Aleksander Szczyglo
Minister Of Defense
Polish Government Puts Poland On The Sidelines
Gdansk Information Guide, Poland 11 February, 2007 Poland's Government skipped attending the high level security conference in Munich at which Putin just stunned the world with the Polish Minister of Foreign affairs deeming it only worthy of a scribe and Poland's Minister of Defense passing it off as "not that important".
Recently discharged Minister of Defense Sikorski had been scheduled to go to the meeting. He was replaced by a scribe. See No Representative.
And the current Minister of Defense Aleksander Szczyglo said he had more important things to do. He had to continue working on preparations to send Polish troops to Iraq.
When questioned by a reporter about Russia's Vladimir Putin going to the meeting, he said that Putin would not be there.
His comments raised a firestorm of criticism in Poland. Polish television evening news featured not only his comments but criticism from Polish foreign policy experts. They accused him and the Polish Government of marginalizing Poland.
The meeting is very important event. It is there that the all important private conversations are held and private agreements made.
It is there that personal relationships are established.
Poland missed that interaction.
The Polish foreign ministry said that the new Minister of Defense had not received an invitation to the meeting. They had time to send a scribe but did not have time to request a new invitation.
Not only was Putin at the meeting with over two hundred world leaders and important people, Putin raised tensions between the East and the West in a speech that is said to have stunned the people at the meeting. And there will be more to come today.
Putin set the tone for future relationships that will definitely have a major impact on Poland.
The Kremlin has for several weeks been dropping hints that Putin, who steps down next year after two terms in power, was preparing a major foreign policy speech that would point the way for his successor.
"The message I got from his speech was that Putin wants Russia to have the same position in the world as the former Soviet Union," said a senior European official. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fg-putin11feb11,0,1174094.story?track=mostviewed-homepage">
But Poland, the Eastern border of the European Union, will have neither its Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor its Minister of Defense on hand to participate first hand in the response to what could be a significant threat to Poland in the years to come.
Poland is on the sidelines and has missed a serious opportunity to move forward with the world community. The image that it has created for itself is less than attractive. Now, because it has shown no interest, it will probably be expected to follow rather than be the leader that it wanted to be.
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