Peace Through Strength: The Middle East Funnel. Expert Discussion
On July 10, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion titled “Peace Through Strength: The Middle East Funnel”. The expression “peace through strength” has recently become very common among politicians and the media in the West. To some extent, it represents the continuation of attempts by the United States and Europe to maintain a central place in international politics by relying on military instruments and a strategy of forcing other countries to make decisions that are beneficial to the West. This approach is most evident in Middle Eastern affairs: Israel’s military campaign against its neighbours meets the current interests of the United States. However, in the longer term, reliance on military instruments is doomed to lead the West itself and world politics as a whole to a dead end. Problems are not solved, they only get worse. What is the role of the United States in the Middle East crisis? How will the military campaign against Iran affect the process of nuclear proliferation? What might be the reaction of other states interested in acquiring nuclear weapons? The participants of the discussion answered these and other questions. Speakers: Alexander Maryasov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Thailand and Permanent Representative to ESCAP (2010-2014), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Iran (2001-2005) Abbas Mirzai Ghazi, representative of the Russian-Iranian Centre for Legal and Economic Cooperation (Iran) Mark Episkopos, Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Public Administration (USA) Barbara Slavin, Distinguished Fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington (USA) Marco Carnelos, Founder and CEO, MC Geopolicy Moderator: Timofei Bordachev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club, Professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics
On July 10, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion titled “Peace Through Strength: The Middle East Funnel”. The expression “peace through strength” has recently become very common among politicians and the media in the West. To some extent, it represents the continuation of attempts by the United States and Europe to maintain a central place in international politics by relying on military instruments and a strategy of forcing other countries to make decisions that are beneficial to the West. This approach is most evident in Middle Eastern affairs: Israel’s military campaign against its neighbours meets the current interests of the United States. However, in the longer term, reliance on military instruments is doomed to lead the West itself and world politics as a whole to a dead end. Problems are not solved, they only get worse. What is the role of the United States in the Middle East crisis? How will the military campaign against Iran affect the process of nuclear proliferation? What might be the reaction of other states interested in acquiring nuclear weapons? The participants of the discussion answered these and other questions. Speakers: Alexander Maryasov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Thailand and Permanent Representative to ESCAP (2010-2014), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Iran (2001-2005) Abbas Mirzai Ghazi, representative of the Russian-Iranian Centre for Legal and Economic Cooperation (Iran) Mark Episkopos, Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Public Administration (USA) Barbara Slavin, Distinguished Fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington (USA) Marco Carnelos, Founder and CEO, MC Geopolicy Moderator: Timofei Bordachev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club, Professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics