Perilous
Times
Iran�s president calls for united alliance against West
�
By Associated Press,
ASTANA, Kazakhstan � Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called
Wednesday for a security alliance of several former Soviet nations
and China to form a united front against the West.
Ahmadinejad�s address to fellow heads of state at the summit of
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kazakhstan will likely
deepen suspicions that the bloc is intended as a counterweight to
the United States across the region.
In a summit declaration signed by all the member states, the
organization also attacked missile defense programs in another
apparent dig at the United States.
�The one-sided and unlimited development of missile defense
systems by one government or a narrow group of governments could
cause damage to strategic stability and international security,�
the document said.
Much of Ahmadinejad�s fiery speech was devoted to leveling an
exhaustive series of thinly veiled accusations against unnamed
Western countries, which he described as �enslavers, colonialists,
(and) invaders.�
�Which one of our countries (has played a role) in the black era
of slavery, or in the destruction of hundreds of millions of human
beings?� Ahmadinejad said, opening his address.
The SCO was formed in Shanghai in 2001 by China, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to address religious
extremism and border security in Central Asia, but it has in
recent years attracted interest in full membership from countries
like Iran, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Its scope has since
broadened to economic issues, but the organization has struggled
nonetheless to forge a clear purpose.
Iran�s entry to the SCO has been resisted by the existing members,
who worry that Iran�s membership would lend the group a more
explicitly anti-American quality, a concern that Ahmadinejad was
seemingly unwilling to allay.
Russia has been an active opponent of U.S.-backed plans to create
a missile shield in Europe and was likely behind the inclusion of
harsh words against the proposal in the summit declaration.
Moscow sees the U.S.-led missile defense plans as a potential
threat to its security. It has agreed to consider NATO�s proposal
to cooperate on the missile shield, but insists the system be run
jointly.
Reprising the criticism addressed at Washington, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai renewed calls for the United States to respect his
country�s sovereignty.
Karzai has in recent months become increasingly strident in his
attacks against NATO�s accidental bombings of Afghan civilians,
describing the Western-led alliance as being at risk of becoming
an �occupying force.�