February 07, 2007 (the date of publication in Russian)
Alexei Baliyev
AMERICAN DREAMS
Will Siberia become a US protectorate?
Several days ago a group of Russian political scientists returned from Seattle, where they took part in a discussion on the perspectives for development of Siberia and Russia's Far East. The Russian participants, members of the Board of Directors of the consulting agency FarWest LLC, were told to ponder on the fate of the region, as it was obvious to the American side (mostly siding with the Democratic Party) that Russia will soon be incapable of governing the area.
This topic came up after discussion of China's continuing expansion into Eastern Siberia and the Far East was brought up by the American side.
Furthermore, the US scientists stated unanimously that Russia will soon be unable to hang on to these territories on its own and will need the help of the US and the West in order to do so. Also, the opinion that this area is a "natural resource deposit", which should be available for the "good of mankind" to anyone in the world, was expressed; therefore, this territory's status should be similar to that of Antarctica.
The situation with the legal status of the region isn’t as clear as could be hoped for, according to experts close to the Democratic Party (which is on excellent terms with the People's Republic of China). It turns out the US opinion is that the Russian-Chinese deals of the XIX century (regarding the handing over to the Russian Empire the "Chinese" territories on the Amur river and Primorsky Krai) are considered "unequal", implying that Russia acted as a conquistador of sorts, and that the time has come to change the borders according to a plan, formulated by an international commission.
If we keep in mind that the US officially supports Japanese claims regarding Russia's Far East and is now helping fuel the bonfire of China's territorial complaints, we can see that the West is seriously contemplating offering Peking a deal for dividing up Russia's Far East according to the strategical scenario proposed by Zbigniew Brzezinski.
After hearing and analyzing all of these proposals the participating Russian political scientists tried to explain that such schemes would hardly meet the approval of Russian society, not to mention the government.
Nevertheless it looks like the US doesn't plan on forgetting its plans for dividing the Far East. These ideas first appeared in 1918-1922, during the Civil War in Russia. In March 1918 at a secret meeting in Seattle between leaders of Japan, the UK and the US occurred (ironically, the aforementioned conference also took place there). It was agreed that the US would get Eastern Siberia, including Yakutia, Kamchatka and some inland territories of the Far East; Japan would gain control over Sakhalin, most of the Sea of Okhotsk coastline and the ports of today's Primorsky and Khabarovsk territories (krai).
Vladivostok and Nahodka would become open ports, one of which would belong to the UK. Britain would also get key executive positions and 55% of the profits of the Trans-Siberian and Chinese Far East Railways, which would be united under a joint American-British-Japanese consortium. The US and Japan would each get 22,5% share in that consortium.
Tuva and Buryatia (together with Mongolia) would be divided between the US and China, so that the economy was dominated by America and the politics – by China. Joint American-Chinese troops were even planned in this region.
Today the old American colonial plans for "arranging things in Siberia" have once again been taken off the shelves and are now being discussed with a new "for the good of all mankind" twist.
The current situation is also characterized by the fact that the US doesn't wanting to share the Siberian trophy with as many allies as before. The UK has stopped being a world superpower, and Japan will have to do with the four Kuril Islands, the return of which has long been an idea fix for the political leaders of the country. America is willing to allow only China in on the deal.
However, if we dare call the plans described above colonial the American partners may become offended. After all, they're worrying about the "future of humanity", for which "egoistical and ineffective" Russia must once again give up its territory. For now, voluntarily…
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