Even as Russo-American tensions smolder from Eastern Europe and Central Asia to the Arctic seabed, the secretary of state is denying the onset of a renewed Cold War. Yet, unmistakable signals of a counter-balancing effort by Russia and China were sent last month through the largest-ever war games of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (S.C.O.), a six-nation anti-United States alliance.
Some 6,000 troops from Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan engaged in complex joint military maneuvers in Russia's Urals and China's Sinkiang, solidifying a phalanx that purports to be Eurasia's answer to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
A notable absentee at the exercises was India, which has not applied for full membership of the S.C.O. despite Russia's entreaties that its entry would "lead to stability and security in Asia." The post-games summit meeting of the S.C.O. in Bishkek was attended by heads of states of three observer countries (Iran, Pakistan, and Mongolia), but India, a co-equal, could not depute anyone higher in rank than a petroleum minister. The foreign minister was apparently busy allaying leftist fears of a sell-out on the India-United States nuclear agreement. Such prioritization indicates that India sees potential only for energy deals, not strategic partnership, in the S.C.O. |