Iran and Russia nip at US global dominance

The "age of empires has ended" and the "international capitalist order is retreating," declared a beaming Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday, speaking in the Siberian city of Yekaterinburg before an audience that included the top leaders of Russia, China, and India.
Experts are debating why Iran's controversial president chose to address the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional grouping led by Russia and China – of which Iran is only an observer – even as he still faces mass protests and sharp questions at home over his deeply disputed election victory last week.

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US to Attend Shanghai Group Meeting on Afghanistan

he State Department confirmed Thursday it is sending a senior diplomat to a Moscow conference on Afghanistan next week of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Iran will also attend the meeting and U.S. officials do not rule out interaction with Iranian officials.

The Shanghai group, made up of Russia, China and four Central Asian states, was founded in 2001 and has been widely viewed as a vehicle aimed at countering U.S. influence in the region.

Thus the invitation for the United States to attend the Moscow gathering next week, among several other non-member countries, is being seen as a conciliatory gesture toward the new U.S. administration.

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Unlikely bedfellows in Afghanistan

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is scheduled to hold a conference on Afghanistan in Moscow on March 27, a few days ahead of a similar United Nations meeting in The Hague in the Netherlands. Russia, which holds the current SCO presidency, has sent out invitations to India, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, the Group of Eight nations, the UN, as well as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to what is increasingly shaping up as a landmark event.

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