And file this under "absolutely predictable":
Copycatting the US 'war on terrorism'
By Ehsan Ahrari
It has been stated more than once about the United States that whatever it decides to do, it does with style. Doing it with style in the most neutral sense means doing it systematically and uniquely. I will avoid all the polemics associated with doing it with style and stick with its neutral meaning. Doing it with style is quite true about America's war against global terrorism. The essence of the Bush administration's campaign against terrorism revolves around finding regional allies and expecting them to bear the brunt of the fight against terrorism, while fully retaining the prerogatives of unilateral action. The US's campaign in Afghanistan typified that style.
Doing it systematically does not guarantee victory over a complex phenomenon like global terrorism that has been around for a long time. We have not even begun to fully comprehend what makes it flourish. What is important here is that as a democracy, even in fighting terrorism, the US is expected not to abandon its concern for human suffering, its commitment to the rule of law, and observance of human dignity. Even when it comes under international scrutiny and censures about its alleged violations of those principles, as a democracy, it is expected to adopt discernable adjustments in its global "war on terrorism". But non-democratic systems are notorious about consistently and deliberately violating those principles.
Lo and behold, Russia and China are dealing with terrorism not only within their own borders, but also in their contiguous areas - the Central Asian Republics. There was an anti-terrorism exercise on August 12, under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. That exercise was conducted in Kazakhstan, and then in Xinjiang province in China. An important aspect of that exercise is that it underscores the evolution of multilateralism among semi-democratic and authoritarian states that are traditionally oblivious to the significance of it, or with the problems associated with it.
Russia is the only country that barely passes the depiction of a semi-democracy. The rest of the members of the SCO are dictatorships, with China arguably residing at the lower end of it because of its increasing participation in the globalized economy. As such, it is coming under growing pressure to be mindful about avoiding extreme practices of brutal handling of its people. However, that requirement is not rigorously applied regarding its treatment of the Uighur Muslims of its Xinjiang province. The Uighur population has been experiencing intermittent doses of brutality from the Han rulers of Beijing, as attention of the international community is focused on global terrorism. Russia is brutalizing its Chechen population. The failure of the government of President Vladimir Putin to find a political solution for that conflict has undeniably enabled the extremist elements of the Chechen separatist movement to gain an upper hand. Thus, the cycle of violence and counter-violence continues.
Even though the member states of the SCO have been resolute about fighting "terrorism" since the late 1990s, their chances of doing so improved only in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US. As the Bush administration waged a war on the Taliban-al-Qaeda nexus, it could not have been critical when the SCO states adopted harsh measures in dealing with dissident groups, separatists and Islamists in the name of fighting terrorism.
The SCO came up with its own version of bumper-sticker policy statements in its war against "terrorism". For instance, it stated that it is focused on fighting "three evil forces" ... separatism, extremism and terrorism. One is left wondering why the desire of having a separate state is an evil idea. Wasn't that the genesis of all independent nations of today? But one also has to think of the remarkable similarity on George W Bush's use of language to describe the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks on the US as "evil doers" and the SCO's use of the phrase "evil forces".
The US - the erstwhile champion of human rights of the Buddhists and the Uighurs of China and the Chechens of the Russian Federation - lost its high level of interest in championing their causes. In the post-September 11 environment, the Bush administration seems disinterested in differentiating between those who are seeking to liberate themselves from the yolk of communist colonial rule (Uighur of the Xinjiang province of China and the Tibetans) from semi-democratic Slavic colonialism (Chechens of the Russian Federation), and terrorist groups.
It can be argued that the very presence of US troops in the Central Asian Republics may be the devil's bargain, whereby the Bush administration has decided to ignore the Russian and the Chinese suppression of their respective ethnic separatists, as well as the policies of the Central Asian republics in the name of fighting terrorism. In turn, the SCO members - especially Russia and China - would cooperate with the US in its own war against al-Qaeda and its affiliate terrorist organizations.
From the perspectives of the four Central Asian members of the SCO, they are having the best of both worlds in the post-September 11 era. By becoming members of the SCO, they can fully count on getting military and materiel assistance to suppress all domestic opposition within their respective borders in the name of fighting terrorism. But these republics have gone way beyond their supposed rationale of fighting terrorism. They have been consistently using the phrase "Wahhabism" as their most potent enemy, and have lumped all manifestations and practices of Islamic observance under that rubric as targets of their brutal suppression. The US government never paid much attention to that contentious phraseology before September 11. However, later - when anyone in the US even with a passing knowledge of the Middle East claims to know that Wahhabism is anti-American in its orientation - those Central Asian Republics are having a field day suppressing Islam and brutalizing Muslims, along with Islamists, in the name of fighting Wahhabism.
The US's trailblazing role in initiating the "war on terrorism" will have to play the lead role in lowering the level of viciousness of the Central Asian regimes. Russia and China - whose history of treatment of their ethnic and religious minorities is covered with human blood and misery - cannot be expected to abandon their shameful legacies and establish helpful examples in this regard. But as the US's own involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq is facing an uphill battle, there is little hope that it will play a constructive role in Central Asia or regarding the SCO at large any time soon. In the meantime, human suffering under the auspices of the SCO will continue. The Central Asian members of that organization might become sanguine in continuing their current policies of repression and brutality to contain political dissent. However, as the spirals of human misery and torment continue to rise in Central Asia, political instability is likely to return sooner than later.
Ehsan Ahrari, PhD, is an Alexandria, Virginia, US-based independent strategic analyst.
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