Frankendesign

US Aims To Dominate Central Asia
"Blitzkrieg," the devastatingly effective Nazi war strategy, is how Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld describes current US military strategy in Afghanistan. Rumsfeld maintains, that the Pentagon must shift its priorities to building a high-tech military capable of launching similar lightning strikes across the world. (Financial Times, 1/2/02)
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Rumsfeld also underscored the developing view of US imperialism that other imperialist countries, which are at the same time allies and competitors "must not be given a veto over US military goals."
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In blitzkrieg fashion the Pentagon smashed into Central Asia, using the excuse of a "war against terrorism" to establish a permanent military presence in oil-rich Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadjikistan and Uzbekistan, four bases in Afghanistan and four more in Pakistan.

The rapidly expanding US military occupation is arousing deep apprehension among all the countries in the region.

Articles in the Pakistani, Indian and Russian press, and a number of European newspapers, have raised alarm regarding the long-term US presence in the heart of Asia.

Kommersant, Russia's main business newspaper, stated, "The main goal of the military presence is to uphold the economic interests of US companies, primarily the oil and gas sectors."

Another Russian newspaper warned, "The so-called honeymoon in relations between Russia and Washington, which started after the September 11 attacks, seems to be gradually developing into a new cold war."

Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Fu Quanyou warned that positioning US troops in Kazakhstan, which shares a 1000-mile border with China, "poses a direct threat to China's security."

Now US oil corporations are rushing to consolidate their position. The Hindustan Times of India reported (3/2/02) that a consortium has revived plans to build a gas pipeline that will link gas fields in Turkmenistan to India after stretching 1000 miles across Afghanistan.
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