Tariq Saeedi
Ashgabat, 10 December (nCa) — Leaving Putin at the centre of CIS picture, let’s shift the focus for awhile to the security aspects of the summit.
Of the 20 documents signed after the summit, the following 7 are related to some aspects of security:
- Agreement on creation of council of financial intelligence agencies of CIS states
- Agreement on cooperation in anti-terrorism units at the military and law enforcement educational establishments of CIS states
- Agreement on cooperation in combating terrorism and violent manifestations of extremism, including cooperation in technical equipment in anti-terrorism and anti-extremism activities
- Decision on development of united CIS air defence system
- Decision on activities plan in frames of Regulations on assistance cooperation between CIS border agencies in the case of settlement of crisis at external borders, approved on 5 October 2007
- Decision on Chief of CIS Antiterrorist Center
- Decision on Chairman of Coordinating Board on air defence at CIS Ministers of defence Council
These documents cover the following areas:
- Financial intelligence
- Anti-terrorism cooperation
- Air defence cooperation
- Border management cooperation
Creation of financial intelligence agencies through a CIS-wide agreement means that at some stage these agencies would enter into exchange of intelligence. This can be a double edged knife; on one hand it can serve to plug the holes in the financial system and meet the international obligations and on the other hand it can be used as an instrument to scare the people who are on the wrong side of a particular regime at any given time.
The anti-terror cooperation, as some signs are visible already, can also be a way to silence or intimidate the people whose views or actions are not to the liking of the sitting regime.
The air defence and border management cooperation agreements are possibly the extension flanks for the post-2014 scenario.
The pattern that emerges is that CIS and SCO are moving toward a convergence of mandates. This would possibly lead to at least their de facto merger, resulting in the most powerful apparatus for economic and security cooperation.
Probably mindful of this likelihood, the USA and its camp followers are diligently digging a tunnel across the CIS space. The Caucasus shoulder of CIS is already going cold. Moldova and Azerbaijan sent their prime ministers for the CIS Summit. Georgia is not a member. Efforts are underway to alienate and isolate Turkmenistan from its three vital partners: Russia, China and Iran.
The hard fact is that CIS is wholly viable without Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan. Their absence, in fact, would speed up the process of economic integration.
The other hard fact is that CIS and SCO are destined to increasingly collaborate with each other.
Nature not only abhors vacuum, it also triggers processes to fill the vacuum.
The morally and legally unjustifiable sanctions against Iran, the blatant war on Syria, the policies based on the zero sum game have all created huge vacuum in the Eurasian landmass, including Central Asia.
The most indebted country in the world has the most powerful army in the world. The world economy is held hostage by the most corrupt Wall Street sharks. The biggest military alliance in the world has the blood of innocent women and children on its hands.
These are some of the many bubbles of vacuum around the world.
Russia and China, whether they like it or not, will be required to fill this vacuum. CIS and SCO are ready tools in their hands.
We will conclude this series with two questions and we shall try to answer these questions in the ongoing series ‘Shifting Sands’:
- Why is it necessary to create a transportation corridor between Europe and Afghanistan, bypassing Russia and Pakistan?
- Why is it necessary to build the Trans-Caspian pipeline when it cannot be of any significant value for the energy security of Europe?
CONCLUDED.