3 Jul, 2024 17:46The SCO was founded on June 15, 2001 but was preceded by the Shanghai Five formed in 1996 consisting of The People's Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. In the new structure of SCO, Uzbekistan was included. 2001 was the year that saw the beginning of the US led campaign in Afghanistan, which borders four of the six founding nations.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization is bedrock of multipolar world - Putin
The SCO has been strengthening its role on the global stage, according to the Russian president
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is expanding to become a power center in a world that is evolving towards multipolarity, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
Putin made the statement during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday at the SCO summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.
The members of the SCO account for some 20% of global GDP. The grouping was founded in 2001 by China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Iran became the newest member of the organization last year, after India and Pakistan joined in 2017.
"I would like to recall that our countries were behind the creation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization," Putin told Xi.
The Russian leader said that with the expansion of the SCO participants pool, the organization has "strengthened its role as one of the key pillars of a fair multipolar world order."
Putin noted that Belarus is about to enter the SCO, becoming the tenth full member.
SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming said last month that with Belarusian accession to the group, the number of SCO member states will reach a "historic double-digit breakthrough."
The secretary general emphasized that after more than 20 years of development, the SCO has transformed from a regional mechanism for meetings of heads of state into a major, comprehensive international organization.
Currently, 14 countries hold SCO dialogue-partner status, allowing them to participate in the organization's specialized events at the invitation of its members.
In May, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters that Algeria had applied to become a dialogue partner of the SCO. According to the minister, Laos has also submitted an application. He said both countries would be eligible for SCO membership once they have attained both dialogue-partner and observer status.
BREAKING:
🇱🇧🇮🇱 Starting two hours ago, Hezbollah launched a huge wave of attacks on Israel
The entire occupied Golan Heights was under fire from hundreds of Hezbollah missiles. Dozens of settlements along the border, including the city of Nahariyya, were hit by suicide drones.
Hezbollah official statement:
In support of the Palestinian people in Gaza, and as a response to the Israeli assassination of our commander Hajj Abu Nimah, we targeted with over 200 missiles:
- 🇮🇱 Headquarters of the IDF's 91st Division, located in the Ayelet Barracks.
- 🇮🇱 Headquarters of the IDF's 7th Armored Brigade, located in the Katsaviya Barracks.
- 🇮🇱 Headquarters of the Armored Battalion of the IDF's 7th Brigade, located in the Gamla Barracks.
- 🇮🇱 Headquarters of the IDF's 210th 'Golani' Division, located in Naffah military base.
- 🇮🇱 Headquarters of the Artillery Regiment of the IDF's 210th Division in Yarden Barracks.
Additionally, as a completion of our response, we targeted with dozens of explosive drones, the following targets:
- 🇮🇱 Headquarters of the IDF's 91st Division, located in the Ayelet Barracks.
- 🇮🇱 Headquarters of the IDF's 7th Armored Brigade in the Katsavia Barracks.
- 🇮🇱 Headquarters of the IDF's Northern Command in the Dadu military base.
- 🇮🇱 The IDF's intelligence base for the Northern Region, in Mishar.
- 🇮🇱 Headquarters of the IDF's 810th 'Hermon' Brigade in the Maale Golani Barracks.
- 🇮🇱 The permanent main base of the IDF's 146th 'Ilania' Division.
- 🇮🇱 Headquarters of the IDF's 'Golani' Brigade and the 'Egoz' unit in the Shraga Barracks.
@Middle_East_Spectator
The New York Times claimed Wednesday that a "key ally" of President Joe Biden told them he is weighing whether he can salvage his candidacy or if he should drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
The "key ally," who was granted anonymity by the outlet to discuss the sensitivity of the situation, told the NYT that Biden is aware he must nail his upcoming public appearances in the next few days to stay in the race. The story is based on the single anonymous source, and comes after the NYT editorial board published an editorial over the weekend calling for Biden to drop out of the race.
"President Biden has told a key ally that he knows he may not be able to salvage his candidacy if he cannot convince the public in the coming days that he is up for the job after a disastrous debate performance last week," the NYT printed.
The White House denied the premise of the story in a tweet.
Those appearances, the "key ally" allegedly told the NYT, include Biden's campaign stops in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and a sit down interview with ABC News.
"He knows if he has two more events like that, we're in a different place," the "key ally" is quoted as telling the NYT, referring to the president's debate performance.
Less than thirty minutes into his Thursday debate performance, Democrats in the media began calling for the president to drop out of the 2024 presidential election. Tuesday, Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett became the first elected Democrat in Congress to call on Biden to step aside. With four months left until the election, Democrats have made clear they are uneasy with Biden's fitness for office while his campaign maintains that the president is staying in the race.
The NYT further quoted a top adviser to the president, who was also granted anonymity to discuss the situation. The adviser did not indicate whether the key ally's comments were true but said that Biden is "well aware of the political challenge he faces," the NYT reported.
Immediately following Biden's debate performance, there were reports that the president and his family were meeting at Camp David to discuss his future. After the weekend, the New York Times reported that "the entire family is united" on the president staying in the race with his son, Hunter Biden, pushing the hardest.
Self-preservation here. As long as Pops stays out of prison, so does Hunter, and the rest of the sorry lot that is the Biden clan.
Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre fielded questions on the president's fitness for office and on his candidacy's fate during her first briefing since the debate.
"Does President Biden at 81-years-old have Alzheimer's, any form of dementia or degenerative illness that would call these sorts of lapses?" a reporter asked.
"I have an answer for you. Are you ready for it? It's a no. And I hope you're asking the other guy the same exact question," Jean-Pierre snapped back.
"I would like to know what it would mean to finish a war fast. If Trump knows how to end this war, he should tell us today, because if there are risks to Ukraine's independence, and there are risks that we will lose our statehood, we want to be prepared for this."
According to Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index, Ukraine is in the 'red' zone, ranking 104th out of 180 countries.This rating system is not worth much, but here are more details about it.
According to the newspaper Le Monde: "In its main surveys, Transparency International does not measure the weight of corruption in economic terms for each country. It develops a Corruption Perception Index (CPI) based on surveys conducted by private structures or other NGOs: the Economist Intelligence Unit, backed by the British liberal weekly newspaper The Economist, the American neoconservative organization Freedom House, the World Economic Forum, or large corporations. (...) The IPC ignores corruption cases that concern the business world. So, the collapse of Lehman Brothers (2008) or the manipulation of the money market reference rate (Libor) by major British banks revealed in 2011 did not affect the ratings of the United States or United Kingdom."The index may serve as a help for companies who wish to invest in a country as to what they might have to allocate to get what they want. On the state level it can be used as reference point for policies against some countries, and more generally as a front for information gathering and soft power influencing.
Comment:
From the same source:
4 Jul, 2024 12:15
'Istanbul deal' could be used for future talks with Kiev - Putin The Minsk agreements were with the knowledge of both the co-signers, Germany and France, and in a larger context the US and NATO used as an opportunity to build up the Ukrainian army. The Ukrainian Government never intended to fulfil their obligations. Add to this that the Ukrainian Constitution was changed in 2019 to obligate the President and Government to work for full membership of NATO and the EU. This ties in with US global interests: The empire needs resources: Ukraine is a 'gold mine' - US senator
If the sanctions from the EU and the NATO states against Russia would have to be lifted as a result of an agreement, layer upon layer would have to be peeled off. For now EU proudly passed on June 24, 2024 the 14th package since February 2022. For an overview of current EU sanctions against Russia, see this link to the EU Sanctions Map, but passing sanctions against Russia is a recurrent theme, see this paper: European Union's sanctions regime on the Russian Federation from 2014 to 2022. For a timeline of US and EU sanctions between 2014 and September 2018, see also this page.
At the moment ceasefire, negotiations and agreements are a ways off.