as part of the coalition with Jabhat Al-Nusra with support from Turkey or Turkey-based organizations, which furthered support and recognition of the TIP from supporters of Jabhat Al-Nusra around the Muslim world; [2] and
• The prospect of re-shaping the borders in the Middle East that could lead to new conceptions of sovereignty and statehood—not only in that region but elsewhere throughout the Islamic World, including Central Asia and Xinjiang

Thus, it is the mobilization potential of groups like the TIP or ETESA, which merge pan-Islamist themes with Uighur nationalism while accepting—and even promoting—violent struggle, or “jihad” (even though ETESA may not directly participate in it) that may become the broader national security issue for China to deal with in the future. In fact, China’s counterterrorism success in preventing the TIP from gaining the traction to begin a full-blown insurgency in Xinjiang capable of anything beyond a few sporadic albeit deadly attacks may have forced the TIP and ETESA to become increasingly close in their respective “cheerleading” and “advocacy” roles.

The Islamic State

Despite the Islamic State’s overall expansion beyond Iraq and Syria in 2015, its direct threat to China is still low compared to other regions. The Islamic State announced it killed Chinese and Norwegian hostages in its magazine, Dabiq, in November 2015 after having first offered them for “sale.” But the focus of its propaganda in terms of killing hostages is still mostly on Westerners or, in some cases, their allies, such as the Japanese (SCMP, November 20, 2015). Moreover, closer to China’s borders, Southeast Asian jihadists are not yet sufficiently unified for the Islamic State to announce a Province in South East Asia, despite the bayat (pledges) to Islamic State leader Abubakar Al-Baghdadi from several Indonesian and Philippine factions since 2014. Nonetheless, in terms of logistics the Islamic State has funding and immigrant support networks in the Persian Gulf region, Malaysia, Hong Kong and even Japan that can facilitate its “infrastructure-building” in Southeast Asia ahead of a possible Province announcement in 2016 (isisstudygroup, October 15, 2015).

In addition, while the TIP has focused on appealing to recruits from the Chinese Hui and Chinese Kazakh minorities more than the Islamic State, the Islamic State does not appear to have any “local” traction within China. The Islamic State’s apparent hacking of the prestigious Tsinghua University’s website on January 18, 2016 highlights the possibility of the “Islamization” of anti-government sentiment in China, which could lead to the growth in support for the Islamic State in the same way it has in Europe. [3] Some elites, including dissidents from Muslim minority communities, may also have sympathies for the Islamic State for religious, ideological or political reasons (SCMP, January 18).

While Islamic State consolidation in Southeast Asia and a smattering of support for it from within China would certainly be of concern within Chinese borders, no prospective Southeast Asian provinces or domestic pro-Islamic State movement would comprise a national security threat to major Chinese diplomatic or trade interests for the foreseeable future – even if they could harm the human security of Chinese nationals. Rather, China is likely more concerned about the arrival of the Islamic State in Afghanistan via its Khorasan Province, which subsumed the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and is intended to include Xinjiang and to subsume all of Central Asia. [4] Khorasan province does not appear to be more powerful than the Taliban or likely to control large tracts of territory in Afghanistan, but even fighting between Khorasan Province and the Taliban and Al-Qaeda or the Afghan government could further destabilize and complicate the economic and political situation in Afghanistan. This, in turn, would undermine Chinese strategic interests in Afghanistan and objectives of China’s New Silk Road and One Belt, One Road plan road at a time when China is considering elevating trade with Iran following the U.S. “Iran Deal” and its international profile with expected visits of President Xi to Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2016 (SCMP, January 15).

Conclusion

The threat of non-state actors to China such as the TIP, Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State can influence Chinese state policies, priorities and objectives. Thus, even though this article assesses that these threats mostly concern the human security rather than the national security of China and its citizens, they do indirectly affect China’s power projection, counter-terrorism calculus and foreign policy. These threats also have the potential to affect China’s level of engagement abroad, including its use of special forces overseas, new counter-terrorism laws, pressure relationships with allies (such as Pakistan to crack down on anti-Chinese militancy), tacit support to other governments’ foreign policies (such as Russia’s airstrikes in Syria), and its academic understandings and trainings in counterterrorism studies. Thus, the role of non-state actors is relevant not only in terms of security affairs but also in broader diplomacy, relationships, and engagement with China.

Jacob Zenn is a Fellow of Eurasian and African Affairs at The Jamestown Foundation. Mr. Zenn graduated as a Global Law Scholar from Georgetown Law in 2011 and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Nanjing Center for Chinese-American Studies in Nanjing, China in 2007.

Notes

1. Author’s Interview, ETESA supporter in USA, 2015
2. The start of the Russian bombing campaign in northwestern Syria in late 2015 appears, however, to have led to more than 30 TIP deaths and the destruction of TIP’s main headquarters as well as settlements where militants were living with their families.
3. Oliver Roy, “ International Terrorism: How can prevention and repression keep pace?” BKA Autumn Conference, November 18–19, 2015 life.eui.eu, November 18, 2015
4. The Taliban nonetheless reportedly killed or captured the IMU leader, Usman Ghazi, and killed other IMU members after Ghazi pledged to Al-Baghdadi such that the IMU may now be near-elimination.

Files:

CB_16_2_2_01.pdf

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Ursula Gauthier, le terrorisme Ouïghour et le rôle délétère de Recep Tayyip Erdogan

par Jean-Paul Baquiast

Ex: http://www.europesolidaire.eu

 

La correspondante à Pékin de l'hebdomadaire français L'Obs, Ursula Gauthier, a annoncé avoir été informée vendredi 25 par les autorités chinoises qu'elle serait de facto expulsée le 31 décembre, devenant le premier journaliste étranger à subir ce sort depuis 2012.

 

La Chine a confirmé l'expulsion imminente de la journaliste, l'accusant de "défendre de manière flagrante" des actes terroristes, dans un communiqué mis en ligne samedi sur le site du ministère chinois des Affaires étrangères.

L'article de Ursula Gauthier décrivait une politique répressive à l'égard du Xinjiang, vaste région en majorité musulmane de l'ouest de la Chine, de la part de la RPC. Il dénonçait les mesures répressives et la politique "antiterroriste" des autorités chinoises au Xinjiang, région en proie depuis deux ans à une recrudescence de violences. Berceau de la minorité musulmane turcophone des Ouïghours, certains de ses membres dénoncent des discriminations ethniques, culturelles et religieuses grandissantes à l'encontre de cette communauté.

Apparemment, Ursula Gauthier n'avait pas enquêté complètement sur cette question.

Seymour Hersh, chroniqueur diplomatique et politique réputé, souvent accueilli dans la London Review of Books, vient de publier un article Military to Military où il apporte de nouvelles preuves de la complicité de Washington dans le soutien aux mouvements terroristes en Syrie, ceci avec la complicité active d'Ankara. Il y ajoute la dénonciation d'un canal de terroristes Ouïghours “Uyghur rat-line”, organisé par la Turquie en vue de transporter des rebelles musulmans djihadistes provenant de la Région Autonome du Xinjiang à destination de la Syrie.

Erdogan a mis en place des transports spéciaux pour ce faire, dans le même temps qu'il soutenait par différents moyens leur combat en Chine même. Les djihadistes ouïghours et birmans réfugiés en Thaïlande et volontaires pour aller combattre en Syrie reçoivent des passeports turcs qui leur permettent d'entrer en Turquie puis de là en Syrie.

Un autre canal est organisé de la Chine vers le Kazakhstan, puis vers la Turquie puis  la Syrie. Il aurait intéressé des milliers de djihadistes depuis les 3 dernières années. La Chine non sans raisons s'inquiète d'une politique turque visant à soutenir les rebelles islamistes au Xinjaing même. Ceci permettrait à Erdogan d'étendre ses ambitions pour la construction d'un califat turc aux frontières mêmes de la Chine, dans le Xinjiang. ..et pourquoi pas à terme vers la Russie.

Il est facile de comprendre pourquoi Pékin s'en inquiète. Il est moins compréhensible de constater que l'Europe, directement à terme menacée par les visées de Erdogan, le laisse faire sans réagir

Jean Paul Baquiast

Les seigneurs de l'anneau

Ex: http://www.chroniquesdugrandjeu.com 

En attendant l'Inde, qui mettra encore quelques années pour participer pleinement aux dynamiques du continent-monde (ce qui fera d'ailleurs l'objet d'un prochain article), un spectaculaire triangle eurasien se met en place, qui donne vertiges et sueurs froides aux stratèges américains. Les amoureux de la géométrie insisteront certes sur la forme circulaire du nouveau colosse qui émerge et ils n'auront pas tout à fait tort (nous y reviendrons en fin d'article).

Nous avons déjà montré à plusieurs reprises à quel point le rapprochement entre Moscou, Pékin et Téhéran s'est accéléré ces dernières années. Nous écrivions le 20 octobre :

"Tout ceci n'est cependant rien en comparaison de ce qui se prépare avec l'Iran, grande puissance régionale si l'en est, case cruciale de l'échiquier eurasiatique. Si Obama pensait amadouer les ayatollahs avec l'accord sur le nucléaire, il s'est planté en 3D. La marche de Téhéran vers l'alliance sino-russe est inarrêtable. Coopération militaire renforcée avec Pékin, navires iraniens invités en Russie, et bien sûr une position commune sur les grands dossiers internationaux dont la Syrie. L'entrée de l'Iran dans l'OCS n'est qu'une question de temps.

Les liens énergétiques entre Téhéran et Pékin sont déjà anciens mais se consolident chaque jour. Ceci en attendant l'oléoduc irano-pakistanais qui verra prochainement le jour, reliant la base chinoise de Gwadar avant, un jour, de remonter tout le Pakistan et rejoindre la Karakoram Highway dans les somptueux décors himalayens."

Et le 25 octobre :

"Quant à l'Iran, qui ne sert désormais plus de prétexte fallacieux au bouclier anti-missile, sa lune de miel avec Moscou est à la hauteur de la désillusion de l'administration Obama qui espérait sans doute, avec l'accord sur le nucléaire, intégrer Téhéran dans son giron et l'écarter du grand mouvement de rapprochement eurasien. Et bah c'est raté, et drôlement raté...

En l'espace de quelques jours : accords sur des projets d'infrastructure (dont une ligne ferroviaire. Eurasie, Eurasie) d'une valeur de 40 milliards, établissement d'une banque commune pour favoriser les échanges (qui se feront évidemment en monnaies locales. Dédollarisation, dédollarisation). Cerise sur le gâteau, l'Iran va participer la banque des BRICS.

Leur future victoire en Syrie rapprochera encore Moscou et Téhéran, qui entrera bientôt, sous les auspices chinoises, dans l'Organisation de Coopération de Shanghai."

En ce moment, ô temps géopolitiquement excitants, pas une semaine ne passe sans qu'un jalon supplémentaire ne soit posé. Il y a quatre jours, l'Iran a proposé à la Chine d'organiser des exercices militaires communs. Pékin devrait évidemment accepter. Avant-hier, le fameux contrat pour la livraison des S-300 russes à Téhéran a enfin été signé, qui mettra à peu près définitivement l'Iran à l'abri de toute intervention aérienne étrangère.

Résumons :

• dans le domaine militaire : manoeuvres/coopération sino-russes + sino-iraniennes + russo-iraniennes.
• sur le plan énergétique : contrats gaziers du siècle sino-russes en 2014 + achats massifs de pétrole iranien par Pékin + entente russo-iranienne vis-à-vis de l'Europe (blocage des pipelines qataris et saoudiens en Syrie, accord sur le statut de la Caspienne...)
• dans le domaine politique, géopolitique et géo-économique : entente totale des trois sur le dossier syrien, opposition commune aux tentatives unilatérales américaines, marche à la dédollarisation. Future entrée de l'Iran dans l'OCS sino-russe et participation à la banque des BRICS.

Il paraît que Brzezinski en a renversé son bol de café...

En 2013 paraissait un intéressant essai géopolitique intitulé Chine, Iran, Russie : un nouvel empire mongol ? La présentation de l'éditeur mérite qu'on s'y attarde :

"Le 20 mars 2013, le Homeland Security Policy Institute désignait des hackers chinois, russes et iraniens comme auteurs des attaques déstabilisant les systèmes de sécurité américains. Non contents de multiplier les cyber-intrusions, la Chine, la Russie et l'Iran collaborent aujourd'hui de façon croissante dans le domaine des nouvelles technologies. Dans un contexte marqué par l'effacement des frontières, ces trois pays sont-ils en train de fonder un nouvel empire mongol ou à l'inverse tentent-ils désespérément de préserver leurs influences régionales respectives ? Contrairement à la construction politique de Gengis Khan, ayant unifié l'Eurasie à partir d'un centre turco mongol, ces alliés encerclent une aire de civilisation turque dont ils se sont détournés. Cette alliance pragmatique, fondée sur l'axe sino-iranien, se matérialise par des appuis géopolitiques réciproques, une coopération étroite avec l'arrière-pays énergétique russe et la diffusion d'une vision du monde allant à rebours de nos propres stéréotypes. Étrangers à la chimère du dépassement des cultures par l'abolition des frontières, la Chine, la Russie et l'Iran peuvent puiser dans leurs histoires respectives des raisons d'exister sous une autre forme que celle d'une citadelle continentale résistant à la mondialisation océanique. Au delà de ses carences maritimes, le nouvel empire souffre toutefois de nombreuses fragilités telles que son affaiblissement démographique ou les intérêts parfois divergents des pays qui le composent. Aussi pourrait-il bouleverser soudainement nos repères géopolitiques avant de connaître une recomposition."

Si certaines bases de la coopération Moscou-Pékin-Téhéran étaient déjà là, que de chemin parcouru en deux petites années... Les "intérêts parfois divergents" ont presque totalement disparu, balayés par la dangereuse hystérie états-unienne en Ukraine et en Syrie. C'est désormais un triangle, pardon, un anneau extrêmement solide qui émerge, uni par des liens énergétiques, militaires et géopolitiques irréversibles.

A noter l'intéressante référence historique au coeur turco-mongol, centre de l'empire de Gengis Khan mais naine blanche de la nébuleuse annulaire russo-sino-iranienne, tournée vers les extrémités de l'échiquier eurasien. Les pays turcophones d'Asie centrale, qui appartiennent déjà à l'OCS et/ou à l'Union eurasienne, ne feront que suivre le mouvement, se coupant sans doute encore un peu plus d'une Turquie d'ailleurs elle-même embarquée dans un voyage bien turbulent...

Shinzo Abe’s Visit to Mongolia and Central Asia

Author: Vladimir Terehov

 

Shinzo Abe’s Visit to Mongolia and Central Asia

 

Ex: http://journal-neo.org

From October 22 to 28 this year, the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a tour to Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. This trip was the second one after almost a similar tour in 2006 of Junichirō Koizumi – the Prime Minister of Japan of that time, who is considered to be Abe’s “political father”.

The current Prime Minister’s “hurricane visits” to each of the six countries were marked by further actualization of the key foreign policy challenge, which is perceived by Tokyo as a factor directly linked to the development of China as the second global power.

Nearly all the regions of the world point out that the two major Asian powers are implementing the strategy known to football fans as “man-to-man marking” towards one another. In this regard, the Central Asian tour of the Japanese Prime Minister is no exception. It was made in response to Beijing’s desire to involve the Central Asian countries in the reconstruction of the land route of the Silk Road project.

As it has been repeatedly pointed out in the NEO, in recent years, there is a trend of the growing importance of the “power” component in Japan’s “toolbox” intended to address its foreign policy objectives, including those caused by strategic confrontation with China. However, its third economy status, as well as its image as one of the global centers of technological progress and potential investor in the national development projects of its partner countries remain the most important of them (and, apparently, they will remain like that in the foreseeable future).

By intensifying relations with them, Japan is resolving its “genealogical” problem, which the country faced after it went the way of westernization in the second half of the 19th century. We are talking about a complete absence of mineral resources within the territory of the country that are crucial for the functioning of a modern economy. Nevertheless, if you do not have them, you can buy them abroad in some way. This “some way” may vary. For about one hundred years since the beginning of the period of the “Meiji Restoration”, the principal means of solving this problem were political and military expansion into the neighboring countries that finally resulted in the national disaster of 1945. The entire postwar history of Japan shows a significantly more effective solution of the same problem using the nation’s current main instrument – the 50 “agents” (representing the leading Japanese financial and industrial conglomerates) who formed the core of the team, and accompanied Abe on his Central Asian tour.

Comments about the tour focus attention on the fact that, along with their important strategic position, the visited countries are also extremely rich in natural resources. In particular, they specify the countries’ shares in percentages of the world’s oil, gas and uranium ore reserves found in their territories, for control over which several leading players have been drawn in the struggle.

As a matter of fact, Mongolia can hardly be included in the Central Asian region. However, the mere fact that on the way to the five countries belonging to that region the Japanese Prime Minister felt it necessary to make a preliminary stop-over in Ulaanbaatar once again demonstrates the growing importance of control over the Mongolian territory for the world’s leading players. To be more politically correct, securing a privileged spot in the list of Mongolia’s partners plays an increasingly important role for each of them. In particular, it already played the role of a mediator in an attempt to normalize relations between Japan and North Korea under the pretext of resolving “the problem of the kidnapped” two dozen Japanese during the 70’s. From the standpoint of maintaining an independent state status, implementation of the so-called “third neighbor strategy”, which stipulates the development of relations with the “non-regional” leading countries of the world, is becoming increasingly important for Mongolia.

Thus, the entire tour of Abe can be divided into two separate parts – his visit to Mongolia and his trip to the Central Asian countries.

It is noteworthy that at that time an article appeared in the Chinese Global Times with seemingly abstract reasoning of the benefits of a neutral positioning in the international scene for small countries (including Mongolia), as well as for the whole world.

During the talks between Shinzo Abe and the Prime Minister of Mongolia Chimediin Saikhanbileg, the Partiesreaffirmed their desire to incorporate specific content into the Agreement on economic partnership signed in February 2015 during the latter’s visit to Tokyo. Among other things, it provides gradual withdrawal of tariff barriers in bilateral trade in respect of 96% of goods and services supplied to each other by 2030.

This Agreement is the first such document for Mongolia and the fifteenth for Japan, which supplies mainly engineering products, and purchases coal and other mineral resources, wool and light industry products from its partner.

Today, amid the decline in China’s growth rate – the main trade partner of Mongolia – as well as falling prices for mineral raw materials in the global markets (the main Mongolian export product), development of relations with the third economy in the world is particularly important for Ulaanbaatar. During his visit, Abe expressed Japan’s readiness to continue participation in the infrastructure projects in Mongolia, including its key national project – the development of the giant coal deposit at Tavan Tolgoi.

Special attention should be given to two aspects in the statement of the Japanese Prime Minister at the final press conference. First, he expressed gratitude to the leadership of Mongolia for its support of Japan’s adoption of a package of new laws in the defense sphere. Second, Abe noted that the two countries agreed to develop strategic partnership, and called for the involvement of the United States in the format of these relations.

The latter is not a fiction, taking into account the growing interest shown by Washington to Mongolia, especially in the development of cooperation in the field of defense. It will suffice to mention that the multilateral military exercises – Khaan Quest – are held annually in Mongolia under the auspices of the USA. The last Khaan Quest-2015 exercises involved 22 countries to different extents.

It should also be noted that the Japanese Prime Minister enjoyed a very favorable reception in Mongolia and Central Asia, which was quite understandable. All the neighbors of China deriving considerable benefits from the development of their economic relations with China show a clear commitment to insure against risks (real or imaginary ones – this is a separate issue) due to the entire fact of its transformation into the second global power.

Against the emerging decline in the shares of the main “insurance company” in the region (and in the entire world), whose role is still played by the US, the significance of “insurance company No. 2″, i.e. Japan, is increasing. Its leader arrived in the region with a proposal of financial and technological support for projects that are extremely important for the countries visited, such as those associated with the development of the Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan, the reconstruction of the Manas airport in Kyrgyzstan, and development of the transport infrastructure in Tajikistan.

Experts, however, have noted the apparent time lag in the Japanese reaction to China’s economic expansion that have taken place in Central Asia and Mongolia for a long time.

As for Russian interests, the potential spread of the China-Japan struggle to Central Asia (especially in a format that has already been noted in South-East Asia) may give rise to a number of new and complex issues during selection of the optimal strategy of behavior with respect to each of Russia’s two most important Asian neighbors.

Vladimir Terekhov, expert on the issues of the Asia-Pacific region, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.

Los caprichos fronterizos de Asia Central

Fernando Arancón

Ex: http://elordenmundial.com

Hablar de fronteras nunca es sencillo, probablemente porque tras cada una de ellas se esconden siglos de gestación, en no pocos casos violentos. Lo que sí es fácil de aclarar es el hecho de que todas las fronteras del mundo son una construcción humana. Si por algo se ha caracterizado la humanidad desde hace miles de años es por haber superado los límites que la naturaleza le imponía, fuesen cordilleras nevadas u océanos. No obstante, también hay que considerar que en otros muchos casos la geografía ha facilitado la separación de distintas comunidades humanas, un distanciamiento que con el paso de los siglos se ha naturalizado y profundizado mediante el surgimiento de rasgos culturales diferenciados, caso de la religión, la lengua e incluso distintas formas de organización social y política.

Con la proliferación del estado-nación a partir del siglo XVII, los procesos de fronterización han estado a la orden del día. Cada estado debía, lógicamente, tener unos límites definidos para no crear malentendidos con los vecinos. Sin embargo, esta obsesión por marcar los límites de cada ente estatal, de profundo carácter occidental, ha llevado en muchos casos a cometer auténticos desaguisados. Y es que aunque en el mundo occidental haya una alta correspondencia entre los límites del Estado y la homogeneidad social y cultural, en muchas otras partes del planeta esto no es así. A pesar de ello, la imposición de fronteras por parte de países europeos ha llevado, a menudo buscando los propios intereses, a que hoy día podamos observar estados cuyas fronteras son altamente artificiales –partiendo de la base de que toda frontera estatal es de por sí artificial–, generando numerosos conflictos y tensiones, algo que con un trazado más sensible a cuestiones étnicas, lingüísticas o simplemente históricas podría haberse mitigado.

La región de Asia Central es una de esas zonas del planeta en las que la dictadura del mapamundi es tremendamente nociva. A las particularidades sociales, económicas y culturales que durante siglos han caracterizado a los pueblos de esta región se le añaden las injerencias de distintos poderes externos y su afán de modelado, dando como resultado estados más grandes de lo “nacionalmente lógico”, otros más pequeños, alguno inexistente y terceros surgidos de la nada.

Del nomadismo al homo sovieticus

La aparición del nacionalismo en los actuales “tanes” centroasiáticos es un suceso enormemente tardío. En un ángulo muerto de los acontecimientos globales de la época contemporánea, la región, al abrigo del Hindukush, los montes Tian Shan y la vasta llanura siberiana, no supo de potencias, nacionalidades ni estados hasta bien entrado el siglo XIX.

Hasta entonces, la mezcla étnica, lingüística y los distintos modos de vida eran la norma en aquel territorio sin nombre. Su importancia histórica radicaba en haber sido un núcleo de gran importancia en la primigenia Ruta de la Seda medieval. Ciudades como Samarcanda, Mirv o Bujará se convirtieron en centros del comercio de gran importancia para la región, con su correspondiente florecimiento artístico y político. Y es que la zona centroasiática, comerciantes aparte, se caracterizó por ser siempre de paso. Desde las etnias y tribus locales de carácter nómada o seminómada, dedicadas al pastoreo entre las llanuras centroasiáticas y el piedemonte de las enormes cordilleras que guardan Asia Central, hasta otros poderes imperiales como los árabes, los persas y los chinos, aquella región que puenteaba Asia oriental con Oriente Medio vio pasar todo tipo de poderes foráneos, con las correspondientes influencias religiosas y lingüísticas.

A pesar de haber evidentes señas distintivas entre los pobladores de la zona, las identidades no se basaban en las que actualmente se pueden considerar “normales” en muchas partes del mundo, como la religión, el idioma o la etnia de cada uno. En Asia Central todo se construía en torno a dos factores: el lugar de pertenencia –la ciudad o el pueblo de origen o residencia– y una división de tipo económica, en la que los distintos grupos étnicos –que se subdividían en tribus y éstas, a su vez, podían ser nómadas o sedentarias– realizaban mayoritariamente determinadas actividades productivas. Este factor hacía interdependiente a toda la sociedad en el plano económico. Así, lo habitual era que los kirguizos y los turkmenos se dedicasen al pastoreo; los tayikos de las ciudades al comercio y la artesanía; los eslavos a labores administrativas y de cierta capacitación; los uzbekos a los cultivos de trigo y algodón y los judíos a la medicina o la enseñanza. Además, todas estas comunidades vivían entremezcladas en muchos puntos de Asia Central, especialmente en las ciudades, si bien en otras zonas, las tradicionales para esa etnia, su presencia era mayoritaria.

Llegó sin embargo el siglo XIX, y con él los británicos y los rusos. La potencia anglosajona posó sus ojos en Asia Central, una región ignota para los ingleses y con la que Rudyard Kipling fantaseó recurrentemente –sirva de ejemplo ‘El hombre que pudo reinar’. Deseaban expandir el imperio desde India hacia el norte, a una región sin poder foráneo desde Alejandro Magno. Desde el norte se extenderían los rusos, poseedores de un vasto pero despoblado imperio y acechantes de cara a abrirse paso hacia el Índico. Por ello, la región centroasiática fue testigo de lo que se denominó como el “Gran Juego”, en el que rusos y británicos pujaron por sus intereses de manera tan decidida que a poco estuvieron de entrar en conflicto directo. La solución vino de un clásico de la geopolítica: un estado-tapón llamado Afganistán.

Al tiempo que el siglo XIX llegaba a su fin, Asia Central ya había sido convenientemente anexionada a la Rusia zarista. Los kazajos, turkmenos, uzbekos, kirguizos, tayikos y demás etnias de la zona quedaban así bajo el poder de San Petersburgo y lejos de los incipientes movimientos panturquistas y panislamistas, algo que la élite rusa consideraba enormemente peligrosos para sus intereses. Sin embargo, el imperio zarista no tuvo especial interés en promover el nacionalismo ruso. El hecho de que como tal no existiese en Asia Central un fuerte sentimiento identitario nacionalista, así como la ya asumida multietnicidad y multirreligiosidad del imperio –nada que ver los eslavos “europeos” con las etnias del Cáucaso o los rusos del extremo oriental–, fueron motivos lo suficientemente poderosos para no intentar encontrar solución a un problema que no existía. De hecho, no sería el régimen zarista sino su sucesor, el soviético, el que plantaría la semilla del actual y exacerbado nacionalismo centroasiático.

A principios de los años veinte del siglo pasado, con la guerra civil rusa a punto de acabar, se procedió al rediseño territorial de la URSS. Dentro de la lógica soviética, la consecución del socialismo requería irremediablemente de la superación del nacionalismo tradicional. Sin embargo, y con el fin de reconocer a los entes federados dentro de la Unión Soviética, las repúblicas socialistas se dibujaron en base a esos criterios nacionalistas.

Paradójicamente, la URSS quiso fomentar cierto nacionalismo para después vaciarlo y transformarlo en un sentimiento soviético. Esto, en las repúblicas del continente europeo o caucásicas sí fue relativamente sencillo al existir previamente un nacionalismo propio y diferenciado. Sin embargo, la cuestión en Asia Central distaba mucho de ser tan fácil. ¿Cómo superar un nacionalismo si este ni siquiera existe? La solución promovida por Stalin era simple: se crea.

Mapa étnico de Asia Central. Fuente: http://www.oocities.org/ethnics_of_central_asia/

En aquellos años, el pensamiento soviético asociaba de manera inseparable la idea de nación –cultural– con la idea de lengua. Así, un grupo étnico con idioma propio podía ser perfectamente una nación, lo que la podía convertir en República Socialista y de ahí pasar a subsumirse en la URSS y llegar al socialismo. Sin embargo, la cuestión lingüística en Asia Central no seguía unas pautas tan uniformes. Si bien existían grupos étnicos con su propia lengua, otros tantos no disponían de un idioma exclusivo, utilizando normalmente una lengua túrquica compartida con los uzbekos o los tayikos. Con todo, este factor fue obviado por los responsables soviéticos, y la nacionalidad –como comunidad singular dentro de la URSS– fue concedida a los grupos étnicos hoy convertidos en “tanes”, mientras que otros grupos de enorme peso, como los sartos, fueron diluidos en el nuevo entramado multinacional soviético.

Sin embargo, en Moscú redoblaron los esfuerzos para dotar a las recientes nacionalidades de un sustrato que acentuase las diferencias. El primer paso fue trazar las fronteras internas, de carácter administrativo, pero que ya establecían límites geográficos –y sobre todo mentales– a las comunidades centroasiáticas. A un diseño bastante arbitrario de estos límites se le sumó el hecho, bastante habitual en la URSS, de ir traspasando territorios de una república a otra con la única razón de equilibrar económicamente a los territorios o, como ocurrió con Crimea, hacer un simple regalo. Así, ciudades uzbekas como Osh o Uzgen pasaron en 1924 a estar en Kirguizistán por el único motivo de que esta última república carecía de núcleos industriales.

Tras la fronterización vendría la creación de un nacionalismo propio para cada una de las recién creadas entidades. Identitariamente se empezó a etiquetar a la sociedad centroasiática, ya que además de ser ciudadanos de la Unión Soviética, también eran identificados como miembros de una república y una etnia concreta. Así, este continente étnico-nacional, bastante vacío en sus inicios, fue llenándose paulatinamente a partir de la Segunda Guerra Mundial –Gran Guerra Patriótica en la retórica soviética–. Se promovió la simplificación folclórica para crear una historia y una cultura diferenciada. Esto irremediablemente llevó a la apropiación de la identidad centroasiática compartida por cada una de las nacionalidades. Así, el arte, la arquitectura, la historia o la etnia cada vez fueron haciéndose más homogéneas en las fronteras impuestas desde Moscú. Ahora sí, en Asia Central existían las naciones bajo el paraguas de la Unión Soviética.

MÁS INFORMACIÓN: Identidad y espacio en Asia Central

El escenario que probablemente no se plantearon los responsables soviéticos fue el de un Asia Central fuera de la URSS, o directamente los problemas derivados de la inexistencia del estado soviético. Así, para cuando en diciembre de 1991 la Unión Soviética se disolvió, en la región centroasiática no se había realizado ningún tipo de transición hacia el ideal socialista. De hecho, estos territorios se hallaban en un frenesí nacionalista, algo que aprovecharon y alimentaron los responsables soviéticos de la región, ahora reconvertidos en presidentes de las nuevas repúblicas.

Kazajistán, Uzbekistán Tayikistán, Kirguizistán y Turkmenistán nacían oficialmente como estados a finales de 1991. Desde el primer día los ilógicos trazados fronterizos heredados de la época soviética remarcaron las dificultades que iba a tener esta región para revertir aquella situación. Si a eso se le sumaba el declive económico en los años posteriores a la desaparición de la URSS y a la carrera nacionalista, el panorama no podía ser más desolador.

Desde entonces, no hay estado centroasiático que no tenga problemas con sus vecinos por la cuestión fronteriza por tierra, mar –el lago Aral– y aire. Cierres de fronteras, campos minados y conflictos étnicos han estado a la orden del día desde entonces, y sólo dos factores han evitado que los problemas fuesen a más: las etnias repartidas por varios países y la interdependencia económica. En definitiva, las variables que históricamente han sido el nexo de unión regional. No es casualidad. Así, que dos o más de estos países no hayan entrado en conflicto abierto responde a que una importante comunidad del país atacante viviría en el país atacado y viceversa, actuando éstas de potenciales “rehenes”, un coste político imposible de asumir. Del mismo modo, la organización agrícola, industrial y energética de la región provoca que en muchos casos las actividades estén diferenciadas entre las distintas repúblicas. Así, el país industrial necesita de la energía del país energético, al igual que del agrícola y este del que dispone de los recursos hídricos. Un conflicto en Asia Central significaría el derrumbe de toda la economía regional.

MÁS INFORMACIÓN: Las conflictivas fronteras de Asia Central

A día de hoy el gran punto caliente es el valle de Fergana, vergel y centro de producción agrícola de la región. Su composición multiétnica y la importancia zonal de este territorio mayoritariamente uzbeko hace que sea deseado por muchos. Por ello, el ejercicio de fronterización de este valle es exhaustivo; trazado milímetro a milímetro entre las montañas para no dejar a nadie descontento. Sin embargo, las tensiones entre estados –y líderes–; los habituales conflictos interétnicos, que han ocasionado cientos de muertos y miles de desplazados o la todavía no resuelta cuestión sobre el control de los ríos hacen poco halagüeño el futuro de estas repúblicas, que unido al desinterés de la comunidad internacional podría alargar este problema durante décadas.

ARTÍCULO RELACIONADO: Asia Central, región geoestratégica (Juan Pérez Ventura, Marzo 2013)

Mortimer Durand o el Salomón de los pastunes

En 1893, el funcionario colonial británico Mortimer Durand fue enviado a la frontera noroccidental de la India para negociar con el emir afgano Abdur Rahman Khan una solución al conflicto entre los británicos y las tribus pastunes lideradas por el emir. Los casacas rojas habían intentado durante medio siglo establecer un control efectivo sobre Afganistán, pero, para su desgracia, este apenas había llegado más allá de las ciudades, haciendo imposible llevar el control de la Corona a las agrestes montañas afganas. Por ello, las revueltas de caudillos y señores locales habían sido frecuentes, infligiendo severas derrotas a los británicos.

La finalidad de aquellas negociaciones no eran las de trazar una frontera al uso, sino demarcar hasta dónde podía llegar la autoridad del emir y de la colonia británica. En el fondo, lo que se dirimía era la influencia sobre las tribus pastunes establecidas entre el Hindukush y la llanura fluvial del río Indo. Durand, en vista de que el Imperio no iba a poder someter a los pastunes y para que el emir afgano no acaparase demasiado poder, optó por la vieja táctica de “divide y vencerás”. Para ello, en las negociaciones trazó una línea desde la cordillera del Pamir, entonces territorio del imperio ruso, hacia el suroeste, acabando en la frontera con Persia –hoy Irán. En dicho recorrido seccionó por la mitad las áreas tribales pastunes, quedando la mitad bajo control afgano y la otra mitad bajo control inglés. Esta división pasaría a la historia como Línea Durand.

Trazado de la Línea Durand, el “Pastunistán” y las zonas tribales. Fuente: Le Monde Diplomatique

Este trazado no produjo demasiados problemas en las décadas siguientes. Los pastunes, como la práctica totalidad de las etnias de la zona, no habían interiorizado ningún tipo de sentimiento nacionalista, y la porosidad de la frontera era tan elevada que a efectos prácticos no limitaba los movimientos de un lado a otro.

La idea de Durand se convertiría en un asunto espinoso cuando los británicos abandonasen el continente indio, dejando tras de sí dos estados abiertamente enfrentados, India y Pakistán. El estado pakistaní, autofabricado a partir de un acrónimo y la fe musulmana, se encontró arrinconado entre un país del que se declaraba enemigo, unas fronteras al noreste sin definir –la región de Cachemira– y la Línea Durand, que de un día a otro había pasado de ser un trazo en el mapa a ser la frontera entre los pakistaníes y los afganos.

Y es que esa frontera, totalmente naturalizada en los mapas y reconocida por todos los estados del mundo, no es del gusto de Afganistán ni de Pakistán. Consideran la Línea Durand como una imposición colonial que perjudica a ambos entes. Sin embargo, la resolución de la cuestión es tan espinosa que lleva décadas empantanada. Cada estado defiende la postura de recoger en su territorio a todas las zonas de mayoría pastún, lo que supondría tanto para Afganistán como para Pakistán perder importantes zonas de territorio. Por ello, tampoco desean alimentar un nacionalismo pastún que podría traer inestabilidad y conflicto a una zona que en la actualidad escapa al control de ambos estados.

Recordemos que este área pastún, las conocidas como “zonas tribales”, parte vital del concepto del AfPak, han sido el refugio de los talibanes desde la invasión norteamericana de Afganistán en 2001. La extrema porosidad de la frontera, la colaboración de los pastunes y la incapacidad –o desinterés– de Pakistán en realizar un control efectivo sobre esta zona han sido un factor determinante en la imposibilidad norteamericana de zanjar esa guerra, retirándose del país sin haber eliminado la amenaza talibán y con un estado afgano tremendamente frágil. Otro motivo más de la extrema influencia que tiene el trazado de una frontera.

La región centroasiática sigue abocada al reto de tener que vivir con unas fronteras que ellos no crearon, algo que ha provocado unas dinámicas nocivas para la región y tremendamente disfuncionales. El equilibrio existente hasta hace menos de un siglo fue roto por las potencias que ahora se desentienden, aunque los problemas no hayan desaparecido. El terrorismo islamista transnacional, por ejemplo, es uno de ellos, y creciente. Que en el mundo occidental las fronteras se den por sentadas y naturalizadas no implica que en otras partes del planeta deban ser repensadas.

Fernando Arancón

 

Nacido en Madrid, en 1992. Graduado en Relaciones Internacionales en la UCM. Máster en Inteligencia Económica en la UAM. Analista de Inteligencia. Especialista en geopolítica y entornos estratégicos.

«Brzezinski, Obama, l’Islamisme et la Russie»

Auteur : Bruno Adrie 

Ex: http://zejournal.mobi

 

« Qui domine l’Europe orientale, domine le Heartland, qui domine le Heartland domine l’île mondiale », c’est à-dire l’Eurasie. C’est grâce à cette phrase, écrite en 1904, que le géographe Halford Mackinder est devenu célèbre. Or le Heartland (la zone pivot), lorsqu’on regarde la carte publiée dans l’article de Mackinder, c’est grosso modo la Russie actuelle, européenne et asiatique, le Caucase, l’Asie Centrale et l’Iran.

Dans le numéro de septembre/octobre 1997 du magazine Foreign Affairs, Zbigniew Brzezinski signe quant à lui un article intitulé « A Geostrategy for Eurasia » dans lequel il prétend pousser plus loin la pensée hégémonique de son prédécesseur.

Pour lui, la Russie vit actuellement recluse dans la nostalgie de son passé impérial, une nostalgie qui l’empêche de voir le présent et d’envisager l’avenir avec pragmatisme. Plutôt que de faire preuve de réalisme, la Russie est régulièrement tentée de « s’engager dans un effort futile afin de regagner son statut de puissance mondiale ». Or ça, pour Zbigniew Brzezinski, c’est du passé, et la Russie doit cesser de vivre dans la contemplation de ce passé doré comme les cieux des vieilles icônes. D’abord, la Russie souffre d’une perte de vitesse démographique qui ne lui permettra pas de continuer à gouverner un pays de 17 millions de kilomètres carrés. Ensuite, sa bureaucratie, trop lourde et centralisée, n’a pas permis à cet immense territoire de se développer. Aussi, pour que l’ensemble reste tenable et évolue, le pays doit-il « se moderniser » et se décentraliser. Zbigniew Brzezinski, que rien n’arrête et qui pense à tout, prend la carte de la Russie et, en deux traits pointillés, nous fabrique une « confédération » de trois Etats: à l’ouest, la Russie d’Europe, au centre, une République sibérienne et une République extrême orientale donnant sur l’océan Pacifique (voir l’image d’en-tête), un découpage qui, selon lui, permettra de libérer les forces vives trop longtemps contenues et d’accroître les relations commerciales de ces territoires nouveaux avec leurs voisins. Et il ne s’arrête pas là. Dans un ouvrage intitulé The Choice: Global Domination or Global Leadership (2004), il approfondit son idée en prétendant qu’« un effort international pour développer et coloniser la Sibérie pourrait stimuler un authentique rapprochement entre les Européens et les Russes ». Pour lui, la Sibérie est une nouvelle « Alaska », une nouvelle « Californie », « un Eldorado pour des pionniers aventuriers », une « source de grande richesse » et d’« investissements profitables ». Pris dans son élan géopolitique, il envisage même la transformation de la Sibérie en un bien commun eurasiatique exploité dans un esprit de partage. Pour lui, cette évolution aurait l’avantage de « stimul[er] une société européenne repue » grâce à cette « excitante nouvelle frontière » à conquérir. Une sorte de « Drang nach Osten pour le développement » en quelque sorte. Mais, précise-t-il, on n’y parviendra pas facilement car il faudra passer par un changement intérieur, par la consolidation d’ « un pluralisme géopolitique en Russie ». C’est d’ailleurs là que réside, selon lui, « une des principales tâches qui incombent à la société euro-atlantique » qui va devoir lutter contre les « ambitions impériales résiduelles de la plus grande partie de [l’] élite politique [russe] ». Par quel moyen? En plaçant « des obstacles à toute tentative de restauration impériale » (The Choice). Une idée très ancrée dans la tête du Doctor: une Russie décentralisée « serait moins susceptible de se mobiliser en tant qu’Empire » (Foreign Affairs).

En ajoutant quelques détails pris dans ses écrits, nous pensons pouvoir résumer ainsi le credo de Zbigniew Brzezinski. Il se décline en trois nécessités fondamentales que nous explicitons :

- La Russie doit cesser de vouloir être un challenger des Etats-Unis et se laisser inféoder par l’Union Européenne et par l’OTAN. Ainsi, elle ne constituera plus une menace pour les Etats-Unis qui pourront sans doute, on le devine, exercer leur pression militaire ailleurs, pourquoi pas en mer de Chine.

- La Russie doit se démocratiser, selon la définition qui confond démocratie et adhésion au système occidental du suffrage universel. Cette démocratisation permettra, on le voit partout en Europe et aux Etats-Unis, de porter au pouvoir des technocrates opportunistes, des membres des réseaux atlantistes, pas vraiment intéressés par la question des libertés fondamentales et plutôt indifférents aux questions environnementales. Ces agents agiront conformément aux intérêts des oligarques locaux et étrangers et seront rémunérés par leurs lobbies. Ils fermeront les yeux sur la régulation des opérations des marchés bancaires, accueilleront les délocalisations dans un cadre propice où le code du travail ne mettra pas de barrière à l’exploitation de la main-d’œuvre et feront pression pour que la politique fiscale ne nuise jamais aux profits de ceux qui ont toujours profité. Dit simplement, afin d’augmenter les bénéfices des actionnaires locaux et envahisseurs, ils répandront partout la corruption.

- La Russie doit accepter d’être démantelée et de devenir une terre d’accueil de pionniers pour permettre de tirer plus de profits des richesses que recèle un sous-sol inexploité qui deviendra, dès lors, puisque tous les hommes sont frères dans l’extraction, un terrain neutre, une sorte de zone de partage économique. Or, ça tombe bien parce la République de Sibérie, la partie centrale du découpage, correspond précisément au bassin de Sibérie occidentale qui détient, selon un rapport de l’USGS de 2003 (Petroleum, Geology and Resources of the West Siberian Basin, Rusia, par Gregory F. Ulmishek), le plus grand bassin pétrolier du monde, un bassin couvrant une superficie de 2,2 millions de kilomètres carrés, exactement situé entre l’Oural et le fleuve Ienisseï et délimité au nord par la mer de Karal. Comportant plusieurs dizaines de champs pétroliers et gaziers géants et super-géants, il produit les ¾ du pétrole et du gaz de Russie et, en dépit du forage de gros volumes, il reste modérément exploré. Si nous nous tournons maintenant vers le BP Statistical Review of World Energy de 2015, pour nous faire une idée de cette manne à l’échelon mondial, nous découvrons qu’aujourd’hui, la Russie possède 6,1% des réserves mondiales prouvées de pétrole (contre 2,9% pour les Etats-Unis) et qu’elle possède aussi 17,4% des réserves mondiales prouvées de gaz (contre 5,2% pour les Etats-Unis). Remarquons d’autre part que l’Iran détient 18,2% des réserves mondiales de gaz, 9,3% pour le Turkménistan. Inutile de préciser que ces deux pays sont situés dans le Heartland de Mackinder.

On sourit quand on voit la liste des abandons que le Dr. Brzezinski exige de la Russie, tant sur le plan politique (abandon du régime qui permet au pays de garder son indépendance pour le remplacer par un régime apparemment démocratique mais en réalité uniquement électif et, par conséquent, poreux à tout le lobbying et à toutes les corruptions dont sont porteuses les multinationales), qu’économique (abandon de sa souveraineté sur des territoires qui offrent de nombreux avantages économiques grâce à leurs ressources, à leurs infrastructures, et à leurs voies de communication) et stratégique (perte de bases militaires, de bases nucléaires, et d’ouverture sur les mers).

Il est donc difficile de garder son sérieux devant une telle plaisanterie si sérieusement adressée à un lectorat qu’on imagine uniquement préoccupé par l’accroissement de sa puissance et de ses revenus, plus précisément de sa puissance par ses revenus. Un lectorat à l’esprit « pionnier » et qui voit dans la Sibérie une nouvelle Californie, une nouvelle Alaska, l’occasion d’une nouvelle ruée vers l’or, d’une nouvelle Drang nach Osten qui n’aura rien de pacifique mais qui sera, au contraire, un pillage de plus, un pillage en grand, le pillage en technicolor d’un Heartland définitivement conquis et dont la soumission signifiera sans doute, pour ceux qui y croient encore, la fin de l’Histoire.

Rappelons-nous ce qu’a dit le président Obama au sujet du Doctor: que celui-ci a, pendant des décennies, formé les spécialistes de la politique étrangère dans les deux partis (c’est le cas de Madeleine Albright) et que cet universitaire exceptionnel, ce penseur exceptionnel, cet ami exceptionnel lui a personnellement beaucoup appris en plus de le soutenir pendant sa campagne présidentielle (les deux allant de pair, évidemment).

Il semble très cohérent que cet Obama-là, poupée politique façonnée et portée à la présidence par les puissants que représente Zbigniew Brzezinski, mène aujourd’hui une guerre contre la Russie, une guerre qui a commencé par un coup d’Etat en Ukraine, qui s’est poursuivie par l’application de « sanctions » et a fini par une tentative de déstabilisation de l’allié syrien, favorisée il est vrai par l’apparition opportune d’une organisation terroriste justifiant l’ingérence étasunienne dans un Etat souverain, à travers des bombardements et un soutien apporté à une armée de libération composée d’islamistes dits modérés, des islamistes bien utiles et peut-être pas si modérés qu’on le dit, comme ceux que le Doctor avait armés dès 1979 en Afghanistan afin d’offrir aux Russes leur « guerre du Vietnam ».

Le but de l’Amérique d’Obama, qui est celle de Brzezinski et qui est celle des élites qui décident de la politique étrangère depuis le Council on Foreign Relations, c’est de faire reculer la Russie, de l’enfermer dans ses frontières afin de l’assiéger, de la soumettre et de la faire éclater en trois blocs affaiblis, plus faciles à écraser sous les grosses pattes des dinosaures de la mondialisation.

En espérant que ces réflexions permettront au lecteur indécis de mieux comprendre M. Poutine, sa défense de la Syrie, sa résistance devant l’Ukraine, son invasion de la Géorgie et sa politique face aux mouvements « islamistes » dont il conviendrait de connaître les sources de financement avant de clore toute analyse.

- Source : Bruno Adrie

Les djihadistes de l’EI se sont rassemblés pour une Invasion MASSIVE de l’Asie Centrale

Renseignements russes : Les djihadistes de l’EI se sont rassemblés pour une Invasion MASSIVE de l’Asie Centrale

Auteur : Nick Gutteridge

Traduction Laurent Freeman

Ex: http://zejournal.mobi

Un grand nombre de combattants islamistes se sont rassemblés au nord de la frontière afghane et se préparent à entrer dans les états voisins, ont révélé des agents des services de renseignement russes.

L’espion moscovite en chef, Alexander Bortnikov, a mis en garde les Talibans, des combattants, dont beaucoup ont prêté allégeance à l’Etat Islamique, qui sont lourdement armés et préparés à pénétrer la frontière poreuse.

S’adressant à un congrès des services spéciaux des Etats Indépendants du Commonwealth, il a dit:

« La communauté internationale fait désormais face à un nouveau challenge géopolitique, un groupe criminel international du nom de l’Etat Islamique. »

« Ce projet, qui est la progéniture même du ‘Printemps Arabe’, a obtenu son élan à cause du deux poids deux mesures de certains pouvoirs mondiaux et régionaux, en utilisant ‘un proxy terroriste ravageur’ pour qu’ils atteignent leurs objectifs stratégiques en Asie et en Afrique ».

« Selon nos propres estimations, les citoyens de plus de 100 pays différents se battent actuellement dans les différents rangs de ces structures terroristes variées et les jeunes recrues représentent 40% de leurs forces ».

« L’escalade des tensions en Afghanistan a provoqué de graves dangers. Il y a de nombreux groupes criminels au sein du mouvement taliban au nord de ce pays en ce moment-même. Certains d’entre eux ont également commencé à opérer sous les ordres de l’Etat islamique, ce qui amène à une montée critique du niveau de menaces terroristes d’une potentielle invasion de l’Asie centrale ».

Le groupe de djihadistes haineux pourrait essayer de se frayer un chemin au nord de l’Afghanistan après avoir essuyé plusieurs raids aériens meurtriers de la Russie.

L’invasion serait comme un coup bas pour Vladimir Poutine, car elle emporterait avec elle plusieurs régions de l’ex-URSS à savoir le Turkménistan, l’Ouzbékistan, le Tadjikistan, qui sont toujours en bon terme avec Moscou.

Ils prendraient ainsi le contrôle des champs d’opium en Afghanistan qui sont entretenus par les forces occidentales. Une manne qui renforcerait l’Etat Islamique, car le produit une fois transformé en héroïne, serait revendu dans les rues européennes ou américaines.

L’Etat Islamique n’a cherché qu’à accroître sa présence en Asie et n’a cessé de recevoir du soutien de plusieurs cellules islamistes indiennes, pakistanaises et malaisiennes.

Tôt ce mois-ci, Poutine a dénoncé la situation en Afghanistan comme étant « proche du seuil critique » et a appelé les nations de l’ex Union Soviétique à se préparer à agir à l’unisson pour contrer une potentielle attaque de l’Etat Islamique.

Les fous islamistes ont été usés par les bombardements aériens russes et occidentaux, ce qui a amené plusieurs experts à reconnaître que leur économie est en panne et que leur structure de commande est sur le point de disparaître.

Les djihadistes ont précédemment annoncé leur intention de conquérir le monde et de soumettre tous les êtres humains à une seule idéologie, la loi de la Charia.

- Source : Nick Gutteridge-Traduction Laurent Freeman

Asia Central, región geoestratégica

Asia Central, región geoestratégica

Juan Pérez Ventura 

 

Ex: http://elordenmundial.com

Muchas veces la división del territorio mundial en continentes no es suficiente para realizar estudios detallados de ciertas zonas del Planeta. Por eso, el mundo se divide en varias regiones o subregiones, aceptadas y diferenciadas por la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU).

Una de estas regiones del mundo es la zona de Asia Central. Localizada entre el Mar Caspio y la frontera oeste de China, esta región, antiguamente conocida como el Turkestán, está formada actualmente por cinco repúblicas ex-soviéticas: Kazajistán, Kirguizistán, Tayikistán, Turkmenistán y Uzbekistán.

Geografía física

Al norte de Irán, Afganistán y Pakistán se encuentran los países del Asia Central, una extensa región de más de 4 millones de kilómetros cuadrados. Los “Cinco -stán” se pueden dividir en dos grupos: los llanos y los montañosos. Mientras que Kazajistán, Uzbekistán y Turkmenistán son extensas llanuras, Kirguizistán y Tayikistán son dos pequeños países montañosos.

Los tres primeros países tienen una superficie mucho mayor y deben su planitud a la gran Meseta de Ustyurt, de 200.000 kilómetros cuadrados. En esta zona el clima es árido y el suelo rocoso, siendo la altitud media de 150m. Tradicionalmente, la población de los alrededor de Ustyurt se ha dedicado a actividades relacionadas con el pastoreo, con rebaños de cabras, ovejas y camellos, sin llegar a asentarse definitivamente en ningún lugar.

Por otro lado, Kirguizistán y Tayikistán, mucho más pequeños, son dos países rodeados por importantes cordilleras montañosas. En el caso de Kirguizistán, el escudo del esta ex-república soviética simboliza el relieve que predomina en el país. Es en ocasiones llamado la “Suiza de Asia Central”, debido a que la región montañosa de Tian Shan cubre el 80% del territorio.

Tayikistán no es menos montañoso, ya que a las montañas del Tian Shan se une la cordillera del Pamir, lo cual hace que más del 50% de la superficie de este país se encuentre por encima de los 3.000 metros.

Las cordilleras de Tian Shan y del Pamir son dos de los relieves más importantes del mundo, junto con los Himalayas, las Montañas Rocosas y los Andes. Esta región del mundo está bajo la influencia de grandes relieves montañosos, lo cual hace que Asia Central sea un lugar inhóspito y de difícil acceso.

Aun así, en Kirguizistán y Tayikistán encontramos también tierras bajas y valles, donde se encuentran la mayoría de ciudades y donde se concentra la actividad económica. En en el noroeste de Tayikistán se encuentra el Valle de Ferghana, la zona más fértil de todo Asia Central.

La región de Asia Central es atravesada por dos importantes ríos: el Syr Darya por el norte y el Amu Darya por el sur.

El río Syr Darya nace en las montañas de Tian Shan, mientras que el Amu Darya nace en la Cordillera del Pamir. Ambos llegan hasta el Mar de Aral y suponen la principal fuente de agua de la región.

El clima de Asia Central está marcado por una continentalidad extrema, que limita las posibilidades de explotación de la tierra y de asentamiento de la población. Con excepción de algunas zonas, como el ya mencionado Valle de Ferghana (compartido por Uzbekistán, Kirguizistán y Tayikistán) con una tierra fértil, una buena provisión de agua y un alta densidad de población.

El resto de Asia Central se distingue por paisajes desérticos, desde el desierto de arena de Turkmenistán que forma parte de la depresión aralo-caspiana, hasta las herbosas estepas de Kazajstán que anticipan Mongolia, y por paisajes montañosos, como los que ofrecen las cordilleras Pamir y Tian-Shan, cadenas montañosas al norte del Himalaya.

El desierto de Karakum cubre el 80% del territorio de Turkmenistán, y el desierto de Kyzylkum una gran parte de Uzbekistán. Por otro lado, y como ya hemos dicho, el 41% de la superficie de Kirguistán y casi la mitad de la territorio de Tayikistán se encuentran a una altitud de más de 3.000 m. (fuente: casaasia.es)

fuente del mapa: stantours.com

Geografía económica: ¿dónde se localizan los recursos?

Con casi 65 millones de habitantes, Asia Central es una región muy poco poblada. La densidad de población es de 16 habitantes por kilómetro cuadrado. Las ciudades más importantes son Almatý (1.400.000 hab.), Astaná (700.000 hab.), Taskent (2.100.000 hab.), Biskek (800.00 hab.) y Asjabad (1.000.000 hab.). Otras, como Dushanbe (Tayikistán) muestran este fantasmagórico aspecto.

Al contrario que otras regiones como el Sudeste Asiático, que están superpobladas, la zona de Asia Central se ha caracterizado siempre, desde los tiempos de la Ruta de la Seda, por ser una región despoblada y utilizada principalmente como de paso.

La vida en la estepa y entre las montañas no es fácil. La mayoría de la población ha sido siempre nómada (en el dibujo de la izquierda, casas kirguizas fácilmente desmontables).

Las pocas ciudades grandes actuales, sin embargo, sí que representan centros de relativa importancia económica. Astaná se presenta como una ciudad moderna que puede llegar a ser un importante centro financiero y de negocios, líder de la región.

La población de esta región se concentra en dos zonas principalmente: el norte de Kazajstán (zona de la capital, Astaná) y el Valle de Ferghana (confluencia de Uzbekistán, Tayikistán y Kirguizistán). El Valle de Ferghana es la zona más fértil de la región de Asia Central, y allí la gente se ha podido asentar gracias a los cultivos de arroz, patatas y algodón.

Pero aunque la agricultura es la base de la economía real para las gentes que viven en el Valle de Ferghana, en esas tierras existen recursos mucho más importantes que los agrícolas. Es una zona rica en petróleo, gas y minas de jade.

En Asia Central, aunque la mayoría de la población siga subsistiendo de la actividad pastoril y agrícola, los gobiernos han comprendido que el crecimiento económico y el desarrollo se basan en su capacidad para exportar materias primas. En otras palabras, con un rebaño de cabras uno puede vivir, pero con un yacimiento de gas uno puede hacerse millonario.

Por eso mismo los gobiernos de Asia Central quieren desmarcarse de la tradicional imagen de nómadas y agricultores, para pasar a ser potenciales exportadores de importancia mundial.

En relación al petróleo y el gas, son los países más cercanos al Mar Caspio los que se benefician de los yacimientos. Las reservas de petróleo de Asia Central se estiman en 50.000 millones de barriles. Kazajstán tiene el 3,2% de las reservas petrolíferas del mundo, y Turkmenistán el 8,7% de las reservas de gas.

TABLA: Países por reservas probadas de gas natural (Wikipedia)

TABLA: Países por reservas probadas de petróleo (Wikipedia)

Pero no sólo es importante el hecho de tener materias primas, sino también tener la posibilidad de moverlas y exportarlas. Y los países de Asia Central están sabiendo hacerlo. Por ejemplo, en Kazajstán, los importantes yacimientos de Kashagan (petróleo) y Karachaganak (gas), están conectados mediante oleoductos y gasoductos con Rusia, a través del Caspian Pipeline Consortium, un consorcio entre varias empresas privadas y públicas para la gestión de dicha ruta entre Kazajstán y Rusia. En 2008 se movilizaron 35 millones de toneladas de petróleo.

En el siguiente epígrafe analizaremos las distintas rutas que siguen oleoductos y gasoductos desde Asia Central hacia el resto del continente.

Las potencias tradicionales (Reino Unido, Francia, Alemania, Estados Unidos…) están dejando paso a las potencias regionales en el control de los recursos de Asia Central. De esta forma, los gobiernos ruso y chino, junto a los de Kazajstán, Turkmenistán y Uzbekistán, están realizando el reparto de los yacimientos en el entorno del Mar Caspio. De forma que son los países de la región los que explotan y exportan las materias.

NOTICIA: La inglesa BP vende a la rusa Lukoil su participación en el yacimiento kazako de Tenguiz

Por otro lado, a parte de gas y petróleo, la zona de Asia Central es rica en recursos minerales. Como vimos en el artículo Minerales codiciados, Kazajistán es un país emergente en la exportación de estas materias primas. Dispone del 30% de las reservas mundiales de mineral de cromo, el 25% del manganeso y el 10% del hierro. Además, Kazajstán es el tercer productor mundial de titanio y el mayor productor de uranio del mundo.

INTERESANTE: El uranio en Kazajstán: Industria atómica (Invest in Kazahstán)

En el siguiente documento (hacer click aquí) el gobierno de Uzbekistán hace una llamada a inversores japoneses para que se adentren en la industria de la minería. El documento (una presentación powerpoint) es toda una publicidad del país, que se ofrece como gran socio comercial y como un lugar perfecto para desarrollar proyectos empresariales.

De la misma forma, Kirguizistán está realizando una reforma de la industria minera y en el año 2012 concedió más de 500 licencias a empresas para explotar sus recursos mineros.

NOTICIA: Kirguizistán promueve la reforma de la industria minera (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Gobierno de España)

Todos estos recursos naturales suponen grandes oportunidades de negocio en Asia Central. La riqueza que ha llegado a países como Kazajstán al convertirse en exportadores de materias primas ha permitido que se desarrollen todo tipo de proyectos punteros y modernos.

También se puede observar el progreso y la modernización en fotos de la ciudad de Astaná, una ciudad que está siendo construida de nuevo, con arquitectura futurista gracias al dinero obtenido por la exportación de gas, petróleo y minerales.

Gracias a este redescubrimiento de Asia Central, han aparecido nuevas empresas que se localizan allí y realizan no sólo tareas de explotación de recursos, sino que se adentran en el sector terciario y algunas han aparecido como empresas de servicios, como la del siguiente caso:

INTERESANTE: La empresa Manuchar se encarga de asistir a los fabricantes de materias primas del Este a comercializar sus productos en Occidente, al mismo tiempo que ayuda a los fabricantes orientales a conseguir los materiales necesarios para poder desarrollar su actividad empresarial. Es una empresa que ofrece servicios desde el principio hasta el final de cada transacción e informa sobre las tendencias de mercado en la zona en cuestión. (web: www.manuchar.com)

Como hemos dicho, los de Asia Central son países que se han dado cuenta de la riqueza que tienen bajo su tierra, y están encantados con el libre comercio y la economía de mercado que predominan en el mundo. Tienen la oportunidad de establecer importantes lazos comerciales y no van a desaprovechar la oportunidad. Como muestra, esta carta redactada por el Ministerio de Petróleo, Gas y Recursos Minerales de Turkmenistán: abrir pdf aquí. Dice textualmente: “The aim of this event is to provide the Asian business community with a better insight into the wealth of investment opportunities available in Turkmenistan’s oil and gas sector, and to both reinforce and establish new business relationships between Turkmenistan and other countries.” Es decir, que el gobierno de Turkmenistán ofrece a empresas de otros países a que acudan a invertir en el sector del petróleo y del gas.

Fotografía: vista de Astaná, la moderna capital de Kazajstán

Posición geoestratégica en el conjunto de Eurasia

Recogiendo el testigo de la época de la Ruta de la Seda, cuando el Turkestán era una importante zona de paso que comunicaba Europa con China, actualmente Asia Central sigue siendo un punto geoestratégico por su localización en el conjunto del continente euroasiático. Pero no sólo es una cuestión geográfica, sino también económica, ya que Asia Central se redescubrió en el S.XX como una prominente región en cuanto a las materias primas.

Como hemos visto en el anterior subapartado sobre Geografía Económica, bajo el suelo de Asia Central se encuentran millones de metros cúbicos de gas y petróleo, así como innumerables recursos minerales. Pero lo que vamos a analizar ahora es la ventaja de la localización geográfica.

Eduardo Olier, en su libro Geoeconomía: las claves de la economía global (2012), resume el contexto geoestratégico de Asia Central de la siguiente manera:

“En este complejo escenario, las rutas energéticas del área se presentan como un elemento geoeconómico esencial. Primero, hacia el Norte, favoreciendo a Rusia. En segundo lugar, hacia el Oeste, ruta pretendida por Azerbaiyán que favorece los intereses de Estados Unidos, Turquía e, incluso, Georgia, para facilitar el tráfico con Europa. Tercero, la ruta Sur, más viable económicamente que, sin embargo, pone a Irán en el eje estratégico y por lo tanto dificulta los intereses americanos. Cuarto, la ruta Este hacia China, una costosísima infraestructura que sólo en Kazajstán deberá atravesar 2000 kilómetros. Y, finalmente, la posibilidad de atravesar Afganistán por el Sudeste para llegar a Pakistán y la India. Un complejo escenario de intereses geopolíticos que convertirá esta zona en una de las más sensibles del planeta en los próximos años.”

Al ser una zona de paso y que conecta los mundos Occidental y Oriental, Asia Central está repleta de puntos estratégicos. La mayoría de ellos son pasos o corredores entre las montañas, que permiten llegar desde las llanuras de Asia Central hasta países importantes como Pakistán, China o India, donde el desenfrenado crecimiento económico requiere abastecerse de las materias primas que los países de Asia Central les pueden proveer.

Los principales pasos que conectan Asia Central

El Paso de Torugart, en las montañas Tian Shan, une la Provincia de Naryn (Kirguizistán) con la enorme región de Xinjiang, la más grande de China. Es un paso importante porque constituye la ruta principal para conectar los países de Asia Central con China.

Otra localización importante es el Paso de Khunjerab, un alto paso de montaña a 4.700m, en la cordillera del Karakorum, estratégicamente situado en la frontera norte de Pakistán con China. Es el cruce internacional de frontera pavimentada más alto en el mundo, además de ser el punto más alto de la famosa carretera del Karakorum, que une la ciudad de Kashgar (China) con Islamabad (capital pakistaní).

El norte de Afghanistán, que también se puede incluir en la región geográfica de Asia Central, es una zona de importancia geoestratégica, ya que este país está, desde 2001, ocupado por tropas estadounidenses y de otros países. Afghanistán es un país en guerra.

Aunque las principales campañas militares se están desarrollando en el sur y en el este del país, controlar los pasos fronterizos del norte es un objetivo estratégico.

En la fotografía de la derecha se puede observar un tanque, símbolo de la presencia militar en la zona, y al fondo la gran cordillera del Hindu Kush, que domina la mitad norte de Afghanistán.

El Corredor de Wakhan es uno de los lugares geoestratégicos más importantes de Asia Central. Situado al noreste de Afghanistán, se encuentra en la Cordillera del Pamir, haciendo frontera con Tayikistán al norte, China al este y Pakistán al sur. Este corredor fue abierto por el Imperio Británico a finales del S.XIX para impedir que Rusia llegara a la India durante el Gran Juego.

También entre Afghanistán y Pakistán se encuentra el importante Paso de Khyber, uno de los pasos más antiguos de la historia, que ya era utilizado en la época de la Ruta de la Seda. Situado en la parte noroeste de las montañas Safēd Kōh, es una ruta comercial entre Asia Central y el Subcontinente Indio, además de una localización militar estratégica.

Geoestrategia energética: petróleo y gas

En el mapa Asia Central: una posición geoestratégica se observa de manera simplificada las cuatro direcciones principales que siguen las exportaciones desde Asia Central. Aunque hay importantes socios comerciales en Europa, el Golfo Pérsico y la India, el mayor receptor de minerales, gas y petróleo está siendo el gigante asiático, China.

Las proyecciones indican que en un futuro más cercano que lejano China consumirá 7 millones de barriles de petróleo al día. Necesitará abastecerse no sólo de Arabia Saudí y de Irán. Asia Central es y será cada vez más un socio exportador para China.

En esta región, las reservas de petróleo y gas suelen estar en el entorno del Mar Caspio, de forma que los pequeños Kirguizistán y Tayikistán no se benefician de estos recursos. Desde Asia Central parten varios oleoductos y gasoductos en todas direcciones.

Por ejemplo en 2005 se inauguró un oleoducto de 1000km entre las ciudades de Atasu (Kazajstán) y Alashankou (China).

Otro oleoducto une los campos petrolíferos de Tenguiz (Kazajstán) con el puerto ruso de Novorosslysk, através del Mar Negro.

También existen gasoductos que unen los yacimientos de la costa este del Mar Caspio con el Mar Mediterráneo, a través de Rusia, Azerbaiján y Turquía.

Esto pone de manifiesto que, aunque no tengan salida al mar y estén situados en zonas remotas, los países de Asia Central se mantienen vivos y activos en el mercado internacional de exportaciones debido a las buenas comunicaciones que se han desarrollado gracias a la inversión de países poderosos como China o Rusia, que ayudan a que las materias primas consigan llegar desde Asia Central hasta Europa, la India y China.

MUY INTERESANTE: Las rutas del petróleo en Asia Central (Real Instituto Elcano)

Además del petróleo, el otro recurso que se mueve a través de tuberías por las llanuras de Asia Central, en todas direcciones, es el importantísimo gas natural, muy presente entre los yacimientos que rodean el Mar Caspio.

INTERESANTE: KazMunayGas, empresa kazaka dedicada a la exportación de gas desde Kazajstán hacia Rusia y China principalmente.

La India también está interesada en Asia Central, tal y como muestra el proyecto Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAP), que supondrá un enorme gasoducto que unirá los yacimientos del Mar Caspio con Pakistán y la India, a través de Turkmenistán y Afghanistán.

El proyecto TAP podría transportar 30.000 millones de metros cúbicos de gas al año, una cantidad muy importante. Este gas sería utilizado por los superpoblados y emergentes Pakistán e India, dos países que consumen cada vez más recursos.

El gasoducto trans-afghano transportará gas desde el yacimiento de Dauletabad, en Turkmenistán, hasta la ciudad india de Fazilka, en el estado de Punjab (30 millones de habitantes). Un recorrido de casi 1700km.

INTERESANTE: Turkmenistán-Afghanistán-Pakistán-India Gas Pipeline: South Asia’s Key Project

Desde el yacimiento de Dauletabad en Turkmenistán también parten otros importantes gasoductos en otras direcciones, como por ejemplo el Dauletabad-Sarakhs-Khangiran Pipeline, inaugurado en 2010, que llega hasta la ciudad de Khangiran, en Irán. Este gasoducto transporta 12.000 millones de metros cúbicos de gas cada año.

En los últimos años, Turkmenistán, poseedor del 8,7% de las reservas de gas del mundo, ha comprometido toda su exportación con tres países: Rusia, China e Irán, lo cual supone una derrota de las potencias occidentales (Estados Unidos y Europa). En la guerra geoestratégica por los recursos, se puede decir que la “batalla de Asia Central” la está ganando el bloque oriental.

Con China realizando inversiones multimillonarias y con Irán cerrando pactos con países como Turkmenistán, queda por analizar qué movimientos está realizando Rusia.

La empresa rusa Gazprom, líder mundial en la extracción y distribución de gas, no ha tardado en ocupar una posición privilegiada en la zona de Asia Central. Actualmente controla un sistema de gasoductos que van desde Turkmenistán hasta Rusia, pasando por Uzbekistán y Kazajstán.

Esta red de gasoductos controlada por Gazprom se alimenta de los campos de gas del sudeste de Turkmenistán y de los yacimientos de la costa este del Mar Caspio. Además de llegar hasta Rusia, está planeado que los gasoductos lleguen un día hasta China.

MÁS INFORMACIÓN: Central Asia-Center gas pipeline system (Wikipedia)

Los expertos en Asia Central, Marlène Laruelle y Sébastien Peyrouse, resumen la situación de esta manera: “Se trata de países rentistas que funcionan principalmente gracias a la exportación de materias primas (petróleo, gas, algodón, uranio, oro, minerales raros…) y a la importación de productos manufacturados, principalmente de China, pero también de Europa. Situados entre Rusia, China e Irán tienen dificultades para encontrar su lugar en el contexto de la economía mundial, y se ven frenados en su globalización por un entorno geopolítico inestable y una fuerte caída del capital humano.”

MUY INTERESANTE: Asia Central en el contexto de la economía mundial

Mapa superior: principales gasoductos y oleoductos de la región (fuente: realinstitutoelcano.org)

Las principales potencias mundiales y su relación con Asia Central

EEUU y Europa han extendido la OTAN hacia el este europeo incluyendo antiguas “democracias populares” y repúblicas soviéticas. La expansión hacia el oriente no ha parado ahí y, a partir de 2002, la OTAN ha creado los Planes de Acción de Asociación Individual (Individual Partnership Action Plans) con otras antiguas repúblicas soviéticas como Georgia, Azerbaiján, Armenia, Kazajstán y Moldavia. Por último, en el marco de la invasión de Afganistán, EEUU consiguió establecer bases militares en Kirguizistán y Uzbekistán. El mundo occidental ha movido sus piezas en una zona controlada por la URSS durante la guerra fría. (Fuente: www.historiasiglo20.org)

Como respuesta a estos movimientos de las potencias occidentales, la presencia de China en Asia Central ha aumentado considerablemente en los últimos años, lo cual ha generado ciertos recelos hacia el gigante asiático por parte de Kazajstán y Kirguizistán, que temen sobre sus posibles aspiraciones hegemónicas.

China está extendiendo su influencia económica a lo largo de su frontera de 2.800 kilómetros con Asia Central para compensar la presencia estadounidense y rusa, en una región con enormes reservas minerales y de recursos energéticos, como ya hemos visto.

NOTICIA: China expandirá su presencia en Asia Central con una inversión de $10.000 millones (Reuters)

En Asia Central se han desarrollado importantes organizaciones intergubernamentales, como la Organización de Cooperación de Shangai (OCS), una de las iniciativas de cooperación regional más prometedoras de Asia. Esta organización incluye a China, Rusia, Kirguizistán, Tayikistán y Uzbekistán. Además, otros socios son Pakistán, Irán, Mongolia e India (estos últimos tienen un estatus de observadores).

China lidera la OCS y, por tanto, las cuestiones energéticas y comerciales de la región están muy influenciadas por los intereses chinos. No es de extrañar, pues, que la mayoría de los nuevos oleoductos y gasoductos estén proyectados en dirección este, hacia territorio chino.

Aunque en la declaración fundacional de la Organización de Cooperación de Shanghai se afirma que no es una alianza hecha contra otras naciones o regiones, la mayor parte de los analistas coinciden en que uno de los objetivos principales de la OCS es hacer de contrapeso a la OTAN y a EEUU.

INTERESANTE: Página web oficial de la Organización de Cooperación de Shanghai

Además de la Organización de Cooperación de Shanghai (OCS), otros proyectos intergubernamentales se están poniendo en marcha. Por ejemplo, en 2012 el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores de la India habló de que su país iba a comenzar una política de conexión con Asia Central, con el objetivo de reforzar las relaciones políticas y económicas con países como Kazajstán o Turkmenistán, así como apoyar a las tropas internacionales en el conflicto armado de Afghanistán.

Una de las bases para la cooperación entre India y Asia Central tendrá que ver con el intercambio de materias primas por tecnología y equipamientos médicos. La India es un país puntero en los campos de la tecnología y la medicina, y Asia Central, como hemos visto, es una tierra rica en recursos naturales. La cooperación y el entendimiento entre países se apoyará en las necesidades de cada parte, para construir una importante relación comercial y política.

INTERESANTE: La importancia de Asia Central

Presencia militar en la zona de Asia Central

Estados Unidos tiene bases aéreas desplegadas por toda la región: en Uzbekistán, Kiguizistán, Tayikistán, Pakistán y, cómo no, en Afghanistán. Con Rusia vigilando desde el norte, China apretando desde el Este, e Irán atento en el Sur, la zona que rodea al Mar Caspio se convierte en un tablero de ajedrez en el que cada movimiento genera tensión en el contrincante. Hay muchos recursos en juego.

En la infografía de la derecha podemos ver una clara relación entre yacimientos petrolíferos y presencia militar. Es una zona donde convergen los intereses de las potencias tradicionales (Occidente) y las nuevas potencias emergentes (países asiáticos como India, China, Irán o Pakistán).

VER MAPA: Inestabilidad en Oriente

En Kirguizistán, Estados Unidos tiene la base de Manás, a pocos kilómetros de la capital, Bishkek. Esta base tiene el objetivo geoestratégico de vigilar la inestable zona de Afghanistán.

Por su parte Rusia también quiere mantener su influencia en la zona. Tiene en Kazajistán una base de lanzamientos espaciales en Baikonur, y está construyendo otra base de lanzamiento en Baiterek. También tiene bases en Kirguizistán y en Tayikistán.

Pero tanto Estados Unidos como Rusia están perdiendo esta guerra geoestratégica ante el poder de China, que, mediante la Organización de Shanghai, promueve sus intereses y recorta territorio a sus vecinos Tayikistán y Kirguizistán, obligándoles a firmar nuevos tratados fronterizos. China, con el poder del dinero, ha conseguido lo que Estados Unidos y Rusia no han podido con el poder militar.

NOTICIA: EEUU busca crear su mayor base militar en Asia Central (RT.es)

NOTICIA: Rusia toma medidas para no perder más terreno en Asia Central (elpais.com)

Gustavo Sierra, escribiendo para el diario argentino Clarín, hace este interesante resumen de la situación en Asia Central: (fuente: Clarín.com)

Asia Central fue escenario del “Gran Juego” que practicaron Rusia y Gran Bretaña en el siglo XIX. Ahora, vuelve a ser el terreno de una disputa aún más grande de la que participan no sólo los antiguos contrincantes sino Estados Unidos, China, In dia y las otras grandes potencias europeas.

En el centro de la disputa están las inmensas reservas petroleras y gasíferas de la región. Y para obtener ventaja en “el juego” las potencias aumentan su presencia militar en todo centroasia. En el aeropuerto de Dushanbé, la capital de Tayikistán, se puede ver una escuadrilla de modernos bombarderos franceses. No muy lejos de ahí, los ingenieros indios reconstruyen una enorme pista soviética. Los rusos mantienen aún en ese valle rodeado por las míticas montañas del Panshir una unidad de 10.000 soldados. En la vecina Kirgyzstán, sobrevuelan los KC-135 estadounidenses, los Sukhoi-27 rusos de la base cercana de Kant, y los bombarderos chinos.

Y las repúblicas “stán” (todos sus nombres tienen esa terminación) reciben presiones de todos lados. Kazajstán debe decidir si continúa sacando su petróleo por la red de oleoductos rusa o si se conecta con la nueva línea Baku-Ceyhan, recientemente construida con el apoyo de EE.UU. China compró una de las petroleras más grandes de ese país y construyó un oleoducto de 2.000 kilómetros para transportar el fluido a Beijing.

Claro que la región es un polvorín donde no para de crecer el radicalismo islámico. En particular en el valle de Fergana que cruza las fronteras de Uzbekistán, Tajikistán y Kirgyzstán. Allí es poderoso el movimiento de Hizb ut-Tahrir, que forma parte de Al Qaeda.

Pero las potencias cuando necesitan de algo o alguien no tienen reparos.Y para continuar recibiendo gas y petróleo al tiempo que mantienen a raya al radicalismo islámico, siguen apoyando a los regímenes autoritarios de la zona, desde el tadyico, Imomali Rakhmon, hasta el brutal kazako, Nursultan Nazarbayev. (fuente: Clarín.com)

MUY INTERESANTE: Geopolítica petrolera en Asia Central y en la cuenca del Mar Caspio

Fotografía: panorámica de las montañas Tian-Shan

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Juan Pérez Ventura

Autor y Director de la web 'El Orden Mundial en el S.XXI'. Graduado en Geografía por la Universidad de Zaragoza y Máster en Relaciones Internacionales Seguridad y Desarrollo por la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Inquieto por comprender cómo funciona el mundo y apasionado de la divulgación de conocimiento. Además de blogger, soy un viajero incansable.

Author: Sofia Pale

Threat of Terrorism in Central Asia

Ex: http://journal-neo.org

Following the speech of Russian President, Vladimir Putin, which he delivered before the General UN Assembly on September 28, 2015, and the latest developments in Syria it evoked, global mass media engaged in a heated debate over the topic of international terrorism, which is associated these days with the activities of militants of the Islamic State (ISIS). It should be noted that Russia has a well-grounded reason to have concerns over this issue, as it directly involves the integrity of Russia’s eastern border it shares with the post-Soviet states of Central Asia.

Central Asia is a vast region, which includes Afghanistan, Mongolia, the northern regions of Iran, India and Pakistan, the western outreaches of China as well as part of the southern outskirts of Russia and five former Soviet republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Since any upheaval in the post-Soviet region of Central Asia would inevitably affect Russia, it is no surprise that this sub-region is regarded as vital as far as Russian strategic interests are concerned. This is why Russia’s geopolitical rivals (the US and the member countries of NATO, which often benefit from destabilization of the situation in the post-Soviet Central Asia) strive to spread their influence to that region.

According to experts, radical movements in the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia are apparently being funded and managed by some international powers. For example, since the beginning of the 21st century, the authorities of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan had to deal with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Today this terrorist group, considered to be one of the most notorious, is seen as a threat to all countries of the Central Asia region. Originally, its objective was to achieve the separation of the Fergana valley from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan and to form an independent Islamic state in its territory. The Fergana valley is a densely populated district with a high unemployment rate, which makes it a perfect “breeding ground” for all sorts of radical organizations and the recruitment of new supporters. If the initial militants’ agenda involved just the establishment of an independent state in the Fergana valley, today they harbor an even more ambitious plan: they want it to become a part of the Islamic Caliphate, which is supposed to include the entire territory of the Middle East and the Caucasus.

In August 2015, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan integrated into ISIS. This organization is proving to be more and more influential in the region and it is continually expanding, taking other smaller militant groups originating from the countries of Central Asia under its wing.

The threat it poses is so intense that on October 1, 2015 Tajikistan’s border patrol guarding the border with Afghanistan was put on full combat alert after Taliban militants, who are members of these terrorist organizations, stormed and seized the city of Kunduz.

In recent years, there was a noticeable upsurge in the activities of the agents of international terrorist organizations in Kazakhstan. They recruit and train militants. There are militant bases in the territory of the country, where they plot acts of sabotage against neighboring states. Citizens of Kazakhstan participated in the acts of terrorism in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

To add insult to injury, those who come from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia fight in Syria and Iraq in the ranks of ISIS. Outlook for the future is rather grim since the worst consequence of this situation for the countries of Central Asia is that sooner or later militants will return to their home countries, and the chances are high that having gained experience in war, they would engage in terrorist activities at home.

The threat of terrorism in the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia is exacerbated due to the wide support the radical Islamic movements receive from the local population, who are being “brainwashed” through the massive extremist propaganda. In Russia, this situation is perceived as potentially dangerous because propaganda campaigns are also being conducted among the Muslims residing in the Russian territory. According to some sources, a substantial number of militants originating from Central Asia and currently fighting in the ranks of terrorists in the Middle East were recruited in the Russian Federation, while temporary living in its territory as migrant workers. Adverse living conditions, low wages and discontent with the government in their home countries contribute to the recruiters’ success.

Therefore, the worst-case scenario for Russia (in the context of activities of terrorist organizations) would be the flaring up of armed conflicts, which, causing a stream of refugees to cross Russian borders, would put the country’s stability at risk and disrupt the established trade and political relations with its eastern neighbors.

Should that happen, all those, who fear a “strong Russia,” including the US, would be reaping the fruits. Some facts (and there are plenty) suggest that the US and NATO intelligence agencies were involved in the establishment of some of the most aggressive terrorist organizations. Evidently, there are occasions when geopolitical interests of the US require for “the dirty work” to be done by somebody else, and Islamic terrorists are perfect candidates for this role. It happened more than once that the US, striving to spread its influence to some region, would extend its support to the local extremist and terrorist organizations to overthrow the disfavored regime with their hands.

There are grounds to believe that the West is worried about the growing affinity between Russia and China and could potentially use tension in Central Asia to undermine the positions of the two countries and increase own influence in the region. As it has already been mentioned, Russia would be greatly troubled should a military conflict be sparked in the region. It would also hit China, especially, if the Uighur separatists from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China (more than 15 million people live there, out of which 60% are of Turkic origin and practice Islam) would become active. The US and its NATO allies can (should the circumstances be suitable) promote extremism in the region to reinforce their influence and exert pressure on Russia and China.

What differentiates the contemporary approach of the US intelligence services in their dealing with terrorist groups from the methodology they used to apply in the past is that today terrorists are supposed to be liquidated after they complete their task. But the confidence of western intelligence services in that they can keep terrorists under control is profoundly erroneous. As the Russian President pointed out in his speech at the General UN Assembly, “…those, who flirt with terrorists, deal with cruel but not stupid people who also have their own ambitions and know how to implement them. The Islamic State did not come out of a clear blue sky: it was initially nurtured as an instrument against disfavored secular regimes.”

The threat to the global security is also heightened by the fact that even when NATO and the US publicly declare an uncompromising war on terrorism, they still continue pursuing their own geopolitical interests, and this notion was demonstrated in Iraq and Afghanistan.

By now, ISIS has developed into such a powerful force that it would take joint efforts of all countries to counter it.

Speaking before the General Assembly of UN, Vladimir Putin once again appealed to all countries (and, first of all, the countries of the western hemisphere) to put their ambitions aside and join Russia and its partners in their struggle against the common threat. Will the West accept this invitation or not? It is obvious that if the US and the countries of NATO do not reconsider their positions, terrorism will not be eradicated any time soon.

Sofia Pale, Ph.D. Candidate of Historical Sciences, Researcher with the Center for South-East Asia, Australia and Oceania of Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
First appeared: http://journal-neo.org/2015/10/10/threat-of-terrorism-in-central-asia/

Chine: routes de la soie et haute mer

Auteur : Pepe Escobar

Traduit par jj, relu par Diane pour le Saker Francophone

Ex: http://zejournal.mobi

La semaine dernière, l’annonce par Pékin de son nouveau livre blanc militaire, qui présente une doctrine dépassant le concept de défense offshore pour aller vers une défense en haute mer, n’a pas manqué d’ébranler les certitudes de plus d’un tenant de l’exceptionnalisme états-unien.

Ce que l’on appelle également le projet de Nouvelle route de la soie – dénomination qui a toutes les connotations romantiques d’un certain âge d’or – ne se limite pas à de nouvelles routes, à des chemins de fer à grande vitesse, à des pipelines et à la fibre optique : c’est également un réseau maritime qui s’étend de l’Extrême-Orient au Moyen-Orient et à l’Europe.

Ainsi, l’expansion chinoise en haute mer, de la mer de Chine méridionale au Pacifique occidental et à l’océan Indien, devait être étroitement liée à la protection de la Route de la soie maritime.

Affaire conclue, c’est parti

À mesure que le réseau One Road, One Belt prend forme malgré sa complexité délirante, pas une semaine ne s’écoule sans que la Chine ne signe un nouveau contrat pour la construction d’un pipeline, d’une centrale électrique, d’un réseau de fibre optique ou encore d’une usine en vue d’accélérer l’intégration eurasienne – du Pakistan aux Stans d’Asie Centrale, en passant par tout ce qui relie, par le rail ou la route, la Chine occidentale à la mer d’Arabie et aux installations portuaires de la Corne de l’Afrique.

La logique commerciale qui sous-tend ce déferlement de contrats d’infrastructure est solide : il s’agit d’absorber l’énorme excédent de la capacité industrielle chinoise. Bien entendu, ce processus est étroitement lié à la stratégie énergétique complexe de Pékin, dont le leitmotiv est principalement d’échapper à Malacca 1

La coopération étroite de membres des BRICS tels que la Chine et l’Inde sera absolument décisive pour le succès de l’intégration eurasiatique. Ce processus est déjà en marche avec la banque des BRICS – la Nouvelle banque de développement – qui aura son siège à Shanghai et sera dirigée par un banquier indien. Ce n’est pas un hasard si l’Inde fait également partie des membres fondateurs de la BAII.

Le premier président de la BAII sera Jin Liqun, ancien vice-ministre des Finances et vice-président de l’Asian Development Bank (ADB), dont la direction est nippo-américaine. Les allégations des suspects habituels selon lesquelles la BAII sera une sorte de société secrète chinoise ne tiennent pas debout. Le conseil d’administration sera constitué de représentants de plusieurs puissances mondiales développées et en développement.

La BAII s’annonce déjà comme incontournable dans toute l’Eurasie. Il n’est pas surprenant que les Japonais, se sentant exclus, aient été contraints de relever la barre et d’annoncer l’intention de Tokyo de s’engager à hauteur de pas moins de 110 milliards de dollars dans le financement de projets d’infrastructures d’ici 2020. Le grand sujet de conversation du moment dans toute l’Asie est la guerre des infrastructures.

L’appel de l’Ouest

Il ne faut pas oublier que ce que j’ai appelé le Go West Young Han de l’expansion de l’influence commerciale de la Chine a en fait commencé dès 1999. La première étape s’est traduite par une vague de délocalisation d’usines de la province du Guangdong vers les provinces de l’intérieur. Au bout de quelques années, dans le Triangle du Guangdong – aujourd’hui beaucoup plus riche que bien des pays industriels –, des entrepreneurs soucieux du cycle de vie des produits se sont lancés dans une accélération technologique frénétique. Dans la mégalopole de Shenzhen, les autorités vont d’ailleurs jusqu’à repousser les entreprises moins axées sur la technologie vers la périphérie de la ville.

Dans le domaine des ports de marchandises, sur les dix plus grands ports du monde, pas moins de sept sont en Chine. À lui seul, ce chiffre est révélateur de la domination écrasante de la Chine dans le commerce maritime mondial.

En termes de gestion, le plan 125 – c’est-à-dire le 12e plan quinquennal chinois – expire en 2015. En Occident, peu de gens savent que les objectifs des sept domaines technologiques où la Chine voulait dominer ont été atteints et même, dans certains cas, dépassés. Le grand bond en avant technologique explique pourquoi la Chine est aujourd’hui capable de construire des réseaux d’infrastructures, chose qui semblait auparavant impossible.

Le prochain plan quinquennal s’annonce encore plus ambitieux. Il sera axé, entre autres conséquences de la restructuration du modèle économique de la Chine, sur le lancement par Pékin d’une vague de construction de nouvelles mégalopoles.

The China Dream, qui vient d’être publié par le professeur Liu Mingfu, un spécialiste de premier plan des questions militaires, donne une idée d’ensemble au moment de la montée en puissance de la Chine dans le domaine des infrastructures en Eurasie. Un clash avec les États-Unis semble désormais inévitable.

Les murmures de mécontentement incessants du Pentagone au sujet de la mer de Chine méridionale ne sont que la partie visible de l’iceberg (mortel), mer que Washington considère finalement comme un Grand Lac américain.

 

Liu Mingfu, à l’instar d’autres grands analystes chinois, souhaiterait que Washington finisse par trouver un modus vivendi avec la superpuissance mondiale émergente, un peu comme l’Empire britannique a transféré sa domination maritime mondiale aux États-Unis au début du XXe siècle.

Cela n’arrivera pas. Dans l’immédiat, selon la doctrine du pivot vers l’Asie de l’administration Obama annoncé en 2011 par le Pentagone, l’endiguement sera musclé. Toutefois, cela ne marchera que si l’Inde, membre des BRICS, est entièrement solidaire. Et c’est assez peu probable.

En attendant, Washington va continuer d’être submergé de ce type d’analyse paranoïde d’un ancien conseiller stratégique du haut commandement US/OTAN en Afghanistan.

Pendant ce temps sur la Terre…

Ce qu’il faut retenir, et ce qu’a déjà fait une écrasante majorité des pays du Sud, c’est que la stratégie One Road, One Belt de la Chine vise avant tout à établir des relations commerciales équitables. Cette politique la situe à des années-lumière de ce que fait l’Empire avec ses bases militaires et sa sempiternelle guerre bushienne contre le terrorisme, ses infernales listes d’assassinats illégaux et ses bombardements de pays récalcitrants (généralement des républiques arabes séculaires) en vue de leur faire avaler la démocratie à leur sauce.

Le projet One Road, One Belt, immensément ambitieux, couplé à la protection par la marine chinoise des intérêts nationaux en haute mer, s’inscrit en droite ligne dans le plan directeur du Rêve chinois du président Xi Jinping. La meilleure manière de bâtir une société modérément prospère est de construire des infrastructures modernes à l’intérieur du pays avant de se tourner vers l’extérieur et le monde.

Une fois encore, la Chine exportera l’énorme excédent de sa capacité industrielle, poursuivra la diversification de ses sources d’approvisionnement en énergie et étendra son influence commerciale de l’Asie centrale à l’Europe en passant par l’Iran, la Turquie et la Grèce.

La Chine a les moyens financiers de résoudre l’un des problèmes les plus insolubles de l’Inde, à savoir la reconstruction de son infrastructure sclérosée. Dans l’idéal, ces deux membres des BRICS sont appelés à signer contrat sur contrat (d’infrastructure) aux côtés d’un autre membre, la Russie, et d’un Iran qui a regagné la confiance de l’Occident. Cela implique que tout ce qui a trait à la ou aux nouvelles Routes de la soie touche directement pas moins d’un tiers de la population mondiale. Zone d’influence, dites-vous ?

À Washington, on a beaucoup grondé que personne n’a droit à une zone d’influence – en dehors des États-Unis, bien entendu. Pourtant, les efforts économiques, financiers, diplomatiques et géopolitiques de Pékin en vue d’unifier l’Eurasie représentent la surenchère suprême dans l’exercice d’une influence mondiale. Finalement, la tactique habituelle inspirée des Romains, Divide et impera, appliquée par l’Occident, pourrait bien se révéler inopérante.

Notes du traducteur :

(1)Le détroit de Malacca est un passage obligé du trafic pétrolier vers tous les pays d’Extrême-Orient. Il est sous l’étroit contrôle de l’US Navy pour se procurer un maximum de pétrole et de gaz en contournant les eaux où patrouille la marine US.

Sa ruée vers l’Ouest, conséquence naturelle d’une politique officielle lancée en 1999 mais, à l’époque, limitée principalement au Xinjiang, conduit Pékin à s’ouvrir de plus en plus sur le monde. Pour s’en convaincre, il suffit de voir le nombre de pays orientaux et occidentaux qui ont intégré la Banque asiatique d’investissement pour les infrastructures (BAII).

- Source : Pepe Escobar-Traduit par jj, relu par Diane pour le Saker Francophone

What’s Washington Doin’ in Central Asia Now?

F. William Engdahl:

What’s Washington Doin’ in Central Asia Now?

Ex: http://journal-neo.org

Since the time the CIA financed and trained mone than one hundred thousand Mujahideen Islamic Jihadists, including a fanatical Saudi named Osama bin Laden, to wage a decade-long proxy war against forces of the Soviet Army in Afghanistan, Washington has been obsessed with the idea of penetrating deep into Central Asia in order to drive a wedge between China and Russia.

Early attempts in the wake of the post-2001 US forces’ presence in Afghanistan met with mixed success. Now it appears that Washington is frantically trying a repeat, even calling the ageing US Ambassador Richard M. Miles out of retirement to head a new try at a Color Revolution.

There seems to be a sense of urgency to Washington’s new focus on Central Asia. Russia is hardly buckling under from US and EU financial sanctions; rather she is looking more vibrant than ever, making strategic economic and military deals seemingly everywhere. And Russia’s Eurasian neighbor, The Peoples’ Republic of China, is laying plans to build energy pipelines and high speed rail links with Russia across Eurasia.

Washington appears now to be responding.

The problem with the Washington neoconservatives is that they aren’t very creative, in fact, in terms of understanding the larger consequences of their specific actions, they are rather stupid. And their shenanigens have become very well-known, not only in Moscow, but also in Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan and other Central Asian republics formerly part of the Soviet Union.

The Coming Eurasia Economic Boom

Central Asian republics, most especially Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, are strategically located between China, Kazakhstan and Russia. They are also in the midst of the developing economic boom region that will follow China’s New Silk Road high-speed railway networks. Those rail networks will create a highly efficient land route, independent of possible US sea lane interference, to facilitate the rapidly-growing trade across Eurasia and potentially, if the hapless EU ever gets the courage to buck Washington, to Europe as well.

China recently made headlines with the establishment of its Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a clear rival to the IMF and the US-controlled Asian Development Bank, when the UK, Germany, France and most every major nation—with exception of the USA, Canada, Mexico and Japan—rushed to be founding members and to get in on what promises to be the global economic locomotive for at least the next half century or more, if done right. The AIIB was founded by Beijing with its initial contribution of $50 billion, to partly finance the New Silk Road.

Recently Beijing also revived an earlier plan to build a rail link from China’s Xinjiang Province in far western to Uzbekistan across the territory of northern Kyrgyzstan. Their initial plans were derailed in 2005 when an earlier US-instigated Color Revolution made Kyrgyzstan too unstable.

On January 21, 2015 Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev announced that his government was sending a delegation to Beijing to finalize details of the project launch.It will be a $2 billion 270 km-long rail link from Kashgar in the Xinjiang region of western China to Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan via Kyrgyzstan’s Naryn and Osh oblasts.

In a recent memo on the development, the UK Foreign Office notes that the rail project would have significant benefits for especially Uzbekistan and for China as well as advancing the overall Eurasian New Silk Road rail projects. They note that for China, it would create an additional land-based route through Central Asia for its exports to European markets, assuming it would connect into the existing Uzbek and Turkmen rail network running to the Caspian Sea. It would also improve Chinese access to gold, coal and other mineral deposits within Kyrgyzstan, a largely economically forgotten state since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and Kyrgyzstan’s declaration of an independent republic.

For Uzbekistan, the Foreign Office memo notes that it would offer a new rail route for trade with Asia-Pacific markets. This would be especially important for the GM-UzDaewoo car assembly plant located in the Andijan region, which relies on regular imports of parts and components from South Korea. For Kyrgyzstan, it would offer the potential to earn transit fees of up to $200 million per year, by some estimates, in addition to creating up to 20,000 construction jobs during the implementation phase. As well there are the potential gains for opening Kyrgyzstan to significant Chinese mining investment, something the Kyrgyz economy sorely needs.

And in another geopolitical Eurasian economic advance, on April 9, Pakistan announced that, once US Iran sanctions are lifted, it will proceed with long-stalled construction of a $7.5 billion Iran-Pakistan natural gas pipeline that would pass through Pakistan’s port of Gwadar to the city of Nawabshah in southeastern Pakistan providing a desperately needed equivalent of 4500 Megawatts of electricity.

In 2014 Washington sabotaged the project by essentially bribing the financially-strapped Pakistan government with $1.5 billion in Saudi money if she were to abandon the project. Washington threatened Pakistan with penalties were they to violate US economic sanctions on Iran. Washington, like Wall Street, prefers to use other peoples’ money to advance their agenda. A year later, the Saudi money spent, Pakistan has announced the pipeline project will now go ahead. Pakistan has quietly secured a $2 billion loan from… China. The Pakistan segment of the pipeline will be 485 miles, funded by a Chinese loan and construction would be undertaken by China’s CNPC state energy company. Iran has already completed its 560-mile segment of the pipeline.

Washington Scrambles to Sabotage

With the explosion of trans-national Eurasian economic linkages, rail and pipeline, Washington has realized it must react if they are not to be outflanked by the states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization—Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan.

Not only that, also in January 2015 Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia launched their Eurasian Economic Union with Kyrgyzstan planning to join. That’s the same economic union which Ukraine’s democratically-elected President Viktor Yanukovich opted to join rather than accept the paltry proposal of an EU Associate Membership status. Washington’s Assistant Secretary of State Viktoria Nuland and the usual gaggle of neoconservative warhawks launched the Maidan Square Twitter protests and the February 2014 coup d’etat partly to block that Ukraine move.

So it’s worth noting that in late March 2015, the Kyrgyz newspaper Delo No, reported that a mysterious Ukrainian aircraft delivered 150 tons of cargo with the status of “diplomatic mail” to the US Embassy in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek late last month. The status diplomatic mail meant it could not be inspected by Kyrgyz customs police. Apparently the US Embassy staff in Bishkek are furious letter writers.

The paper reported that the cargo was delivered during two separate flights by an AN-124 transport jet of the Ukrainian air carrier Antonov Avialinii between March 28 and March 30, and each time the plane was en route from the UAE capital Abu Dhabi to the Manas international airport. Hmmm.

It’s worth noting that in November 2013, the US Embassy in Kiev also received “diplomatic cargos” that were delivered by US Air Force transport aircraft. Former Ukrainian Security Service chief Alexander Yakimenko was quoted by Russia’s Vesti.ru news network as saying that the Kiev cargos included boxes with 60 million dollars in small bills that were distributed to protesters at Kiev’s Maidan Square during anti-government riots in late 2013—Victoria Nuland’s idea of democracy. Until April 2014 the US Government had maintained a strategic airbase at Manas in Kyrgyzstan totally immune from Kyrgyz inspection. Reports were rampant at the time that US military cargo laden with Afghan heroin landed there en route to Russia and the EU.

In November, 2014 Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) head, Nikolay Bordyuzha, accused the West of attempting to destabilize CSTO countries. The Collective Security Treaty Organization is a security alliance of former Soviet states, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan to cooperate in strategic issues amongst the member states.

Bordyuzha charged that activities of “NGO’s financed by Western Agents” have increased in the region. Bordyuzha accused the West of destabilizing the situation in the CSTO countries. As proof he cited a “disproportionate increase in the number of officials in Western embassies, especially those of the US as well as the activation of the work of the many NGOs financed by Western grants.” He noted that just before the launch of Washington’s Kiev coup d’etat, the number of US Embassy personnel in Kiev exploded to a staggering 1,500, that for a country whose only interest to Washington is to drive a wedge between Russia, China and the EU.

Then on February 5 this year, the US State Department announced that it had hauled out 78-year-old retired Color Revolution maker, Richard M. Miles, as “Charge d’Affaires ad Interim” at the US Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Miles was the point person behind the CIA “Rose Revolution” that fraudulently installed Washington’s hand-picked Mikhail Saakashvili as President of the Republic of Georgia as well as similar dirty operations in the 1990’s in Azerbaijan where BP and the US oil companies wanted to build an oil pipeline from Baku to Ceyhan via Georgia to avoid the existing Russian oil line running through Chechnya.

The appointment of Miles came at the same time US State Department Assistant Secretary, Victoria Nuland, the neoconservative former Dick Cheney assistant and ex NATO Ambassador who was key point person for the Kiev coup of 2014, travelled to the Southern Caucasus to visit the governments of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Washington clearly aims to wreak havoc in the form of Color Revolutions across Central Asia, in order to sabotage the rapidly-developing Eurasian economic developments. Kyrgyzstan is especially strategic to that aim as chaos there immediately threatens China, Russia and Kazakhstan economic cooperation.

We can expect a new wave of Washington-orchestrated Color Revolutions across Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia. It will likely also include Baluchistan in Pakistan where radical Jihadists, backed by the CIA, are being prepared to sabotage the Iran-Pakistan-China gas pipeline that passes through Baluchistan as well. It’s all a bit tiresome, but a Superpower in decay is not generally the most creative.

F. William Engdahl is strategic risk consultant and lecturer, he holds a degree in politics from Princeton University and is a best-selling author on oil and geopolitics, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
First appeared: http://journal-neo.org/2015/05/05/what-s-washington-doin-in-central-asia-now/

Zentralasien – Die neue Zielscheibe für die USA

F. William Engdahl

Seit der Zeit, als die CIA mehr als 100 Mudschahedin, islamische Gotteskrieger – unter ihnen ein fanatischer Saudi namens Osama bin Laden – für einen zehn Jahre währenden Stellvertreterkrieg gegen Einheiten der Sowjetarmee in Afghanistan bezahlte und ausbildete, ist Washington von der Idee besessen, weit nach Zentralasien vorzudringen, um einen Keil zwischen China und Russland zu treiben.

Ersten Versuchen während der Anwesenheit amerikanischer Truppen in Afghanistan nach dem 11. September 2001 war nur mäßiger Erfolg beschieden. Jetzt will es Washington offenbar erneut versuchen. US-Botschafter Richard M. Miles wurde sogar aus dem Ruhestand zurückgerufen, um eine neue Farbenrevolution in die Wege zu leiten.

Washington fühlt sich offenbar zu der neuen Konzentration auf Zentralasien gedrängt. Denn weit davon entfernt, sich den finanziellen Sanktionen der USA und der EU zu beugen, wirkt Russland dynamischer denn je und schließt allerorten strategisch wichtige Verträge über wirtschaftliche und militärische Zusammenarbeit ab. Und Russlands eurasischer Nachbar, die Volksrepublik China, präsentiert Pläne für den Bau von Öl- und Gaspipelines und Hochgeschwindigkeits-Eisenbahnverbindungen quer über den eurasischen Kontinent bis nach Russland. Darauf scheint Washington nun zu reagieren.

Das Problem der Neokonservativen in Washington liegt in ihrer mangelnden Kreativität, die Folgen ihres Vorgehens zu verstehen, genauer gesagt: Sie sind reichlich dumm. Und ihre Tricks sind inzwischen allgemein bekannt, nicht nur in Moskau, sondern auch in Usbekistan, Kirgistan und anderen ehemaligen zentralasiatischen Teilrepubliken der Sowjetunion.

Der kommende Wirtschaftsboom in Zentralasien

Die zentralasiatischen Republiken, insbesondere Kirgistan und Usbekistan, liegen strategisch wichtig zwischen China, Kasachstan und Russland. Das bedeutet: Sie liegen im Zentrum des zukünftigen Wirtschaftsbooms, der mit Chinas neuem Hochgeschwindigkeits-Eisenbahnnetz der Neuen Seidenstraße kommen wird. Durch diese Eisenbahnverbindungen entsteht eine hocheffiziente Überlandverbindung, die auch bei möglichen Unterbrechungen des Seeweges durch die USA offenstehen und in ganz Eurasien rapide wachsenden Handel ermöglichen –potenziell auch den Handel mit Europa, wenn die EU jemals den Mut aufbringt, sich Washington zu widersetzen.

Weiterlesen:

http://info.kopp-verlag.de/hintergruende/geostrategie/f-william-engdahl/zentralasien-die-neue-zielscheibe-fuer-die-usa.html

Sancties tegen Rusland treffen centraal Azië hard

Door: Henk Jurgens

Ex: http://www.doorbraak.be

Sancties tegen Rusland treffen centraal Azië hard

De Centraal-Aziatische republieken lijden zwaar onder het Europees embargo van Russische producten.

In Rusland werken miljoenen gastarbeiders uit de voormalige Sovjetrepublieken. Velen van hen zijn er illegaal. Allen sturen ze geld naar hun families thuis, veel geld. Volgens de Wereldbank hangt 21% van de Armeense economie, 31,5% van de economie van Kirgizië, 42% van de Tadzjiekse en 12% van de Oezbeekse economie af van deze geldzendingen. Veel van de arme gezinnen op het platteland zijn hiervan volledig afhankelijk.

Volgens The Guardian werken er 2,4 miljoen Oezbeken in Rusland. Zes tot zevenhonderdduizend zijn legaal, de anderen leven zonder geldige papieren. Oezbekistan heeft ongeveer 29 miljoen inwoners. The Moscow Times berichtte dat er in 2014 meer dan 200 000 illegale Tadzjieken door de Russen de grens zijn overgezet. Er wordt geschat dat er nog ruim een miljoen Tadzjieken in Rusland leven. Tadzjikistan heeft acht miljoen inwoners.

De exacte cijfers over de gastarbeiders zijn onbekend. Zoals overal op de wereld doen ook de gastarbeiders het werk dat de autochtonen niet willen doen. En nu het economisch slechter gaat als gevolg van de lage olieprijs en de sancties verdringen de Russen de gastarbeiders weer uit hun slecht betaald, ongeschoold werk. In het eerste kwartaal van 2015 is de Russische economie al met 2% gekrompen. De centrale bank van Rusland voorziet voor het jaar 2015 een economische krimp van 4%. Begin dit jaar heeft de Russische regering wetgeving afgekondigd waardoor het moeilijker wordt voor gastarbeiders van buiten de EEU om een verblijfsvergunning te krijgen. De EEU, de Euraziatische Economische Unie, is door Rusland opgericht om een vrijhandelszone tussen de voormalige Sovjetrepublieken, vergelijkbaar met die van de EU, te krijgen. Kazachstan, Wit-Rusland, Armenië en Kirgizië zijn lid, Oezbekistan en Tadzjikistan niet. Immigranten van buiten de EEU moeten voor ze een verblijfsvergunning krijgen eerst inburgeringcursussen volgen en examens afleggen in de Russische taal en de Russische geschiedenis. Verder betalen ze drie keer zoveel voor een werkvergunning in Moskou dan immigranten uit de EEU. In 2010 werkten 72% van de Tadzjiekse gastarbeiders in Moskou.

Als gevolg van de sancties tegen Rusland en de lage olieprijs is de Russische roebel gedevalueerd. Het naar huis gestuurde geld is daardoor minder waard. Niet alleen is er voor de gastarbeiders minder werk, hun inkomen daalde ook dramatisch. De Wereldbank verwacht dat ze in 2015 voor 10 miljard USD minder naar huis kunnen sturen. Volgens The Economist overweegt een kwart van de gastarbeiders om weer naar huis te gaan, maar thuis is er geen werk. De vrees voor sociale onrust als gevolg van werkloosheid en armoede is bij de politieke elite van de thuislanden groot.

Een land als Tadzjikistan staat onder grote politieke druk vanuit Moskou om lid van de EEU te worden. Door de devaluaties van de roebel is de somoni, de Tadzjiekse munt, ten opzichte van de roebel 35% meer waard geworden. De export naar Rusland staat daardoor onder grote druk.
Ook Oezbekistan overweegt, volgens The Diplomat, zich bij de EEU aan te sluiten. Het land was een belangrijke partner voor de Verenigde Staten tijdens hun oorlog in Afghanistan maar nu Amerika zich uit Afghanistan terug trekt vervalt de noodzaak hun bevoorrading via Oezbekistan te laten lopen.

Kirgizië is inmiddels tot de EEU toegetreden. Het is een klein, arm land met 5,5 miljoen inwoners. Volgens The Diplomat controleert Rusland de economie van Kirgizistan. Buiten de Vallei van Fergana, de vallei tussen Kirgizië, Oezbekistan en Tadzjikistan, met zijn vruchtbare landbouwgronden is er weinig economische activiteit. Alleen de toeristenindustrie is een beetje in opkomst zoals ik tijdens mijn verjaardag in 2009 in Bishkek, de hoofdstad, heb mogen ervaren.

Net als in Turkmenistan en Oezbekistan hangt ook de export van de Kazachse olie en gas af van Russische pijpleidingen. Kazachstan heeft nauwe economische banden met Rusland. In 2013 bedroeg de Russische export naar Kazachstan 17,7 miljard USD en de Kazachse export naar Rusland $5,8 miljard. Afgelopen jaar is de handel met Rusland echter met 20% afgenomen. Het land heeft vooral veel last van goedkope Russische producten die de markt overspoelen. In februari vroegen ondernemers de regering de import van een aantal Russische producten, waaronder auto's, voedsel en fruit drastisch te beperken. Goedkope Russische producten verdringen de Kazachse. De Tenge, de Kazachse munt, is het afgelopen jaar met 20% ten opzichte van de US dollar gedevalueerd maar de roebel devalueerde nog veel meer. Een roebel was in juni 2014 nog 5,44 tenge waard, begin 2015 was dit gedaald tot 3 tenge.

Het Amerikaanse ratingbureau Standard & Poor verwacht dat het bruto nationaal product van Kazachstan in 2015 met 1,5% zal dalen. Dit komt voornamelijk door de lage olieprijzen. Ruim 20% van het bnp en ruim 60% van de export komt voor rekening van de olie- en gasindustrie. De Kazachse begroting gaat uit van een olieprijs van 80 USD per vat. Op het ogenblik ligt dit rond de $60. Het land zit dan ook door de sancties tegen Rusland en de lage olie- en gasprijs op de wereldmarkt in grote economische problemen. Het is dan ook geen wonder dat president Nazarbaev samen met Lukashenko, de president van Wit-Rusland, er alles aan doet om de burgeroorlog in de Oekraïne te beëindigen en daardoor de sancties tegen Rusland te laten opheffen. Afgelopen december sloot hij een contract met Kiev om Kazachse steenkool aan Oekraïne te gaan leveren. Ook de Minsk-akkoorden die min of meer tot een staakt-het-vuren in Oost Oekraïne hebben geleid zijn na bemiddeling van de beide presidenten tot stand gekomen.

Er zijn berichten dat ook ambassadeurs van de Europese Unie met Russische parlementariërs gaan praten over een mogelijke beëindiging van de sancties. Om de burgeroorlog in de Oekraïne definitief te beëindigen is een dialoog met Rusland noodzakelijk. Ook de NAVO-top die jarenlang in het geheim met de Russische militairen in gesprek was moet weer met de Russen gaan praten. Het is onverantwoord dat deze discussies zijn stil gevallen.
Natuurlijk moeten de Russen zich uiteindelijk uit Oost-Oekraïne terug trekken, maar dat geldt ook voor de ruim duizend Amerikaanse trainers en waarnemers die het leger van Kiev 'adviseren'.

Voor de arme gezinnen op het platteland van Centraal-Azië is beëindiging van de sancties tegen Rusland op kort termijn noodzakelijk.

 

Nazarbaev rieletto Presidente del Kazakhstan: significato e reinterpretazioni

Nazarbaev rieletto Presidente del Kazakhstan: significato e reinterpretazioni

Dal nostro corrispondente ad Astana Dario Citati, Direttore del Programma “Eurasia” dell’IsAG

Ex: http://www.geopolitica-rivista.org

Le quinte elezioni presidenziali nella storia del Kazakhstan indipendente, tenutesi domenica 26 aprile 2015, si sono concluse con l’ampiamente prevista vittoria del Presidente uscente Nursultan Nazarbaev, che guida lo Stato centroasiatico dal 1991, anno in cui il Paese ottenne la piena sovranità dopo la dissoluzione dell’Unione Sovietica. Il verdetto delle urne è risultato un autentico plebiscito, con il 97,7% delle preferenze che hanno premiato Nazarbaev. I due avversari, il candidato “verde” Abelgazi Kussainov e Tunguz Syzdykov del Partito Comunista del Popolo, hanno raccolto rispettivamente l’1,6% e lo 0,7%.

Prima ancora delle valutazioni sul significato di tali percentuali – cioè nei briefing e nelle conferenze stampa tenutesi nella giornata del voto quando non si conoscevano i risultati definitivi – molti degli osservatori internazionali hanno tenuto a sottolineare la piena regolarità procedurale del voto. Per l’Italia erano presenti, in qualità di osservatori OSCE, il Sen. Sergio Divina e l’On. Riccardo Migliori, Presidente emerito dell’Assemblea Interparlamentare OSCE. Entrambi hanno affermato che le operazioni di voto si sono svolte con trasparenza, in un clima di elevata partecipazione ai seggi e quasi di “festa nazionale”. Il Segretario Generale dell’Organizzazione per la Cooperazione di Shangai, Sergej Mezencev, ha parimenti confermato la regolarità delle operazioni di voto in tutti i seggi visitati.

Per quanto attiene invece al significato politico della tornata elettorale, nonché al livello di democratizzazione del Paese, altri osservatori indipendenti hanno fornito elementi importanti di valutazione. Secondo Richard Weitz dello Hudson Institute di Washington, ad esempio, “le elezioni del 2015 confermano che in Kazakhstan gli istituti di rappresentanza si sviluppano positivamente”. Per comprendere l’enorme divario di percentuali tra il vincitore e gli sconfitti, ha quindi sostenuto che “la qualità intrinseca delle elezioni non può essere valutata in base ai criteri europeo-occidentali, perché simili paragoni indurrebbero a un giudizio sbagliato sugli sforzi del Paese nell’implementazione delle proprie riforme: queste ultime vanno invece valutate alla luce dell’eredità storica del Kazakhstan, nonché del suo livello di sviluppo sociale”.

Anche un altro osservatore occidentale, Daniel Witt, ha affermato che “il giudizio sulla qualità democratica delle elezioni non si può basare solo sulla descrizione di un singolo evento”, in quanto “gli appuntamenti elettorali sono un processo continuo di perfezionamento, da condurre attraverso la comparazione tra le elezioni di oggi e quelle del passato, per verificare il progresso raggiunto a ogni tornata elettorale”.

In base a questi giudizi si può affermare che il senso politico di queste elezioni presidenziali del 2015 sta soprattutto in un test di fiducia della popolazione verso lo stesso Nursultan Nazarbaev, l’uomo che incarna il destino stesso del Kazakhstan indipendente. Un test che avviene peraltro in un momento delicato di transizione, segnato da uno scenario geopolitico molto teso su cui influiscono la stessa crisi ucraina e le sanzioni in Russia che hanno avuto ripercussioni anche sul mercato kazako. D’altra parte, queste elezioni presidenziali avrebbero dovuto tenersi nel 2016, ma sono state anticipate al 2015 sia per evitare la sovrapposizione con le elezioni parlamentari, sia per consentire una programmazione più sistematica per iniziative di grande rilievo nel futuro prossimo come l’Expo2017.

Si è soliti affermare che per un Paese come il Kazakhstan, ventiquattro anni dopo l’ottenimento dell’indipendenza, la stabilità e la garanzia di uno sviluppo pacifico sono ancora oggi più importanti di una concezione della democrazia all’occidentale, segnata cioè dal multipartitismo e dall’assenza di una figura personale carismatica. Ciò è senz’altro plausibile: al momento dello scioglimento dell’URSS, il Kazakhstan era considerato fra i Paesi più a rischio implosione e caos. Il suo percorso di stabilizzazione interna, nonché l’apertura alle organizzazioni e alla cooperazione internazionale sono in genere unanimemente riconosciuti come positivi, se valutati in base alle condizioni di partenza, e restano un elemento imprescindibile per comprendere le ragioni di un consenso così vasto per Nazarbaev.

Ma c’è un fattore non meno rilevante per collocare in un’ottica più vasta il senso di queste elezioni. Forse più di qualsiasi altro Paese ex sovietico, il Kazakhstan è riuscito a diminuire significativamente la presenza nello Stato nell’economia e a favorire la libertà d’impresa privata (a livello di piccola e media imprenditoria e senza liberalizzazioni “traumatiche”), spesso in tempi rapidissimi. Vale la pena ricordare che solo tra il 2012 e il 2013 esso è passato dal 71° al 51° posto tra i Paesi a maggiore competitività economica nell’annuale classifica mondiale stilata dal World Economic Forum e ancora oggi è indicizzato come un Paese estremamente conveniente per esportazioni e investimenti.

È ben noto quanto, nelle società contemporanee, la concorrenza economica e la libertà d’impresa siano strettamente legate allo sviluppo della democrazia e della competizione politica. La modernizzazione di questa repubblica centroasiatica è cominciata soprattutto a partire dalla graduale concessione delle libertà economiche dopo settant’anni di monopolio di Stato. La riconferma di Nazarbaev può essere letta quindi anche come un riconoscimento per l’aumento di tali libertà, a cui la generazione nata e cresciuta nel Kazakhstan indipendente dovrà far seguire un consequenziale sviluppo politico e civile.

Quand la Nouvelle Route de la Soie rencontre l'Union eurasienne

Quand la Nouvelle Route de la Soie rencontre l'Union eurasienne

Auteur : Pepe Escobar

Ex: http://zejournal.mobi

Tous les rêves des exceptionnalistes qui prient pour que la Russie et la Chine abandonnent leur solide partenariat stratégique gagnant-gagnant, entièrement conçu pour leurs intérêts nationaux communs, ont été dissipés par la visite cruciale à Moscou du ministre chinois des Affaires étrangères Wang Yi.

A Moscou, Wang a souligné à la fois la politique Look East de la Russie et celle de la Chine Go West – qui englobent essentiellement l'immense projet de Nouvelles Routes de la Soie – disant que ce projet « a créé des opportunités historiques pour l'amarrage des stratégies de développement des deux pays. »

Ils sont entièrement en phase. Look East, la stratégie de la Russie, ne concerne pas seulement la Chine, mais au moins autant l'intégration eurasienne que les routes de la soie de la Chine Nouvelle, car Moscou en a besoin pour développer la Sibérie orientale et l'Extrême-Orient russe.

Le partenariat stratégique, en perpétuelle évolution n'englobe pas seulement l'énergie, y compris la possibilité d'investissements chinois dans des projets cruciaux de pétrole et de gaz russes, mais aussi l'industrie de la défense ; il est de plus en plus question d'investissement, de banque, de finance et de haute technologie.

La portée du partenariat est extrêmement large, de la coopération Russie-Chine au sein de l'Organisation de coopération de Shanghai (OCS) au rôle de la Russie et de la Chine dans la nouvelle banque de développement BRICS, et du soutien de la Russie à l'infrastructure chinoise dirigée par la Banque asiatique d'investissement (AIIB) et la Fondation de la Route de la Soie.

Pékin et Moscou, avec les autres nations du BRICS, se dirigent rapidement vers un commerce débarrassé du rôle du dollar US, en utilisant leurs propres monnaies. En parallèle, ils étudient la création d'un système SWIFT de remplacement – qui sera nécessairement rejoint par les pays de l'UE, comme ils se joignent à l'AIIB ; car si en théorie l'Allemagne pourrait se permettre de perdre son commerce avec la Russie en raison de la politique de sanctions de Berlin – au grand mécontentement des industriels allemands –, elle ne peut tout simplement pas se passer de l'énergie russe. Et pour l'Allemagne, perdre le commerce avec la Chine est totalement impensable.

Le Trans-Siberian boosté aux stéroïdes

Deux jours après sa visite à Moscou, Wang est allé jusqu'à rencontrer le ministre des Affaires étrangères de Mongolie Lundeg Purevsuren, soulignant que la Nouvelle Route de la Soie développera une nouvelle plate-forme, un corridor économique trilatéral reliant la Russie, la Chine et la Mongolie.

Ce à quoi Wang faisait allusion est le corridor de transport eurasien prévu – qui mettra en vedette, un chemin de fer flambant neuf haute vitesse Trans-Siberian de $278 milliards reliant Moscou à Pékin, en seulement 48 heures, avec toutes les escales intermédiaires.

Il était donc inexorable que Wang lui-même assemble les pièces du puzzle que Washington refuse de voir : « La construction du corridor économique Chine-Russie-Mongolie relierait la Ceinture économique de la Route de la Soie en Chine au plan ferroviaire transcontinental de la Russie et au programme de la Route de la Prairie en Mongolie. »

Ce que nous avons ici avant tout, c'est la Nouvelle Route de la Soie, qui établit une connexion directe entre la Chine et l'Union économique Russie-Eurasie-(EEU). La Chine et l'EEU sont tenues de mettre en place une zone de libre-échange. Rien de plus naturel en pratique, car il s'agit du sujet de l'intégration eurasienne. Les détails seront entièrement discutés lorsque le président chinois Xi Jinping ira en visite à Moscou le mois prochain, et au Forum économique de Saint-Pétersbourg en juin.

La connexion IP chinoise

La politique chinoise à couper le souffle du Go West débloque enfin aussi un défi clé du Pipelineistan dans la Nouvelle Route de la Soie ; le gazoduc Iran-Pakistan (IP), qui à l'origine incluait l'Inde, était sans relâche harcelé par les deux administrations Bush et Obama et bloqué par les sanctions américaines.

Le tronçon iranien de 900 km, jusqu'à la frontière pakistanaise, est déjà terminé. Ce qui reste – 780 km, coût $2 milliards – sera essentiellement financé par Pékin, le travail technique étant effectué par une filiale de la CNPC. Le Président Xi va annoncer l'accord à Islamabad ce mois-ci.

Donc, ce que nous avons ici, c'est une Chine qui intervient activement, dans le style gagnant-gagnant, afin de mettre en place un cordon ombilical d'acier entre l'Iran et le Pakistan, pour le transport de gaz, avant même que les sanctions sur l'Iran soient levées, progressivement ou non. Appelez cela l'esprit d'entreprise des Nouvelles Routes de la soie en action – chapitre Asie du Sud.

Bien sûr, il y a aussi des avantages innombrables pour Pékin. L'Iran est déjà une question de sécurité nationale pour la Chine – en tant que premier fournisseur de pétrole et de gaz. Le pipeline passera par Gwadar, le port stratégique de l'océan Indien, déjà sous gestion chinoise. Le gaz pourra alors être expédié en Chine par la mer ou – mieux encore – un nouveau pipeline de Gwadar au Xinjiang, parallèle à l'autoroute du Karakoram, pourrait être construit au cours des prochaines années, contournant ainsi le détroit de Malacca, qui est un objectif crucial de la stratégie de diversification énergétique complexe de la Chine.

Et puis il y a l'Afghanistan – qui, du point de vue de Pékin s'inscrit dans le projet de la Nouvelle Route de la Soie en tant que corridor de ressources entre le Sud et l'Asie centrale.

Pékin veut idéalement investir dans le développement des infrastructures de l'Afghanistan pour accéder à ses ressources et consolider encore une autre tête de pont du Xinjiang à l'Asie centrale et plus loin vers le Moyen-Orient. Les produits fabriqués en Chine doivent actuellement passer par le Pakistan pour être exportés vers l'Afghanistan .

CNPC et la China Metallurgical Group Corp. sont déjà en Afghanistan, par le biais d'investissements dans le bassin pétrolifère de l'Amou-Daria et dans l »énorme mine de cuivre d'Anyak. C'est pas simple, mais c'est un début. La Russie et la Chine membres de la SCO ont grand besoin d'un Afghanistan stable, mûr pour le business à la fois dans la Nouvelle Route de la Soie et dans l'EEU. La question clé est de savoir comment satisfaire les talibans. Certes, en n'appliquant pas les méthodes de Washington.

Pendant ce temps, la proposition du Pentagone, pour ce que son nouveau chef Ash Carter décrit dédaigneusement comme cette partie du monde, est de déployer – devinez quoi – de nouvelles armes qui vont du système de défense antimissile THAAD encore en production, jusqu'aux derniers bombardiers furtifs en passant par les les unités spécialisée dans la cyber-guerre. La coopération économique eurasienne ? On oublie. Pour le Pentagone et l'Otan – qui, soit dit en passant, ont récemment perdu une guerre de treize ans contre les talibans – la coopération économique est pour les poules mouillées.

- Source : Pepe Escobar

Turkmenistan and the Geopolitical Tightrope between Russia/Iran and NATO/EU Powers

Turkmenistan and the Geopolitical Tightrope between Russia/Iran and NATO/EU Powers

Nuray Lydia Oglu, Hiroshi Saito and Lee Jay Walker

Ex: http://moderntokyotimes.com

The nation of Turkmenistan is of major geopolitical significance because of its shared borders with Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Of equal significance is the coastal area that links Turkmenistan to the Caspian Sea; thereby sharing a potent area with Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. This reality means that current strains between the Russian Federation and NATO/European Union powers can be felt within important geopolitical decisions that Turkmenistan needs to make. However, the one biding factor prior to the recent clash between Moscow and Washington was the need to remain neutral when applicable.

Energy politics, NATO encroachment, tensions between Iran and Turkey over Syria – and elements of distrust between Tehran and Washington – adds further complexity to an already complex issue. On top of this, Iran is worried by Turkey’s role in being a transit for Takfiri sectarian terrorists against Syria, with the knock on effect being further destabilization in Iraq.

Also, the crisis in Afghanistan remains up in the air. Therefore, Turkmenistan is worried about the growing menace of Takfiri forces, the possible menace of ISIS (IS – Islamic State), political Islam undermining indigenous Islam, and if Iraq is anything to go by – after America and allies pulled out – then the possible reality of new destabilization in Afghanistan. These important factors, and others, mean that Turkmenistan is increasingly feeling the global tensions that persist.

In the area of energy politics it is clear that the European Union (EU), Azerbaijan and Turkey have a different objective compared to Iran and the Russian Federation. This reality is clearly visible when viewing the Trans-Caspian Pipeline (TCP) because Moscow and Tehran oppose the TCP based on geopolitical and economic factors. Despite this, the EU, Azerbaijan and Turkey have made positive overtures that include areas outside of the TCP. Therefore, Turkmenistan needs to weigh up the TCP carefully given the geopolitical importance of energy politics alongside other important factors.

Zaur Shiriyev at The Jamestown Foundation states: “From Turkmenistan’s point of view, Gazprom’s declaration that it would cut its imports by nearly two-thirds—to 4 billion cubic meters (bcm)—has serious implications. The Russian financial crisis and decline in oil prices has had a direct impact on Turkmenistan’s internal market; notably, it has devalued its currency by 19 percent versus the dollar (Hurriyet Daily News, February 17). These various factors have strengthened Ashgabat’s motivations for seeking alternative markets for its gas. But Turkmenistan’s traditional approach to pipeline politics—that of “zero financial burden, hundred percent effectiveness”—remains unchanged, and so Ashgabat is interested in exporting to markets through existing pipelines or where there are opportunities for expansion, like with the China route. Despite Ashgabat’s dissatisfaction with Gazprom’s decision to cut gas imports, after twenty years of neutrality, Turkmenistan’s approach is unlikely to change; it will almost certainly maintain political sensitivity in its approach toward Moscow. This is particularly important given the broader atmosphere of confrontation between Russia and the West. Ashgabat is highly unlikely to actively support the European Union’s energy diversification strategy, as this would contradict the strongly business-based approach of the Turkmenistani leadership toward gas politics.”

The situation in Afghanistan and the rise of Takfiri Salafi forces in several nations is also worrying the political elites in Turkmenistan. Not only this, the murky role of NATO Turkey being an open conduit for several terrorist and sectarian forces against Syria also complicates the positive hand being plied by Ankara. Also, if NATO powers and allies can create a political vacuum in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya and then leave, then how trustworthy are NATO powers in being a genuine partner in the fight against terrorism? Indeed, even political elites in Washington are questioning the current Erdogan government in Turkey therefore divisions within NATO clearly exist.

Turkmenistan refrained from joining the Collective Security Treaty Organization and clearly the Russian Federation must be disappointed by this reality. Of equal significance is the fact that Turkmenistan is only “a guest” of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization despite the powerful geopolitical significance of this organization. However, the decreasing role of America and NATO within Afghanistan may lead to Turkmenistan focusing more strongly on the Russian Federation, China and Iran.

It is abundantly clear that Turkmenistan prefers the geopolitical status quo but this may hinder the economic growth of this nation. Also, the growing menace of terrorism, Islamist indoctrination and the threat of greater destabilization in Afghanistan may lead to Turkmenistan to look towards the Russian Federation and Iran.

After all, it is abundantly clear that in Iraq it is Iranian military forces that are on the ground and helping the central government of this nation. This fact highlights the current weakness of the Obama administration in America. Therefore, while Turkmenistan doesn’t want to take sides, it is equally true that America is losing its influence in Afghanistan and Iraq respectively. However, for Turkmenistan, the economic equation is also of equal significance therefore the political tightrope will remain until brave decisions are taken by this nation.

http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=43646&tx_ttnews[backPid]=7&cHash=a79ddb4bdb31ed4e48c3832c0a85ced8#.VQXtNGb6nLU

 

 

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How Washington will fan the flames of chaos in Central Asia

Three fronts for Russia: How Washington will fan the flames of chaos in Central Asia

by Ivan Lizan for Odnako

Source: http://www.odnako.org/blogs/tri-fronta-dlya-rossii-kak-vashington-razduet-plamya-haosa-v-sredney-azii/

Translated by Robin

Ex: http://www.vineyardsaker.blogspot.com

U.S. Gen. “Ben” Hodges’ statement that within four or five years Russia could develop the capability to wage war simultaneously on three fronts is not only an acknowledgment of the Russian Federation’s growing military potential but also a promise that Washington will obligingly ensure that all three fronts are right on the borders of the Russian Federation.

In the context of China’s inevitable rise and the soon-to-worsen financial crisis, with the concomitant bursting of asset bubbles, the only way for the United States to maintain its global hegemony is to weaken its opponents. And the only way to achieve that goal is to trigger chaos in the republics bordering Russia.

That is why Russia will inevitably enter a period of conflicts and crises on its borders.

And so the first front in fact already exists in the Ukraine, the second will most likely be between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, and the third, of course, will be opened in Central Asia.

If the war in Ukraine leads to millions of refugees, tens of thousands of deaths, and the destruction of cities, defrosting the Karabakh conflict will completely undermine Russia’s entire foreign policy in the Caucasus.

Every city in Central Asia is under threat of explosions and attacks. So far this “up-and-coming front” has attracted the least media coverage – Novorossiya dominates on national television channels, in newspapers, and on websites –, but this theater of war could become one of the most complex after the conflict in the Ukraine.

A subsidiary of the Caliphate under Russia’s belly

The indisputable trend in Afghanistan – and the key source of instability in the region – is to an alliance between the Taliban and the Islamic State. Even so, the formation of their union is in its early days, references to it are scarce and fragmentary, and the true scale of the activities of the IS emissaries is unclear, like an iceberg whose tip barely shows above the surface of the water.

But it has been established that IS agitators are active in Pakistan and in Afghanistan’s southern provinces, which are controlled by the Taliban. But, in this case, the first victim of chaos in Afghanistan is Pakistan, which at the insistence of, and with help from, the United States nurtured the Taliban in the 1980s. That project has taken on a life of its own and is a recurring nightmare for Islamabad, which has decided to establish a friendlier relationship China and Russia. This trend can be seen in the Taliban’s attacks on Pakistani schools, whose teachers now have the right to carry guns, regular arrests of terrorists in the major cities, and the start of activities in support of tribes hostile to the Taliban in the north.

The latest legislative development in Pakistan is a constitutional amendment to expand military court jurisdiction [over civilians]. Throughout the country, terrorists, Islamists and their sympathizers are being detained. In the northwest alone, more than 8,000 arrests have been made, including members of the clergy. Religious organizations have been banned and IS emissaries are being caught.

Since the Americans do not like putting all their eggs in one basket, they will provide support to the government in Kabul, which will allow them to remain in the country legitimately, and at the same time to the Taliban, which is transforming itself into IS. The outcome will be a state of chaos in which the Americans will not formally take part; instead, they will sit back on their military bases, waiting to see who wins. And then Washington will provide assistance to the victor. Note that its security services have been supporting the Taliban for a long time and quite effectively: some of the official security forces and police in Afghanistan are former Taliban and Mujahideen.

Method of destruction

The first way to destabilize Central Asia is to create problems on the borders, along with the threat that Mujahideen will penetrate the region. The testing of the neighbours has already started; problems have arisen in Turkmenistan, which has even had to ask Kabul to hold large-scale military operations in the border provinces. Tajikistan has forced the Taliban to negotiate the release of the border guards it abducted, and the Tajik border service reports that there is a large group of Mujahideen on its borders.

In general, all the countries bordering Afghanistan have stepped up their border security.

The second way is to send Islamists behind the lines. The process has already begun: the number of extremists in Tajikistan alone grew three-fold last year; however, even though they are being caught, it obviously will not be feasible to catch all of them. Furthermore, the situation is aggravated by the return of migrant workers from Russia, which will expand the recruiting base. If the stream of remittances from Russia dries up, the outcome may be popular discontent and managed riots.

Kyrgyz expert Kadir Malikov reports that $70 million has been allocated to the IS military group Maverenahr, which includes representatives of all the Central Asian republics, to carry out acts of terrorism in the region. Special emphasis is placed on the Fergana Valley as the heart of Central Asia.

Another point of vulnerability is Kyrgyzstan’s parliamentary elections, scheduled for this fall. The initiation of a new set of color revolutions will lead to chaos and the disintegration of countries.

Self-supporting wars

Waging war is expensive, so the destabilization of the region must be self-supporting or at least profitable for the U.S. military-industrial complex. And in this area Washington has had some success: it has given Uzbekistan 328 armored vehicles that Kiev had requested for its war with Novorossiya. At first glance, the deal isn’t profitable because the machines were a gift, but in reality Uzbekistan will be tied to U.S. spare parts and ammunition. Washington made a similar decision on the transfer of equipment and weapons to Islamabad.

But the United States has not been successful in its attempts to impose its weapons systems on India: the Indians have not signed any contracts, and Obama was shown Russian military hardware when he attended a military parade.

Thus the United States is drawing the countries in the region into war with its own protégés – the Taliban and Islamic State – and at the same time is supplying its enemies with weapons.

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So 2015 will be marked by preparations for widespread destabilization in Central Asia and the transformation of AfPak into an Islamic State subsidiary on the borders of Russia, India, China, and Iran. The start of full-scale war, which will inevitably follow once chaos engulfs the region, will lead to a bloodbath in the “Eurasian Balkans,” automatically involving more than a third of the world’s population and almost all the United States’ geopolitical rivals. It’s an opportunity Washington will find too good to miss.

Russia’s response to this challenge has to be multifaceted: involving the region in the process of Eurasian integration, providing military, economic, and political assistance, working closely with its allies in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS, strengthening the Pakistani army, and of course assisting with the capture of the bearded servants of the Caliphate.

But the most important response should be the accelerated modernization of its armed forces as well as those of its allies and efforts to strengthen the Collective Security Treaty Organization and give it the right to circumvent the highly inefficient United Nations.

The region is extremely important: if Ukraine is a fuse of war, then Central Asia is a munitions depot. If it blows up, half the continent will be hit.