Creating Stability with Tolerance: Listening
Listening
[Image: The spires of a Russian Orthodox church, beside a statue of the Budda in a Chinese temple. The background is a section of the inside of a mosque, The Dome of the Rock, in Jerusalem.]
Publication date: 2022-10-15
Update 2022-10-16: added a Jonathan Cook article on the Nord Stream pipeline attacks, and a Trish Wood podcast with Douglas Macgregor and Eva Bartlett.
Astana
On September 17th, 2022, the city formerly renamed after the long term President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev to Nur-Sultan, reverted to its former name Astana. The city became the capital of Kazakhstan in late 1997 replacing Almaty. The term "astana" in Kazakh means "capital city”. Thus, citizens of Almaty may continue to be annoyed that the previous status of their city as the capital remains lost. At least the new capital has shrugged from its shoulders the label of a political leader and has reverted to a more fitting name.
Astana recently hosted the 6th "Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia" (CICA). This event, though largely unreported in western media, welcomed the heads of state of Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Palestine, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and the vice presidents of China and Viet Nam. The topics of discussion are given by the title of the conference.
The conference is soon to become an international organisation which, with existing ties to the Russian lead Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), will be working alongside the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), BRICS+ and other Asian integration and multilateral fora.
It should be noted that the SCO's first heads of state meeting was held in the same city, Astana, and that its most recent heads of state meeting, the 20th, was held not too far away (by continental Asian measure) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Integration
One may wonder why greater Asia is solidifying this plethora of organizations to work towards integration. There may be many answers. Asia is linguistically, culturally, religiously and economically diverse. Thus, different fora may suit different agenda. One thing is clear, a demonstrable lack of stability has been declared by the West. The impounding of Afghanistan's national reserves and then a large amount of Russia's (7 Billion and 100+ Billion USD equivalent, respectively) have sent a shock across "the rest of the world". The continued escalation of the conflict in Ukraine worries all, not to mention the continued use of unlilateral economic sanctions by the west against independent states (Iran, Venezuela, Russia etc.).
The recent deliberate attack on the Nord Steam pipelines is another reverberation. Anyone with an IQ higher than their shoe size believes that the criminals are from the west. Exactly who, matters little. What happened was a very significant destabilization, and "the west" did it to themselves. All of the above are making the Russian population restive, not against their government, but the west.
Asia has its own problems too. These benefit from dialogue. Issues can be laid out and potential solutions with varying forms of assistance from neighboring states can be sought. Solving international regional problems requires discussion, or to use an old term, diplomacy.
UN Resolution
A recently USA sponsored emergency session of the UN General Assembly approved a motion which expressed a rejection of the holding and results of the four referenda in eastern and southern Ukraine. The framing was of territorial integrity and that holding a vote in a region under hostilities is unreliable.
As this newsletter has mentioned, there is an inherent tension in the UN Charter between the territorial integrity of a state and the rights of people to declare independence. The deliberations of the UN on this tension amount to that, when people are excluded from the governance of the state in which they reside, or are persecuted by it, then the "independence" clause overcomes the territorial. This is obviously the case in Lugansk and Donetsk, and possibly in the other two regions. While this is for international jurists to consider this does not stop one from having one’s leg blown off by an outlawed mine delivered by missile.
The results of the UN vote are interesting. Note that there are four possible "votes" for a nation: For, Against, Abstain or "was not present".
For: 143
Against: 5
Abstain: 34
Absent: 10
It is interesting to break this down by "continent". Lets label "Europe" a continent for now (it is not, by any reasonable definition). Lets also separate North America at the Mexico/USA border and call everything south "Latin America".
North America and Europe voted entirely in favour.
[Image/Tweet: Hint: dont click this. It will just encourage Truss’ media team to issue more of this incendiary rubbish. See below for whether Russian Federation President Putin is “isolated”. This tweet was included to insert a little humor.]
Latin American was dominantly in favour but included an against (Nicaragua), three abstentions (Bolivia, Cuba and Honduras) and two "not present" (El Salvador and Venezuela).
Moving to Africa we seen a major split, with 19 abstentions and 5 "absent": Algeria, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Guinea, Lesotho, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and (absent) Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, and Sao Tome-Principe.
In Asia the rejection of the resolution was clear from the governments of the majority of its inhabitants: Armenia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Laos, Mongolia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam. Asian states "not present" were: Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkmenistan
The UN General Assembly is not a judicial but a political body, which is wonderful. All nations understand that votes have consequences in their relationships with powerful nations. Because of the 4 possible vote choices one can see allegiances and also political expression. Find your own interest in the votes states made. I found Nicaragua voting against and Iran being absent of interest, along with all of the abstentions from Africa. The abstentions by many Asian states are unsurprising.
Each of the 143 nations which voted for this resolution are denying the votes of the peoples in the four formerly Ukrainian oblasts. The difference between the affirmative diplomats and the local residents are the eight years of the terror of war.
Stability versus "Values"
Recent protests in Iran have been reported in the west as against a death in custody. The west describes the police section as a "moral police". The whole concept of a “moral police” is repugnant to this author. The same is true of the way in which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia treats its citizens, and especially women. These are important social and moral issues.
If one speaks with social geographers one can learn that providing a reliable income source to women is one of the best ways to control population growth and generally empower society. This "reliable income source" depends upon a reliable economy, and the political will of the nation.
Without stability nothing can be done.
We are seeing two world powers, China and Russia, with vastly different cultural histories working with their neighbours to create stability. The Christian Orthodox are combining with the Buddhists and Taoists to embrace believers in Islam to create a stable structure upon which reliable economic development can be pursued.
I am an atheist who has studied Buddhism and attended a Quaker school. It is these two beliefs for which I have most respect, for they embrace tolerance.
The partners in the Eurasian integration projects embrace tolerance, for they must. Western power structures embrace dominance, for that is all they know.
Sources
Stop the Dangerous Escalation of the War in Ukraine, Ted Snider, Antiwar, 2022-10-13
Time to start worrying again!, Gilbert Doctorow, his website, 2022-10-15
Can Europe Afford To Turn a Blind Eye to Evidence of a US Role in Pipeline Blasts?, Jonathan Cook, Antiwar, 2022-10-07
Pipelines v. USA, Scott Ritter, (originally Consortium News) Scheer Post, 2022-10-13
Russia Courts Muslim Countries as Strategic Eurasian Partners, Pepe Escobar, Unz Review, 2022-10-14
General Assembly Takes Up Draft Resolution Condemning Russian Federation’s Annexation of Several Territories in Eastern Ukraine, Resuming Emergency Special Session, Meetings Coverage and Press Releases, United Nations, 2022-10
Eva Bartlett & Colonel Douglas Macgregor, Trish Wood, Trish Wood is Critical, 2022-10-08
Note: yt-dlp will download podcasts published by Apple. Scroll down to RELEASE FILES for installation. This source does not directly relate to the article, but I find Macgregor an excellent commentator, and Eva is a very brave journalist. Thus, you receive informed commentary on the Nord Stream attacks and other topics, and what is actually happening in Donbas.
Iran’s anti-morality police protests: a different view from the ground, Max Blumenthal interviews Setareh Sadeghi, The Grayzone, 2022-10-09
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I reject all global institutions. A true Pope will withdraw from united nations, a satanic institution at core