Russia draws Europe into its orbit

On May 9, the Chinese People’s Daily admitted, “If we look at US-Russian relations closely, it is clear that we are standing at the edge of a new cold war.” It was an assessment long in coming.

Chinese commentaries in recent months have tended to view the growing tension in Russia’s relations with the United States as the inevitable manifestation of the “pulls and pushes” of a complex, but in essence interlocking, relationship of cooperation and competition, where each side is optimally realizing its interests.

But the thinking has changed.
The People’s Daily commented, “As the Russian economy grows stronger, the US simply cannot sit back and relax. It must continue to contain the nation to prevent it from rising again. By deploying its national missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, Washington is no doubt targeting Russia … the likelihood of a new arms race will increase dramatically … the possibility of another cold war does exist.”

Curiously, the commentary appeared on the day that Russian President Vladimir Putin set out on a crucial mission to Central Asia, a vast region bordering China, which increasingly resembles the Maginot Line of the new cold war. Fresh trenches are being dug; new fortifications erected overnight; vantage points are occupied without ceremony. Russian media quoted a Kyrgyz secret-service agent as saying that the US has been quietly stockpiling low-grade uranium-tipped weapons at its airbase in Manas for use in any military operation against Iran.

Putin’s visit to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan on May 9-12 resulted in a dramatic agreement over a trilateral deal involving the three countries: to build a pipeline along the Caspian Sea coast for transporting Turkmen gas to the European market via Kazakhstan and Russia.

The pipeline is expected to be operational by 2009, and is estimated to carry 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas annually. Simultaneously, the presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan also announced an agreement involving Uzbekistan, revamping the entire Soviet-era pipeline grid connecting Central Asia to Western markets via Russia to enhance its capacity to 90bcm annually in anticipation of increased exports of gas by the Central Asian countries.

Putin’s visit was about energy cooperation – Russia and Kazakhstan also agreed on a joint uranium-enrichment venture and discussed cooperation in nuclear power generation – but its political and strategic implications are equally far-reaching. Its outcome constitutes a great strategic setback for the United States’ obsessive campaign in recent years to secure oil and gas from the Caspian and Central Asian region that would be independent of Russian control…

Asia Times