Shanghai Cooperation Organization, SCO 2026 Summit held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

[Ravenlocke]

Also from Pepe Escobar

Iran gave Trump a way out of war, Return to the MOU or Hormuz stays shut
Why he said no

Pepe Escobar
All the intricate intel + a detailed explanation of the SCO.


Trump called Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir repeatedly — "find me an off-ramp" — according to a source close to Munir cited by Zulfiqar Ali. Munir went to Tehran and, Zulfiqar reports, persuaded a reluctant Iran to offer Washington a way out; Trump rejected it because he could not present it as a victory. Days later the Strait of Hormuz tanker incident restarted the bombing. The call-level details are Zulfiqar's sourced reporting and have not been independently verified; the 14-point Islamabad MOU is public (link below).
Pepe Escobar then lays out what Washington won't: Iran's actual terms (return to the MOU or Hormuz stays shut), the timeline Tehran is reported to be planning for, the endurance contest over interceptors and resupply, and why the global economy cannot sustain a forever war at the world's most important chokepoint.
Then the story the West ignored this week: the SCO summit in Bishkek. The declaration on the attack on Iran and "indivisible security"; the proposed SCO energy consortium and development bank outside the dollar system; Mongolia and Afghanistan moving toward membership; Pakistan's 2027 chairmanship; and the Saudi–Pakistan–Turkey Mecca Defence Agreement moving from paper to institution. What is confirmed, what is developing, and what it means for oil, the dollar and the next phase of the war.
Pepe Escobar is a veteran geopolitical analyst who has covered the SCO since its 2001 founding. Zulfiqar Ali's reporting draws on sources inside Pakistan's military and diplomatic leadership. Transition Protocol is an independent, source-driven channel; claims from insiders are labelled as such on screen. Subscribe and turn on notifications — tomorrow: Larry Johnson on Vladivostok and the Eastern Economic Forum.


https://x.com/RealPepeEscobar/status...63543309922590

[Ravenlocke]

🅰pocalypsis 🅰pocalypseos 🇷🇺 🇨🇳 🅉

🇷🇺 Sergey Glazyev on the Bishkek SCO summit: Washington’s threat to cut Iran’s partners off the dollar is the opening. The answer is a sovereign digital settlement currency—gold-backed first, then a commodity basket—so SCO trade no longer runs through NATO’s payment system.

“The meeting of SCO heads of state beginning in Bishkek is taking place shortly after the US Administration imposed ‘unprecedented’ sanctions on Iran. The US leader is openly threatening to disconnect from the dollar system all countries that cooperate with Iran.

While for Russia the link to the dollar system is maintained only by the Central Bank leadership, which for some reason continues to quote this currency and denominate the ruble’s exchange rate in it, for other SCO states such a ‘disconnection’ would paralyze a significant part of their foreign economic operations. This is the right moment to put forward a proposal to introduce a global digital settlement currency, one that Russian experts have long advocated.

Almost a decade ago, a project for such a currency — SOLID — was presented at the Eastern Economic Forum, whose next session will also take place this week. Had it not been for the opposition of the Bank of Russia’s leadership, this currency would have occupied an important niche in international trade, a niche now captured by USDT.

Russian experts have now developed a project for another such currency — UNIT — a gold-backed stablecoin. It was presented on the sidelines of last year’s BRICS summit of heads of state, the next meeting of which will take place in two weeks. We have long proposed launching a highly stable digital settlement currency pegged to two baskets: exchange-traded (dual) commodities and the currencies of the participating countries in this payment system.

The obvious response to the American threat to ‘disconnect from the dollar system’ countries that trade with one of the SCO members is for the SCO countries to introduce a digital settlement currency independent of the United States and other NATO countries that are aggressing against the world. At the first stage, such a currency could be a gold-backed stablecoin; later, the basket backing it could be expanded to include exchange-traded commodities produced in the SCO countries.

Further delay in implementing this initiative risks serious economic losses for all countries trading with Iran, except Russia. China, India, and other SCO states now have a stake in this as well.

THE TIME HAS COME. The SCO should declare itself a serious integration grouping with its own currency-settlement and trade-financial instruments.”

The dollar weapon is the empire’s last instrument. SCO settlement outside that system is the reply. Delay is the only remaining gift to Washington.

https://x.com/apocalypseos/status/2094971807317311597

[Ravenlocke]

Pepe Escobar

This is THE column on the SCO summit everyone should read.

https://geopoliticsprime.substack.co...lly-up-against

https://x.com/RealPepeEscobar/status...88226422505508

https://geopoliticsprime.substack.co...lly-up-against

What the SCO is really up against
By Pepe Escobar


The 25th annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, may not have been as flashy as last year’s show in Tianjin, China, but it was still remarkable in several key aspects.

The final Bishkek Declaration may have been ultra-diplomatic. But the main points could not have been stressed with more clarity.

SCO members unanimously condemn the US attack on Iran; support the reform of the international financial system; are engaged in propelling the SCO to a key role debating global questions; refute double standards on terrorism; oppose interference on sovereignty of states; and reaffirm the indivisibility of security.

Call it a concise Eurasia manifesto – in sharp contrast with a discombobulated Empire of Chaos.

Among the two dozen documents signed in Bishkek, one particularly stands out, regulating the Universal Center for Countering Security Challenges and Threats to SCO Member States. Translation: a mechanism to counteract imperial Hybrid — and Hot — Wars.

Moreover, Iran, a full SCO member, emphasized the urgent necessity of setting up both a development bank and an energy consortium.

It’s quite enlightening to once again be reminded of how the top two SCO superpowers, Russia and China, view the complex yet inexorable construction of what amounts to a new system of international relations.

President Putin remarked how, today, “the SCO is effectively the largest regional association not only on our common Eurasian continent, but in the world as a whole. Its member states are home to almost half of the world’s population and account for more than one-third of global GDP.”

As mutual trade and investment keep growing all across the Eurasia spectrum, Putin emphasized how “Russia’s trade with SCO countries exceeded $400 billion in 2025, while our states are increasingly using national currencies in mutual settlements. In Russia’s transactions with SCO members, their share now exceeds 98%.”

That’s way more advanced when compared to BRICS – the other top multilateral organization driving multipolarity – whose annual summit is only less than two weeks away in New Delhi.

Echoing the Iranian support, Putin stressed how the proposed SCO Development Bank is “now being established”: it should be “as independent as possible from the financial systems of states that use economic instruments as weapons to gain unilateral advantages in international affairs.”

That means the SCO Development Bank should be way more independent than the NDB, the BRICS bank, whose statutes are linked to the US dollar. We are already on an advanced stage of multilateral consultations on the bank’s charter, capital size and governance structure.

Then there’s energy: Putin highlighted the SCO Energy Cooperation Strategy, which is supposed to be implemented in detail all the way to 2030.

The tripod anchoring Chinese geoeconomics

Now compare it with President Xi Jinping, who right from the start affirmed the drive towards economic development and “shared prosperity”: “We should advocate a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, consolidate cooperation in traditional areas such as trade, investment, connectivity, energy and resources, and expand cooperation in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, digital economy, green industry and green mining.”

Xi amplified what had been announced last year in Tianjin, defining the SCO as “a priority area for promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and implementing the Global Development Initiative.”

So this is the tripod anchoring Chinese geoeconomic policy: the SCO, the New Silk Roads and the Global Development Initiative. In practice, this is also the blueprint of a new system of international relations.

Xi mentioned, as part of the drive, the SCO Digital Economy Forum; the SCO Agricultural Expo; an “international AI application cooperation center with fellow SCO countries”; and increasing “the installed capacity of photovoltaic and wind power each by 10 million kilowatts” as well as implementing “100 technological cooperation projects with other SCO countries in the next three years.”


China is adamant on privileging “dialogue and consultation”, as well as “more equitable and orderly governance.” The key tenet: “All countries, regardless of their size, are equal, and regional affairs should be discussed by all countries to bridge differences and build consensus.”

The collective, fragmented West simply cannot accept a new system which resolutely condemns unilateral sanctions, trade protectionism and what amounts to bloc-based fragmentation. Instead, the SCO, as well as BRICS and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are connectivity enthusiasts.

That involves everything from the International North–South Transportation Corridor (INSTC), which unites three SCO/BRICS nations (Russia, Iran, India) to the building of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, as well as cross-border energy pipelines such as Power of Siberia, and an array of Eurasia-wide logistics hubs and green energy bases.

The highlights of Bishkek were once again the bilaterals, particularly the ones involving the new RIC (Russia, Iran, China). SCO interconnection could not be starker than via the INSTC, which carries Russian trade — oil, gas, cargo — across the Caspian, Iran, the Persian Gulf all the way to India, one of Russia’s largest markets.

The beauty of the INSTC is that three BRICS/SCO nations can do all their trade without touching a single chokepoint that may be closed by Washington. In this aspect, Iran plays the role of Russia’s southern gate within a strategy of counteracting Western containment


Predictably, there have been no leaks; but the war on Iran — a full SCO member — was the foremost issue in most bilaterals. Putin directly confirmed that Russia is helping Iran to deal with the Trump naval blockade: “We admire the courage of Iranians in this war. We are trying to provide you with the necessary assistance. We have discussed this and will provide you with the necessary goods.”

Follow the money: a road map for the SCO

Sergey Glazyev, arguably Russia’s top economist and currently in charge of managing Russia-Belarus Union State relations, went to the jugular on what the SCO should aim for next: “Washington’s threat to cut Iran’s partners off the dollar is the opening. The answer is a sovereign digital settlement currency—gold-backed first, then a commodity basket—so SCO trade no longer runs through NATO’s payment system.”

Glazyev points out that for Russia, “the link to the dollar system is maintained only by the Central Bank leadership, which for some reason continues to quote this currency and denominate the ruble’s exchange rate in it; for other SCO states, such a ‘disconnection’ would paralyze a significant part of their foreign economic operations. This is the right moment to put forward a proposal to introduce a global digital settlement currency, one that Russian experts have long advocated.”

Glazyev directly points to the UNIT project, whose story I broke over 2 years ago: essentially “a gold-backed stablecoin.” The UNIT “was presented on the sidelines of last year’s BRICS summit of heads of state, the next meeting of which will take place in two weeks.”

Glazyev himself has proposed “a digital settlement currency pegged to two baskets: exchange-traded (dual) commodities and the currencies of the participating countries in this payment system.” That would be “the obvious response to the American threat to ‘disconnect from the dollar system’ countries that trade with one of the SCO members.”

And the hour is getting late: “Further delay (…) risks serious economic losses for all countries trading with Iran, except Russia. China, India, and other SCO states now have a stake in this as well (…) The dollar weapon is the empire’s last instrument. SCO settlement outside that system is the reply.”

Prof. Michael Hudson, for his part, focuses on what is arguably the foremost issue: debt. The “existing backlog of dollarized debts”, as he sees it, must be wiped out. And the answer, once again, must come from Russia and China:

“If Russia and China are to provide the credit to enable their trade and investment partners, including those in the Belt and Road Initiative, it would be unreasonable for their support to be diverted to pay foreign bondholders for the enormous backlog of loans that have retarded the growth of the countries that are most seriously affected by America’s Oil War that is at the root of today’s international trade and financial instability.”

Prof. Hudson envisages no less than a new economic order financed largely by SCO/BRICS members China, Russia… and Iran: “This can be achieved by creditors taking an equity position in the economies of countries whose public infrastructure they will finance through such programs as China’s Belt and Road initiative.”

It’s all about loans for productive purposes — not scams that force nations to continue being servants of debt dependency. The most vulnerable nations are “the oil-dependent and food deficit countries. Asia and the Global South. They will have to depend on credit from Russia and China, and take on debts to Iran that may be guaranteed by China.”

This is realistic, argues Prof. Hudson, because “the system of aid for productive mutual gain will compensate China and Russia.”

Both Glazyev and Hudson are pointing to practical solutions. We are not there — yet. But the SCO — and arguably BRICS — are working on it.

[Ravenlocke]

Russia's Pivot to Asia

Sep 5
What Russia Gained From The 2026 SCO Summit: Results & Analysis

https://russiaspivottoasia.com/what-...ults-analysis/
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation annual Heads of State summit has now ended, with a major emphasis on trade development. We provide a deep-dive analysis on the 29 agreements signed, including in the security, AI, energy, environment, trade, tourism, diplomatic relations and the SCO's institutional development sectors. With the SCO possessing nearly a third of global GDP and 50% of the world's population, this report will be of significant interest to anyone involved in Eurasian affairs

https://x.com/RussiasPivot/status/2096228383491539111

https://russiaspivottoasia.com/what-...ults-analysis/

What Russia Gained From The 2026 SCO Summit: Results & Analysis

The 26th meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Heads of State in Bishkek on September 1, 2026 was significant for Russia not because another political declaration was added to the SCO archive, but because the organisation moved another step towards building the practical infrastructure of a large Eurasian economic space.

Held at the Yrys Ordo Congress Hall under the chairmanship of Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, the summit brought together the leaders of all 10 SCO member states: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, alongside the SCO leadership represented by Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev and Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure Executive Committee Director Ularbek Sharsheev.

The scale matters. Putin described the SCO as encompassing nearly half of humanity and more than one-third of global GDP, while the Kyrgyz side put the figures at more than 40% of the world’s population and around one-quarter of global GDP. The following Table 1 also places intra-SCO exports at about US$725 billion, equal to only 15.3% of members’ total exports, with Chinese direct investment in SCO countries at more than US$40 billion. To compare, as of the end of the first half of 2025 (around 1 July 2025), Russia’s outward FDI stock in the Eurasian region stood at approximately US38 billion. This made Russia one of the largest investors in the region, accounting for 78.6% of mutual FDI exports. The Eurasian Development Bank reports primarily includes key SCO members: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Belarus, along with some other post-Soviet states. That combination tells Moscow where the real opportunity lies: the SCO is already enormous, but intra-organisational commerce remains underdeveloped relative to the bloc’s economic weight. For Russia, therefore, the Bishkek summit was less about creating a conventional free-trade bloc and more about removing the physical, financial, logistical, technological and institutional barriers that prevent existing trade from becoming deeper and more diversified.

Table 1: Overall Intra-SCO Trade & Investment Overview

Metric Value / Statistic
Intra-SCO Exports Volume US$725 Billion
Share of Intra-SCO Trade 15.3% of total member exports
China Direct Investment in SCO States More than US$40 Billion
SCO Combined GDP Share 35%-40% of Global GDP
Settlements in Local Currencies (Russia-SCO) Exceeds 97%


Table 2: General Bilateral Trade Profile Among SCO Member States


Putin’s Nine Bilateral Meetings at the SCO Summit

Putin held nine bilateral meetings with foreign leaders on the sidelines of the SCO summit, on 31 August-1 September 2026. His meetings included Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov.

We have published detailed breakdowns of these meetings with China here, India here, Iran here, Turkiye here, Kazakhstan here, Tajikistan here, Uzbekistan here, Armenia here and Mongolia here.

The Bishkek Declaration: From Tianjin Strategy To Implementation

The central political document was the Bishkek Declaration marking the SCO’s 25th anniversary. Its economic importance comes from its linkage with the ten-year development strategy adopted at the 2025 Tianjin summit for 2026-2035. The declaration effectively turns that strategic roadmap into a mandate for high-quality development, deeper economic integration and stronger institutional cooperation. The summit’s document package was unusually broad.

Leaders signed the Bishkek Declaration and 27 additional outcome documents (28 total documents) and 2 annual reports at the summit. The package covers security and counter-terrorism, anti-drug cooperation, cyber and information security, AI and digital infrastructure, logistics and connectivity, energy, climate change, biodiversity, international partnerships, tourism and culture, and SCO institutional reform. The summit also saw Lahore designated as the SCO Tourism and Cultural Center for 2026-2027 and Pakistan take over the organization’s rotating chairmanship.

The SCO Bishkek Summit 2026: All Signed Agreements

The 29 signed agreement covered eight different sectors. We identify these as follows:

Security & Counter-Terrorism

Universal Security Center: Established the Universal Center for Countering Security Challenges and Threats of SCO member states, creating a new mechanism for coordinated responses to security threats.
Anti-Drug Cooperation: Approved regulations for the Executive Committee of the SCO Anti-Drug Center.
Drug Addiction: Endorsed the SCO Program of Cooperation on Combating Drug Addiction until 2030.
Synthetic Drugs: Adopted a coordination program through 2030 to combat the spread of synthetic drugs and their precursors.
Crime-Fighting Cooperation: Amended the 2010 Agreement on Cooperation among SCO governments in Combating Crime, updating the framework for law-enforcement cooperation.
Nuclear Security: Adopted a declaration on strengthening multilateral cooperation on nuclear and physical nuclear security.
Emergency Assistance: Adopted a statement on providing assistance to SCO member states affected by emergency situations and disasters.
Cyber, Information & Artificial Intelligence

Information Security: Approved a 2026-2028 cooperation plan on international information security.
Artificial Intelligence: Signed an intergovernmental Memorandum of Cooperation in Artificial Intelligence, establishing a framework for cooperation in the AI sector.
Regional Computing & AI Infrastructure: Approved a concept for creating regional data-processing centers and computing capacity and developing the AI industry within the SCO.
Information Cooperation: Signed a memorandum on cooperation in the information sphere between the authorized bodies of SCO member states.
Translation & Multilingual Cooperation: Adopted a decision concerning the provision of translation services for SCO activities.
Trade, Logistics & Connectivity

Ports & Logistics: Adopted a 2026-2030 Action Plan (Roadmap) for developing ports and logistics centers across SCO member states.
SCO Strategic Framework: Adopted the Bishkek Declaration, marking the 25th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and setting out broad priorities for future cooperation.
Energy & Green Development

Green Technology Corridor: Approved a 2026-2030 program for scientific and technical cooperation on creating an SCO “Green Technology Corridor.”
Energy Conservation: Adopted a statement supporting greater cooperation in energy conservation and energy efficiency.
Energy Systems: Adopted a statement on developing cooperation in the field of energy systems.
Climate Change: Signed an intergovernmental Memorandum on Cooperation in Combating Climate Change.
Climate, Environment & Biodiversity

Biodiversity Initiative: Adopted an SCO initiative on the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity.
Biodiversity Action Plan: Approved a 2026-2031 Joint Action Plan for biodiversity conservation and sustainable management.
Diplomatic & International Partnerships

African Union Partnership: Signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the SCO Secretariat and the African Union Commission, expanding institutional cooperation between the two organizations.
International Role: The summit’s broader declarations and decisions reaffirmed the SCO’s emphasis on multilateral cooperation and partnership.
Tourism & Cultural Cooperation

Lahore Tourism and Cultural Center: Declared Lahore, Pakistan, the SCO Tourism and Cultural Center for 2026-2027.
Family Institution: Adopted a statement supporting and strengthening the institution of the family.
Voluntary Ambassador Program: Amended the regulations governing the honorary title of “Voluntary Ambassador of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.”
Institutional & Organizational Matters

SCO Charter: Adopted a protocol introducing amendments and additions to the SCO Charter of June 7, 2002.
Termination of Previous Decisions: Adopted a decision on the termination of specified decisions of the Council of Heads of State.
Secretary-General’s Report: Received the SCO Secretary-General’s report on the organization’s work in 2025.
Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure Report: Received the report of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) on its work in 2025.
The Protocol on Amendments and Additions to the SCO Charter of June 7, 2002 is particularly important because institutional capacity determines whether economic decisions can actually be implemented. It enables the practical launch of the Universal Centre for Countering Challenges and Threats to SCO Member States, established in Tashkent, and the SCO Anti-Drug Centre in Dushanbe. The regulations for these institutions were also approved. For Russian business, this matters indirectly but materially. A more predictable security environment, better information exchange and stronger mechanisms against organised crime lower risks along trade corridors stretching from Russia through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan towards China, India, Iran and Pakistan.

Table 3: Russia’s Trade Turnover with SCO Member States

Russia’s trade with SCO nations surpassed US$409 Billion in 2024, driven primarily by trade with China, India, and Central Asian partners.

The rest here,


https://russiaspivottoasia.com/what-...ults-analysis/