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Moscow, China and the rise of the Eurasian Empire   June 25, 2002

International News Analysis Today Special Report
By Toby Westerman
© 2002 International News Analysis Today
www.inatoday.com

From Eastern Europe to the Pacific Ocean, the Arctic Circle to the Indian Ocean, a new economic, trading, and military power is arising, which has no equal in history.

This vast land mass possesses at least as much oil and gas as the Persian Gulf, as well as large deposits of gold, diamonds, and other precious minerals.

The components of this empire include the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Union State of Russia and Belarus, the Shanghai Cooperative Organization (SCO), and a maze of bilateral treaties and agreements.

The CIS is the successor entity to the defunct Soviet Union, and has as its members all of the former Soviet republics, with the exception of the Baltic States of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. The Union State of Russia and Belarus at present comprises only the named members, but other states are considering joining, including Moldova and Ukraine in Eastern Europe, and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia.

The members of the SCO include Russia, China, and the Central Asian states of Kazahstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, but membership remains open, and could one day include India.

The emerging Eurasian empire is bound together by agreements in military and technological assistance, oil and gas transport, and the development of a new "silk route" linking Asia and Europe.

Moscow maintains a senior position in the CIS, the Union State of Russia and Belarus and the SCO, by virtue of its treaties of economic and military assistance to each of the organization's member states.

Although the United States now recognizes the Russian Federation as having a "a market economy," no nation in the Eurasian super state has a truly free press, and all are controlled by a single, powerful figure at the head of the government, with little real opposition.

The political ideology of the Eurasian empire is framed by two states at opposite ends of the landmass - Belarus in Eastern Europe and China in the Far East.

Belarus is dominated by its President Alexander Lukashenko, an admirer of Josef Stalin and an advocate of the resurgence of the Soviet Union. Political opponents regularly disappear or flee into exile, while Lukashenko is suspected of involvement in political murder.

China remains firmly in the grip of the Chinese Communist Party, with the nation's central government consistently accused of human rights violations.

In the center of the Eurasian landmass is the sprawling Russian Federation, led by its President, Vladimir Putin. Although Putin is no longer a member of the Communist Party - he stated that he put his Party card in his dresser drawer - his government is overseeing a rehabilitation of the image of the former Soviet espionage services.

Earlier this year Putin permitted the KGB's domestic successor, the FSB, to issue a calendar depicting the location area around the intelligence services headquarters as it was during the Soviet era, complete with Soviet holidays and the intact statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the first communist spy organization.

As the Soviet Union collapsed, an angry mob toppled the Dzerzhinsky statue off its pedestal.

Despite his fellow citizens' fear and disgust at the old KGB, Putin still refers to himself as a Chekist (as do all Soviet intelligence veterans), and has placed the image of several Stalin-era secret police officers on Russian postal stamps.

Putin's control of the press in Russia is so complete and heavy handed, that he - along with several other leaders of the Eurasian super state - has acquired the title of "predator" from the French-based free press advocacy group Reporters sans Frontiers (Reporters without Borders).

Moscow remains the center of the great web of organizations and treaties, with Russian as the lingua franca throughout the Eurasian super state, except for China.

It is of note that Chinese President Jiang Zemin is fluent in Russian, having worked as a youth in a Russian auto factory, and is an ardent admirer of the Russian author Leo Tolstoy.

The Eurasian super state's two largest partners, Russia and China, have recently completed several new military agreements, including increased coordination between Russian and Chinese General Staffs and command headquarters, additional arms sales, and Chinese cadet training in Russian military schools.

Among the various aspects of the emerging Eurasian empire, the most disturbing is its tolerance of terrorism, despite numerous statements to the contrary.

Putin was the first world leader to call U.S. President George W. Bush after the terror attacks of September 11, and express his nation's sorrow. Russia, however, continues the Soviet era policy of friendship with virtually every nation providing assistance to terrorists.

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