http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation
If there is a World War III, it could POSSIBLY be between NATO and these guys.
In the late 1990s, China and Russia, with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a political, economic, and security counterbalance to the growing power of NATO and the EU.
After the Cold War, a lot of the former Soviet Blocs began opening negotiations with NATO and the West. After the Cold War, NATO membership soared. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia all joined NATO between 1999 and 2004. Croatia and Albania will be joining in 2009. The Republic of Macedonia and Cyprus wish to join. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Georgia, and Ukraine have expressed goals to join NATO. Russia feels very threatened by NATO's booming membership, and is working with the East to try and counterbalance the West.
The conflict with Georgia will have repercussions, and Russia is expecting this. Even though Georgia had no formal plans to join NATO quite yet, they expressed interest in doing so, which is enough to extend a partial NATO shield over them, so to speak. Not to mention the fact that Georgia was one of the biggest contributers of troops in Iraq. They had over 2,000 troops in Iraq before the conflict with Russia, making them third right behind the US and UK.
The SCO is supposed to be an "economic and political alliance," but there is an increase in joint military cooperation between its members. It is slowly becoming a second Warsaw Pact/Eastern NATO. Add to it the fact that Iran wants to join, and Russia and China are trying to pull the likes of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and the member states of CIS and ASEAN into the alliance.
Will something ever happen? Not entirely likely. I'm just saying that a WWIII scenario between NATO and SCO isn't entirely impossible, given how many of the member states view organizations like NATO and the EU, and the increased military cooperation between the members are making it seem less like a trade treaty and more like a formal military alliance.
If there is a World War III, it could POSSIBLY be between NATO and these guys.
In the late 1990s, China and Russia, with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a political, economic, and security counterbalance to the growing power of NATO and the EU.
After the Cold War, a lot of the former Soviet Blocs began opening negotiations with NATO and the West. After the Cold War, NATO membership soared. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia all joined NATO between 1999 and 2004. Croatia and Albania will be joining in 2009. The Republic of Macedonia and Cyprus wish to join. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Georgia, and Ukraine have expressed goals to join NATO. Russia feels very threatened by NATO's booming membership, and is working with the East to try and counterbalance the West.
The conflict with Georgia will have repercussions, and Russia is expecting this. Even though Georgia had no formal plans to join NATO quite yet, they expressed interest in doing so, which is enough to extend a partial NATO shield over them, so to speak. Not to mention the fact that Georgia was one of the biggest contributers of troops in Iraq. They had over 2,000 troops in Iraq before the conflict with Russia, making them third right behind the US and UK.
The SCO is supposed to be an "economic and political alliance," but there is an increase in joint military cooperation between its members. It is slowly becoming a second Warsaw Pact/Eastern NATO. Add to it the fact that Iran wants to join, and Russia and China are trying to pull the likes of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and the member states of CIS and ASEAN into the alliance.
Will something ever happen? Not entirely likely. I'm just saying that a WWIII scenario between NATO and SCO isn't entirely impossible, given how many of the member states view organizations like NATO and the EU, and the increased military cooperation between the members are making it seem less like a trade treaty and more like a formal military alliance.
