The Kings of Asia are Gathering: But Why?

July, permanent members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/topics/sco/t57970.htm, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, met in the Kazakh capital of Astana to discuss matters of mutual importance which included trade, energy, security and technology cooperation.

A growing number of Western observers, however, fear that the SCO is less a cooperative arrangement and more a modern day