But all the hoo-ha probably stems also from the sense that this Russian initiative could mark the coming into birth of something more serious — of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a putative military alliance. Admittedly, the „4+1 alliance“ — Russia, Iran, Syria and Iraq, plus Hezbollah — is not branded as SCO (and the coalition partners do not overlap with SCO membership), but the 4+1 alliance venture might well yet prove to be a „pilot“ in non-Western, successful coalition-operating. Furthermore, its objective is precisely to preempt NATO-style regime change projects — a prime SCO concern. This prospect certainly would irk the Western security establishment — and would potentially change many an existing NATO calculus.