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http://frontierpost.com.pk/articles.asp?id=4&date1=3/28/2002 The Frontier Post (Pakistan) March 28, 2002 The US secret games in Asia Dr Jassim Taqui -Furthermore, it has now become apparent that the US is indeed planning a long-term presence in the Central Asian region, contrary to what Washington had to say before the start of the Afghanistan bombing campaign. Uzbekistan has already allowed the US access to airfields and airspace, and in return, it is receiving military training and hardware. More alarmingly, Kyrgistan has given its consent to the US to build a new US air base, barely 200 miles from the Chinese border, hence boxing in China even further. The post-Taliban-September 11 era is fast witnessing a growing deterioration of regional blocs and associations. A new, new world order is looming large over the horizon, barely a decade after the world heaved a collective sigh of relief when the iron curtain was lifted over Europe, and the paranoia of the cold war era was perceived to be pacified forever. Now, however, a much more dangerous cold war has surfaced in a world which is increasingly functioning on the Bush doctrine of unilateralism - a policy which will eventually force nations to �rely only on themselves to protect and preserve their national security and sovereignty�. This means trouble for tense regions of the world such as the Koreas and the Indian subcontinent, which share large common borders and a history of mistrust and ill feeling. Following 9/11, South Korean and US forces went on a state of heightened alert, which was perceived as being �threatening� by Pyongyang. Consequently, negotiations with the South were severed over family reunions. Even so, the North unilaterally signed two UN anti-terrorism treaties and expressed their willingness to sign five more. The US, however, chose to ignore these encouraging signs and raised a new outcry over fantastic breakthroughs of the North in the development of lethal weapons, a claim which Washington admitted was not backed by any new evidence. As if this was not enough, North Korea was then described as forming an �axis of evil� along with Iraq, and the ever reformist Iran. In fact, when President Kim refused to be exacerbated over the North�s security threat and then refused to endorse US plans for a missile defence on the Korean Peninsula, Washington visibly upped its support to Kim�s conservative rivals, notably Lee Hoi-chang who was received almost like a head-of-state on his visit to Washington in January, and who, predictably is an avid supporter of the missile defences. The fact that no missile defence system in the world could ever protect the South from such a threat, merely due to the fact that flight time is only three minutes, underlines Bush�s expansionist policy in the region. Similarly, the US has actively backed conservative politicians in Taiwan, and passed the 2002 Defence Authorization Act, which increases military assistance to Taiwan, much to the chagrin of Beijing. Furthermore, $ 700 million has been pledged in military and economic aid to Indonesia for its support in the �War Against Terrorism�. A similar aid package was earmarked for the Philippines, and efforts are underway by Congress to increase this allocation ten-fold for the year 2002, following an agreement which allows use of Philippine airspace, access to air and naval bases and increased numbers of special forces and military advisors. Thus, the US military is seeking control of the South China Sea, with all its potential of vast oil reserves and access to Southeast Asia. Furthermore, this area strategically lies alongside shipping lanes to the oil-rich and volatile Middle East. Such expansion not only infuriates the Chinese, it also severely curtails and restricts the effectiveness of regional institutions such as ASEAN, which took years of hard work and sacrifice to develop. At the same time, the US policy of fostering closer ties with conservative politicians in Japan is now paying dividends for Washington. Following the Japanese decision not to send troops to the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, this policy has been actively pursued in a bid to rid Tokyo of its moderate foreign policy. A decade later, Japan has contributed troops and logistical support to the coalition and is actively pursuing a more active role for Japanese Self-Defence Forces abroad. This role is likely to be achieved now, with the acquisition of in-air refuelling capability from the US, and has become almost a certainty following the sinking of an alleged North Korean boat, which was pursued from the Japanese nautical economic zone and eventually sunk inside the exclusive Chinese economic zone. Furthermore, it has now become apparent that the US is indeed planning a long-term presence in the Central Asian region, contrary to what Washington had to say before the start of the Afghanistan bombing campaign. Uzbekistan has already allowed the US access to airfields and airspace, and in return, it is receiving military training and hardware. More alarmingly, Kyrgistan has given its consent to the US to build a new US air base, barely 200 miles from the Chinese border, hence boxing in China even further. The result is of course an understandable fear on the part of the Chinese that these policy shifts, coupled with the proposed missile defence system, would lead to the US pursuing an �aggressive� policy vis-a-vis China. Another reason for the permanent US military presence in Central Asia can be found in the testimony of John Maresca (owner of the oil company Unocal Oil) to the US Congress in 1998, where he expressed his desire to build an oil pipeline from the Caspain oil fields across Afghanistan as soon as �a recognized government is in place that has the confidence of governments, lenders and our company.� And, even more alarmingly, the US is poised to substantially increase military cooperation with both India and Pakistan in time to come. While Washington has already pledged to foster closer military ties with Islamabad during President Musharraf�s visit to the US, General Myers is visiting New Delhi, and has expressed his country�s commitment to India to bolster military cooperation. As a consequence, military analysts in Pakistan are expecting a further deepening of military cooperation between Beijing and Islamabad. And all this in a region where troops are standing eyeball to eyeball in the highest state of alert, and armed with nuclear weapons. Surely, this will see a resurgence of a darker, more sinister Cold War, where the flight time of delivery systems remains a paltry three minutes. Thus faced with two alternatives of unilateralism and multi-lateralism, the choice has been made by the US administration. And this choice is already infuriating trusted US allies in Europe and elsewhere. So far, President Bush is treating these voices of reason with the same contempt which prompted him to choose this alternative in the first place. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards� http://movies.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
