|
|
| By: Associated Press |
| Published: June 18, 2006 |
| |
In a global calendar brimming with forums and summits, Kazakhstan is about to host one of the most eclectic powwows of the bunch.
Players in some of the world's most intractable conflicts will sit in the same room on Saturday at the invitation of the energy-rich Central Asian nation. The leaders of Russia and China will attend, lending stature to an event whose last and only other meeting was in 2002.
Like ARF, APEC and other international huddles, this one has an acronym: CICA. It stands for Conference on Interactions and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.
But it's not entirely Asian because Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian Authority are among the 15 members of the group. So are old foes India and Pakistan, locked in stalemate over disputed Kashmir. Iran, Mongolia, Turkey and Thailand are on the list. The United States and the United Nations are observers. South Korea wants to join this year.
"This is an occasion where conflicts and dialogue and animosities are being brought together to air them out and see if there can be some steps of confidence-building," Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said. He described the group as a "nice mix."
Still, Israel's elder statesman said Iran was currently in more of a mood to "destroy rather than negotiate" when asked if he was willing to meet Iran's delegate, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
So, breakthroughs are unlikely. Four years ago, the Kashmir conflict threatened to explode into full-scale war as the leaders of India and Pakistan joined delegates at the CICA conference in Almaty. They exchanged stony stares while sitting across from each other at a U-shaped table, and stayed on opposite sides of the room after the session ended.
Ties between India and Pakistan have improved since then, but a solution to Kashmir eludes them. The two countries have fought two wars over the Himalayan territory that is divided between them but claimed by both.
Another major conflict festers on the Korean Peninsula, where North Korea is suspected of developing nuclear weapons. But the reclusive North is not involved in the Almaty meeting. Nor is Taiwan, viewed by China as a breakaway province.
The diversity of national interests across Asia makes it hard to coordinate on security issues at a regional summit, in contrast to Western security groups with a history of unity, said Robert Karniol, Asia-Pacific editor for Jane's Defence Weekly.
"During the Cold War period, when these structures were being created in Europe, there was common cause among a wide range of countries in countering Soviet influence, and deterring Soviet attack if it ever did occur," he said. "Those common factors have always been lacking in Asia."
One observer at the Almaty summit is the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, a group with 55 member states. It started in the mid-1970s as a forum for East-West dialogue, and changed its mission after the collapse of the Soviet Union to promote democracy and good governance.
The CICA forum is a mishmash of nations lacking the pedigree of more established groups, even if the goals of networking, fighting organized crime and terrorism are the same. It was the idea of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who seeks to raise his country's stature in an area dominated by Russia and China, his heavyweight neighbors.
Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan's only leader since independence from the Soviet Union, might also want international legitimacy to offset growing concerns about curbs on domestic political freedoms and human rights, according to some observers. Longtime rulers in the region are likely aware of the popular uprisings that ousted governments in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.
"The experiences of the 2003 Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan -- the West's criticism that Nazarbayev has developed an authoritarian-style leadership structure, controls the opposition and suppresses his opponents -- forces him, perhaps, to be pro-active on the international arena," said Alexey Muraviev, an expert on the Russian military and alliances in the Asia-Pacific region.
Kazakhstan's market reforms and strong economic growth buoyed by high oil prices could dampen political opposition. Its vast energy reserves are also a potential alternative to Middle East oil, a fact not lost on the leaders attending the summit in Almaty on Saturday. |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
