{"id":224097,"date":"2022-11-21T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T12:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=224097"},"modified":"2022-11-19T11:29:56","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T11:29:56","slug":"russia-india-china-iran-the-quad-that-really-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/11\/russia-india-china-iran-the-quad-that-really-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia, India, China, Iran: The Quad That Really Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

15 Nov 2022 – <\/em>Southeast Asia is right at the center of international relations for a whole week viz a viz three consecutive summits: Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Phnom Penh, the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Bali, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok.<\/p>\n

Eighteen nations accounting for roughly half of the global economy represented at the first in-person ASEAN summit since the Covid-19 pandemic in Cambodia: the ASEAN 10, Japan, South Korea, China, India, US,\u00a0Russia, Australia, and New Zealand.<\/p>\n

With characteristic Asian politeness, the summit chair, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (or \u201cColombian\u201d, according to the so-called \u201cleader of the free world\u201d), said the plenary meeting was somewhat heated, but the atmosphere was not tense: “Leaders talked in a mature way, no one left.”<\/p>\n

It was up to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to express what was really significant at the end of the summit.<\/p>\n

While praising the \u201cinclusive, open, equal structure of security and cooperation at ASEAN\u201d, Lavrov stressed how Europe and NATO \u201cwant to militarize the region in order to contain Russia and China\u2019s interests in the Indo-Pacific.\u201d<\/p>\n

A manifestation of this policy is how \u201cAUKUS is openly aiming at confrontation in the South China Sea,” he said.<\/p>\n

Lavrov also stressed how the West, via the NATO military alliance, is accepting ASEAN \u201conly nominally\u201d while promoting a completely \u201cunclear\u201d agenda.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s clear though is how NATO \u201chas moved towards Russian borders several times and now declared at the Madrid summit that they have taken global responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

This leads us to the clincher: \u201cNATO is moving their line of defense to the South China Sea.\u201d And, Lavrov added, Beijing holds the same assessment.<\/p>\n

Here, concisely, is the open \u201csecret\u201d of our current geopolitical incandescence. Washington\u2019s number one priority is the containment of China. That implies blocking the EU from getting closer to the key Eurasia drivers\u00a0 – China, Russia, and Iran \u2013 engaged in building the world\u2019s largest free trade\/connectivity environment.<\/p>\n

Adding to the decades-long hybrid war against Iran, the infinite weaponizing of the Ukrainian black hole fits into the initial stages of the battle.<\/p>\n

For the Empire, Iran cannot profit from becoming a provider of cheap, quality energy to the EU. And in parallel, Russia must be cut off from the EU. The next step is to force the EU to cut itself off from China.<\/p>\n

All that fits into the wildest, warped Straussian\/neo-con wet dreams: to attack China, by emboldening Taiwan, first Russia must be weakened, via the instrumentalization (and destruction) of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

And all along the scenario, Europe simply has no agency.<\/p>\n

Putin, Raeisi and the Erdogan track <\/strong><\/p>\n

Real life across key Eurasia nodes reveals a completely different picture. Take the relaxed get-together in Tehran between Russia’s top security official Nikolai Patrushev and his Iranian counterpart Ali Shamkhani last week.<\/p>\n

They discussed not only security matters but also serious business \u2013 as in turbo-charged trade.<\/p>\n

The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will sign a $40 billion deal next month with Gazprom, bypassing US sanctions, and encompassing the development of two gas fields and six oilfields, swaps in natural gas and oil products, LNG projects, and the construction of gas pipelines.<\/p>\n

Immediately after the Patrushev-Shamkhani meeting, President Putin called President Ebrahim Raeisi to keep up the \u201cinteraction in politics, trade and the economy, including transport and logistics,” according to the Kremlin.<\/p>\n

Iranian president reportedly more than \u201cwelcomed\u201d the \u201cstrengthening\u201d\u00a0of Moscow-Tehran ties.<\/p>\n

Patrushev unequivocally supported Tehran over the latest color revolution adventure perpetrated under the framework of the Empire\u2019s endless hybrid war.<\/p>\n

Iran and the EAEU are negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in parallel to the swap deals with Russian oil. Soon, SWIFT may be completely bypassed. The whole Global South is watching.<\/p>\n

Simultaneous to Putin\u2019s phone call, Turkiye\u2019s Recep Tayyip Erdogan – conducting his own diplomatic overdrive, and just back from a summit of Turkic nations in Samarkand \u2013 stressed that the US and the collective West are attacking Russia\u00a0\u201calmost without limits\u201d.<\/p>\n

Erdogan made it clear that Russia is a\u00a0\u201cpowerful\u201d\u00a0state and commended its\u00a0\u201cgreat resistance\u201d.<\/p>\n

The response came exactly 24 hours later. Turkish intelligence cut to the chase, pointing out that the terrorist bombing in the perpetually busy Istiklal pedestrian street in Istanbul was designed in Kobane in northern Syria, which essentially responds to the US.<\/p>\n

That constitutes a de-facto act of war and may unleash serious consequences, including a profound revision of Turkiye\u2019s presence inside NATO.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s multi-track strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Russia-Iran strategic alliance manifests itself practically as a historical inevitability. It recalls the time when the erstwhile USSR helped Iran militarily via North Korea, after an enforced US\/Europe blockade.<\/p>\n

Putin and Raeisi are taking it to the next level. Moscow and Tehran are developing a joint strategy to defeat the weaponization of sanctions by the collective West.<\/p>\n

Iran, after all, has an absolutely stellar record of smashing variants of \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d to bits. Also, it is now linked to a strategic nuclear umbrella offered by the \u201cRICs\u201d in BRICS (Russia, India, China).<\/p>\n

So, Tehran may now plan to develop its massive economic potential within the framework of BRI, SCO, INSTC, the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), and the Russian-led Greater Eurasia Partnership.<\/p>\n

Moscow\u2019s game is pure sophistication: engaging in a high-level strategic oil alliance with Saudi Arabia while deepening its strategic partnership with Iran.<\/p>\n

Immediately after Patrushev\u2019s visit, Tehran announced the development of an indigenously built hypersonic ballistic missile, quite similar to the Russian KH-47 M2 Khinzal.<\/p>\n

And the other significant news was connectivity-wise: the completion of part of a railway from strategic Chabahar Port to the border with Turkmenistan. That means imminent direct rail connectivity to the Central Asian, Russian and Chinese spheres.<\/p>\n

Add to it the predominant role of OPEC+, the development of BRICS+, and the pan-Eurasian drive to pricing trade, insurance, security, investments in the ruble, yuan, rial, etc.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the fact that Tehran could not care less about the endless collective West procrastination on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as Iran nuclear deal: what really matters now is the deepening relationship with the \u201cRICs\u201d in BRICS.<\/p>\n

Tehran refused to sign a tampered-with EU draft nuclear deal in Vienna. Brussels was enraged; no Iranian oil will \u201csave\u201d Europe, replacing Russian oil under a nonsensical cap to be imposed next month.<\/p>\n

And Washington was enraged because it was betting on internal tensions to split OPEC.<\/p>\n

Considering all of the above, no wonder US ‘Think Tankland’ is behaving like a bunch of headless chickens.<\/p>\n

The queue to join BRICS<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand last September, it was already tacit to all players how the Empire is cannibalizing its closest allies.<\/p>\n

And how, simultaneously, the shrinking NATO-sphere is turning inwards, with a focus on The Enemy Within, relentlessly corralling average citizens to march in lockstep behind total compliance with a two-pronged war \u2013 hybrid and otherwise \u2013 against imperial peer competitors Russia and China.<\/p>\n

Now compare it with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Samarkand presenting China and Russia, together, as the top \u201cresponsible global powers\u201d bent on securing the emergence of multipolarity.<\/p>\n

Samarkand also reaffirmed the strategic political partnership between Russia and India (Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it an unbreakable friendship).<\/p>\n

That was corroborated by the meeting between Lavrov and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar last week in Moscow.<\/p>\n

Lavrov praised the strategic partnership in every crucial area – politics, trade and economics, investment, and technology, as well as \u201cclosely coordinated actions\u201d at the UN Security Council, BRICS, SCO and the G20.<\/p>\n

On BRICS, crucially, Lavrov confirmed that \u201cover a dozen countries\u201d are lining up for membership, including Iran: \u201cWe expect the work on coordinating the criteria and principles that should underlie BRICS expansion to not take much time\u201d.<\/p>\n

But first, the five members need to analyze the ground-breaking repercussions of an expanded BRICS+.<\/p>\n

Once again: contrast. What is the EU’s \u201cresponse\u201d to these developments? Coming up with yet another sanctions package against Iran, targeting officials and entities \u201cconnected with security affairs\u201d as well as companies, for their alleged \u201cviolence and repressions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiplomacy\u201d, collective West-style, barely registers as bullying.<\/p>\n

Back to the real economy \u2013 as in the gas front \u2013 the national interests of Russia, Iran and Turkiye are increasingly intertwined; and that is bound to influence developments in Syria, Iraq, and Libya, and will be a key factor to facilitate Erdogan\u2019s re-election next year.<\/p>\n

As it stands, Riyadh for all practical purposes has performed a stunning 180-degree maneuver against Washington via OPEC+. That may signify, even in a twisted way, the onset of a process of unification of Arab interests, guided by Moscow.<\/p>\n

Stranger things have happened in modern history. Now appears to be the time for the Arab world to be finally ready to join the Quad that really matters: Russia, India, China, and Iran.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Pepe Escobar, born in Brazil, is a correspondent and editor-at-large at <\/em>Asia Times and<\/em> columnist for<\/em> Consortium News and<\/em> Strategic Culture in Moscow. Since the mid-1980s he\u2019s lived and worked as a foreign correspondent in London, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, Singapore, and Bangkok. He has extensively covered Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia to China, Iran, Iraq and the wider Middle East. He is the author of <\/em>Globalistan<\/a> (2007),<\/em> Red Zone Blues<\/a> (2007), <\/em>Obama Does Globalistan<\/a> (2009), <\/em>Empire of Chaos<\/a> (2014) and <\/em>2030<\/a> (2015), all by Nimble Books. Pepe was contributing editor to <\/em>The Empire and The Crescent and<\/em> Tutto in Vendita in Italy and is also associated with the Paris-based European Academy of Geopolitics. When not on the road he lives between Paris and Bangkok. <\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 presstv.ir<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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