Poland hosts conference on the Middle East spearheaded by US

World Today

Poland hosts conference on the Middle East spearheaded by US

A two-day international conference on ‘peace and security” in the Middle East is underway in Poland.
The meeting was organized by the United States. And while dozens of countries are there, many important players are not.

They were either not invited – or declined to go.


CGTN’s Aljosa Milenkovic reports from Warsaw.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence arriving at the joint Polish – American military base at outskirts of Warsaw, together with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
He is leading a U.S. delegation of political heavyweights with high hopes on creating broader coalition to pressure Iran.
But before he went to the conference, Pence shared a message to U.S. soldiers about the administration’s vision of “Pax Americana.”

“Just in the past two years, President Trump signed the largest investment in our national defense since the final days of the cold war. We released a national security strategy, advancing peace across the wider world, as well. Peace through American strength and the strength of strong alliances with freedom loving nations around the world.”

Words that would likely resonate around the world, particularly in the light of this Iran focused conference.
A conference that stirred a lot of controversy way before it actually started, even here among Poles.

Antoni Jakubowski of the Center for Polish-Asian Studies said this:

“It also grew an opposition towards this conference, so much so that at the eve of this information that the conference would take place here, the deputy foreign minister of Poland was sent to Iran in order, let’s say to appease the Iranian establishment.”

And Iran wasn’t silent on the gathering in Warsaw. Their Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, quickly dismissed any positive prospects for success of the conference:

“On the Warsaw conference, I believe, it’s dead on arrival or dead before arrival. I don’t think it would do anything. It’s another attempt by the United States to pursue an obsession with Iran, that is not well-founded and I think the fact that they’re not even aiming to produce any agreed text rather they are just attempting to make a statement by themselves on behalf of everybody indicates to you that they don’t even believe it’s a serious affair.”

Real work at the conference starts on Thursday with a lot of meetings happening behind the closed doors, but it’s true achievements would be difficult to judge, considering that some major players at the Middle East, like Turkey, Iran, Russia, China, Qatar, Lebanon, Iraq are not present here in Poland. Aljosa Milenkovic, CGTN, Warsaw.