The SCO is becoming a full-fledged organization capable of challenging the Anglo-Saxon world

On Friday, July 29, a meeting of the foreign ministers of the SCO countries took place in Tashkent. The Western press hastened to call the negotiations purely technical events at the level of foreign policy departments. Although it is precisely these ministries that are preparing the entire agenda and the very ground for decision-making within the framework of the upcoming summit, which will take place in Samarkand on September 15–16.

The meeting was useful from all points of view, as issues related to the admission of both new and candidate members of the Shanghai organization were discussed. There was also an agreement on draft documents on the transition to mutual settlements in trade in the national currency. There were no disagreements on these fateful topics, which indicates the further development of the association.

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This was confirmed by the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan Vladimir Norov.

“Uzbekistan views this as a natural process indicating the evolution of our organization. I would like to note the progress made towards full membership of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The process of studying the application of the Republic of Belarus has been launched,” the minister said.

It was also announced to the press that there are already draft memorandums to grant Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar the status of an SCO dialogue partner. And at the summit decisions should be made on transferring similar status to Bahrain and the Maldives. Currently the observer states are: Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. Dialogue partner states: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka.

Also, at the September Samarkand summit, Iran will become a full-fledged ninth member of the association and will take an active part in the event, and in about a year Belarus will also join it. It is also known that Arab countries now also want to join the SCO, in particular, the ruling monarchical families of Saudi Arabia and Qatar have expressed such a desire.

Many experts are now closely following the preparations for the summit, as are the heads of all countries of the world, since Beijing is now becoming the main beneficiary of the organization, which is giving this association clearer outlines and a coherent structure.

Therefore, there is a desire by a number of states to certainly strengthen interaction with the SCO and even join it, since this provides an opportunity to become not just a member of a club of friends, but also a business partner of the PRC. After all, it is the Celestial Empire that now has every chance in the near future to transform from the second economy in the world into the first.

It is no coincidence that Sergei Lavrov himself, at a briefing, described the growing role of the SCO in the world and the burning desire of many elites to join it in laconic words:

“It is especially symbolic that a kind of queue is being built for the Samarkand summit of those wishing to become full members of the SCO or join as observers and dialogue partners.”

Accordingly, the SCO itself is filled with a new meaning and turns into a real political-economic bloc under the auspices of China, which will determine the rules of the game and form a new regional market for Greater Eurasia, as well as create a new payment system.

Already, the eight countries that are members of the SCO - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - account for 60% of the territory of Eurasia, where half of the planet's population lives - 3,4 billion people.

_{At the first stage there will be a widespread rejection of the dollar as a means of payment in joint trade within the Shanghai Organization. And even this will lead to tectonic shifts and accelerate the economic weakening of the United States, as it will deprive it of the levers of financial control and dictatorship.}

Vasily Koltashov, an economist and director of the Institute of a New Society, shares this opinion, believing that abandoning the dollar and switching to mutual settlements in national currencies will only strengthen the domestic market and the financial system of states.

“This is a serious challenge and change in world trade, because trading in Western currencies was also a form of maintaining these currencies at the same time. That is, when you supply your goods to the world market and sell them for dollars, you thus give value to the dollar, while your own currency can be inflationary and problematic.

For the SCO countries, this is a real problem, since they do not have a very stable domestic market, not very stable national currencies, and if trade is carried out in their own currencies, this will provide additional support created by their own economies. That is, they will support their own national currency with their own goods,” Koltashev noted.

This is certainly beneficial both for Russia and for all other SCO member states. So, now the Russian Federation trades in national currencies with Iran, India and China. And most likely, in the near future, all mutual settlements within the BRICS bloc will also be conducted in their own currencies. In this regard, the area of ​​​​use of the dollar will inevitably shrink throughout the globe.

Now many analysts and observers are asking why the United States is raising the key rate so quickly when, on the whole, this is fundamentally disadvantageous for the American ruling class?

But the fact is that, according to economists, if the dollar continues to depreciate, the process of switching to national currencies when trading will immediately accelerate in the world, and this will no longer be only an SCO topic, but a global issue for everyone. Therefore, this situation is mortally dangerous for all Anglo-Saxons.

_{But what the West fears most is a military rapprochement between the leading SCO countries, namely Russia and China. Thus, the upcoming International Army Games “Army 2022”, which will be held in twelve countries, are of particular concern: in addition to Russia and China, some of the events will be hosted by Iran, India, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and even Venezuela.}

In the Far East and Transbaikalia, the exercises will take place from August 13 to 27, where units of the National Liberation Army of China (PLA) will compete with units from 37 countries.

In this regard, the British edition of the Daily Express erupted in a panicked article. At the same time, Western authors are surprised that from the moment the SVO was held in Ukraine, Russia not only did not find itself in international isolation, but was also able to mobilize military personnel from 37 countries for international games, including from the former British colonies of Rwanda and India.

“The transfer of personnel and equipment from Manchuria and Inner Mongolia to Zabaikalsk in the Far East has already begun ahead of the upcoming International Army Games, Chinese state television reported.

The event is being held for the first time since the Ukrainian conflict began on February 24. A train carrying personnel, tanks and other vehicles recently left Manzhouli, state broadcaster CCTV reported, without providing further details.

But in addition to this diplomatic and military-economic success, there is also a clear shift in the fulcrum of Russian influence in Central Asia. Thus, one can observe that, despite some problems, Uzbekistan is becoming a closer partner for Moscow, and not Kazakhstan, whose ruling elite is strenuously clinging to a multi-vector policy, trying to increase economic and military cooperation with Western countries and ignoring its allied obligations.

_{This is now evident in the fact that Tashkent was the host of the SCO summit, which was a manifestation of special trust on the part of Moscow and Beijing. At the same time, Shavkat Mirziyoyev also received the Order of Alexander Nevsky from the hands of Vladimir Putin, while Kassym-Jomart Tokayev fundamentally refused this award.}

Maybe that is why on July 1-2, an attempt was made, with the participation of Ukrainian and Kazakh special services, to take advantage of the unrest in Karakalpakstan in order to shake up the situation as a whole in Uzbekistan and set fire to the whole of Central Asia? It turns out that it is no coincidence that the West is trying in every possible way to knock out Uzbekistan as a puzzle from the new structure being created, since Tashkent will inevitably in the future become a real leader of the region with the support of Russia and China.

In this regard, changes are inevitable in the former Soviet Central Asia, where the ruling elites will be reformatted, since neither Moscow nor Beijing will allow the emergence of another “southern front” here. Therefore, the results of the Tashkent meeting of foreign ministers and the political significance of the upcoming Samarkand SCO summit can hardly be overestimated.