If you haven’t yet heard of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, you should have. Iranian President Ahmadinejad has been invited to the SCO annual summit in Shanghai.
China and Russia, which are competing with the West for access to Central Asia’s oil and gas reserves, are positioning the SCO as a counterweight to the U.S., said Andrew Kuchins of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Just as importantly, the SCO will be holding joint military exercises this month
Therefore, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is indeed making a very big point by way of holding its large-scale military exercises from August 9-17. The European Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the African Union, the Organization of Latin American States – none of them has ever done that.
These are the countries that hold all the aces and they have identified the US and Europe as rivals, not threats to their prosperity and security.