While the US pole is disintegrating more and more every day, the other pole of international relations, centered around China, seems to be thriving.
One of the most important institutions in this Chinese center is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, founded in 2001. Today its members meet in Kazakhstan. The OSC officially includes about ten countries: China, Russia, Iran, most of the Central Asian countries and soon Belarus.
Several other countries have observer status. This is the case of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Cambodia.
Officially, the organization seeks to combat separatism, extremism and terrorism. But these lenses are purely decorative. In reality, to be a member of this sad club, a country only needs to be on the Asian continent, and preferably have an authoritarian regime.
Skewer of dictators
This is how the organization assembles a thin line of dictators whose statements about its goals would be amusing if they were not backed by real military capabilities.
For example, Vladimir Putin, who has become the stand-up comedian, announced earlier today that he considers the Afghan Taliban to be “allies against terrorism.”
Taliban, messengers of the war on terror? Great absurd theater.
Putin also tells us that the SCO treats all member states equally, unlike what you might find anywhere else in the world.
Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, has to explain how Putin treats him as an equal. Or Putin describes this beautiful equality between him and Xi Jinping.
China at the top
In fact, all relations within the SCO are highly hierarchical, with China sitting comfortably at the top of the organization.
Contrary to what Putin says, the world is not multipolar. It is bipolar. With a more or less democratic pole on one side and a more or less dictatorial pole on the other. That is not funny.
