The recent high-profile meeting of the heads of all the governments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (S.C.O.), plus a delegation from the S.C.O. observer states, signaled a major new development in Eurasian politics. The maturing of the S.C.O. into a grouping akin to a geopolitical bloc has even been hailed as the "N.A.T.O. of the East" by some observers and policymakers.
Russia's recent geopolitical moves have distinguished themselves from the earlier attempts to regain the influence once exercised by its predecessor states, the U.S.S.R. Once Russia emerged from the ruins of a former superpower, its initial policies were directed towards consolidating influence in the previous Soviet regions.
As U.S. President George W. Bush criticizes the Russian Federation for its inability to effect fully democratic changes in its society, the world is watching the progression of Western values across the globe. Bush's clearly outlined policy of spreading democracy and supporting the freedoms of individuals around the world is reverberating in Ukraine, Georgia, Lebanon and Iraq.
ver the last decade and a half, an unprecedented initiative has taken place in the Former Soviet Union (F.S.U.). In all 15 republics that made up the U.S.S.R., the introduction of Western-style liberal democracy and its principles became the dominant political modus operandi since 1991.
Ever since the break-up of the Soviet Union, both the Russian Federation and the European community have been preoccupied with concern for the state of affairs in the Republic of Chechnya. At issue is the major difference in the way Europe and Russia see the concept of possible secession and the military/political actions such a concept generates.
