Happy Friday! 4 Quick Items about subjects we have touched on recently:
1. Joshua Foust at Registan.net brings greater depth to this blog's analysis of Central Asia's water problems which appeared yesterday. Along with discussing Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan's recent water troubles, Foust reports on a recent raid by Tajikistan citizens into Kyrgyzstan in order to destroy a dam that was blocking an irrigation canal into a nearby Tajik village. Make sure to check out some of his links, especially this one which lists the Top 3 possible water conflicts in the region.
2. Ariel Cohen, a security and Shanghai Cooperation Organization expert at the Heritage Foundation, gives his take on Iran's recent official request to join the SCO. He correctly argues that China and Russia want to avoid creating an SCO that is explicitly anti-US/Western, and therefore, predicts Iran will have a difficult time gaining full membership in the current international political environment. However, Cohen cautions that recent US moves, support for Kosovo's independence, pushing for Ukraine and Georgia's admission into NATO, and the Eastern Europe Missile Shield placements, have caused Russian/US relations to deteriorate and may have Moscow looking for venues to strike back against US interests. Cohen also asserts that China and Russia might listen more intently to Iran's SCO request to head off US encroachment in the Central Asian region.
3. Here is a mainstream Chinese perspective on their "Go West' Policy. The report regards the government's policy as a success in developing the economy and infrastructure of Xinjiang Province, and many other provinces, in China's western region and how this has led to burgeoning trade with several Central Asian border-states. The story uses the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) annual survey as evidence to back up its claims and makes no mention as to the social and cultural costs that have been inflicted on western China's longtime inhabitants.
4. Marco Vicenzino, here at FPA, wrote a can't miss analysis of the on-going NATO Summit, critiquing its members for not giving the mission in Afghanistan the ‘appropriate attention or critical debate it deserves.’
