The campaign against terror in Afghanistan and Iraq has scrambled the geopolitical cards far and wide.(Brief Article)

The campaign against terror in Afghanistan and Iraq has scrambled the geopolitical cards far and wide. Previously unthinkable, democracy has now reached Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Ukraine, and neighboring China and Russia, two would-be superpowers, don't like the look of it. Both of them worry that the Americans are putting notions of freedom into people's heads, and in particular that the newly established American bases in Central Asia mean that such notions have to be countered sooner rather than later. Hence the joint Russian-Chinese military exercises known as "Peace Mission 2005," a title that in pure old-style Communist-speak has the reverse meaning of We Are Warning You. These exercises are supposedly directed against terrorism, extremism, and separatism, and both countries indeed ...