Page 52 - The Lord's Vengeance Of His Temple2018-05

AN ASSEMBLY OF GREAT NATIONS...

The agreement was signed on the margins of a regular summit of leaders of the Com-
monwealth of Independent States, a loose confederation of former Soviet states, ex-
cluding the Baltic republics. China’s fast-growing
economy is hungry for energy and Beijing has
been competing with Europe and the United
States for supplies from Russia and Central Asia,
both rich in oil and gas. Earlier this year, soldiers
from China, Russia and Central Asia took part in
joint military exercises, held under the auspices
of the six-member SCO.

The exercises, the biggest yet held by the group,
led to fears in the West of the emergence of a
Presidents Hu_Jintao (China) and
possible “Warsaw Pact 2”, or successor to the Putin (Russia) (2007)
Cold-War communist military alliance. Although

the membership. of the two groups overlaps to some degree, the move is a further

demonstration of China and Russia’s determination to bolster security links with each

other and with the vast, strategic Central Asian region.

Russia, annoyed by what it sees as West’s attempts to end its influence in ex-Soviet
states, is alarmed by moves in Western capitals to woo Central Asian leaders. Reuters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Collective Securi-
ty Treaty Organiza-
tion (CSTO); is an in-
tergovernmental military
alliance which was
signed on 15 May 1992.
On 7 October 2002, the Presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Ka-
zakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan signed a char-
ter in Tashkent founding the CSTO.

The CSTO charter reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the
use or threat of force. Signatories would not be able to join other military alliances or
other groups of states, while aggression against one signatory would be perceived as
an aggression against all. To this end, the CSTO holds yearly military command exer-
cises for the CSTO nations to have an opportunity to improve inter-organisation coop-
eration….A 2011 series of training exercises has recently been held in central Asia con-
sisting of "more than 10,000 troops and 70 combat aircraft"

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