The Tehran-Moscow-Beijing Axis has convened in Shanghai this week. Their, the leaders of China, Russia and Iran are meeting under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which is composed of several Asian nations, many of which are tyrannical regimes like Iran. Summit officials contend the gathering is designed to promote stability and economic cooperation in the region, but this is a pretense as evident by the presence of so many hard-line tyrants like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

While both Russia and China claim to support efforts to end Iran’s uranium enrichment activities, such claims are little more than pandering to the West, indeed the exact opposite is true. China and Russia would do nothing to restrict Iran’s nuclear ambitions, China cares only for oil and having Iran as a strategic partner ensures a steady supply of petroleum for the Middle Kingdom. Russia, on the other hand sees Iran as a valuable economic partner, who is quite interested and willing to purchase advanced weapons system. Both China and Russia have supplied Iran with valuable technological assets which have led to the current nuclear standoff with the Islamic Republic in the first place, to believe that Russia and China will now back peddle on this issue is foolhardy.

It is clear that China and Russia view the SCO as the 21st century’s answer to the Warsaw Pact with a coalition of Asian nations designed primarily to counteract the west, specifically the United States. China, however, not Russia, will clearly dominate this new Warsaw Pact. To this end, China has used dollar diplomacy with expert skill to win allies and gain access (perhaps exclusive access) to natural resources around the globe as China’s economy continues to expand, lending credence to fears that China is adopting a mercantilist foreign policy. Meanwhile the ineptitude of the Bush administration knows no bounds, as its foreign policy experts [sic] seem powerless to pose a serious challenge to this emerging Asian hegemon.

Clearly US policymakers are aware what’s going on, US officials have not hesitated to criticize the summit’s host for allowing Iran to participate. Unfortunately, US officials are in no position to criticize, given a foreign policy strategy run amok with the never ending war in Iraq, which should have long since been turned over to Iraqis, the ongoing dependence on foreign oil, and never ending trade imbalances and the complete failure of efforts to expand free trade in the Americas and Asia. The US is very much in need of a regime change, unfortunately the alternative is far worse, a leftist administration under Kerry or Hillary Clinton would leave the US in a dire position to be sure.

If America and its western allies aren’t careful, we may soon awaken to new era of mercantilism and authoritarian expansion under the guise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,1798323,00.html