One,two,three,many Afghanistans

[Hakki Alacakaptan]

Many lbo'ers were sceptical when I said the US was aiming to acquire
military bases in Central Asia. I hope they've gotten over their illusions
now. What happened when the US suckered Iraq into a war so that it could
grab some bases in Saudi? ObL, that's what, and hundreds of billions $ sunk
in bases that now have to be abandoned. So is there a risk of an ObL-oid
epidemic now that US bases are mushrooming around and in Afghanistan? No
surprises there, the outcry has already begun.

Hakki
==================================
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0120-02.htm
Published on Sunday, January 20, 2002 in the Observer of London
US in Replay of the 'Great Game'
Costs and Consequences of American Engagement in Central Asia Begin to
Become Clear

by Edward Helmore in Almaty, Kazakhstan
(...)
>From Africa to the Philippines, South America and Central Asia, unease is
growing over the way the US is flexing its military and political muscle.

In the Philippines, a dispute has erupted over the impending deployment of
650 US troops to help combat the Abu Sayyaf Islamic insurgency. In Saudi
Arabia, too, public concern over the presence of US troops and Washington's
future global ambitions has led officials to declare that the US may have
overstayed its welcome.
(...)
Since October, the US has established open-ended military presences in
Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and is now understood to be
negotiating with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev to send Kazakh
troops to Afghanistan and to construct a military base.

'It is clear that the continuing war in Afghanistan is no more than a veil
for the US to establish political dominance in the region,' a Kazakh
government source said. 'The war on terrorism is only a pretext for
extending influence over our energy resources.'

Kazakhstan's oil reserves could be the third largest in the world. Moreover,
the Afghan conflict has made the prospect of the US-favored route of a
pipeline through Afghanistan and Pakistan a potential reality.

Over the past month, the Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji has signaled his
country's wariness over a long-term US presence by sending delegations to
the former Soviet republics, and by convening a meeting of the regional
Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO).
(...)
Last week the Speaker of the Russian parliament, Gennady Seleznyov, said
Russia 'would not approve of permanent United States military bases in
Central Asia'. And Russia's border guard commander, Konstantin Totsky,
warned the US presence could only be tolerated for the duration of the
anti-terrorist operation.
(...)