| Summary/Abstract |
IN MID-SEPTEMBER this year, Dushanbe hosted another summit of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which marked the starting point for Russia's chairmanship of it for the period 2014-2015.Scan the political and economic landscape in the SCO's area of responsibility and along its perimeter with an eye to the planned events schedule as well as the evolving explosive situation in Afghanistan and Ukraine. You can already assert that Russia's initiating and coordinating role in this period will be constantly affected by challenges like increasing political, military and social instability in the region and the world at large, the resurgent terrorist and narcotics threats, and continued attempts by extra-regional forces to gain a foothold and expand their presence in Central Asia.
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