US missile defense for Europe attacked by Iran

As Iran, Russia, and China meet in Kyrgyzstan at a security conference with four formerly Soviet Central Asian countries, America's spreading military power has been at the top of the agenda. It appears to be a matter on which the three powers are in agreement: America's supposed military supremacy cannot go unchallenged.

In his speech Thursday to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinjad attacked US plans to deploy missile intercepting technology to Eastern Europe, saying the US plan could threaten much of Asia's security, the Associated Press reports.

The U.S. says it wants to deploy missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic to deflect potential threats from Iran. But Russia has objected to the initiative as a threat to its own security and the balance of forces in Europe.

Ahmadinejad said "these intentions go beyond just one country. They are of concern for much of the continent, Asia and SCO members."

Bloomberg reports that Russia and China are worried about the United States perceived sole superpower status. The two nations are willing to do business with Iran in order to change the balance of the world security order that they feel is badly out of whack. Another important subtext to the conference is that Russia and China are seeking to present themselves as potential developers of Central Asia's vast oil and gas reserves without carrying the political package with them that doing business with the US sometimes brings.

China and Russia, which are competing with the West for access to Central Asia's oil and gas reserves, are positioning the SCO as a counterweight to the U.S., said Andrew Kuchins of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

``Russia and China never tire of reiterating their commitment to a multipolar world and opposition to a unipolar one,'' he said in a telephone interview. ``The SCO is a manifestation of that in Eurasia.''

The SCO in 2005 called for a timetable to end the U.S. military presence in Central Asia. Within six months, Uzbekistan ordered out U.S. forces stationed at its Khanabad airbase. The U.S. has a remaining airbase in Kyrgyzstan, which is used to support operations in Afghanistan.

On Friday, the attendees at the conference will observe unprecedented war games between the participants' militaries – the first on Russian soil involving cooperation with China, once a rival of the Soviet Union – that the country's leaders hope will solidify their burgeoning military cooperation in the face of US concerns, reports the Agence France-Presse.

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