M ajor W orld P owers and the M iddle E ast

THOMAS R. MATTAIR: Director of research, Middle East Policy Council, and associate editor of Middle East Policy; author, Global Security Watch — Iran: A Reference Handbook We have convened this conference to consider U.S., European, Russian, and Chinese national interests in the outcome of Arab-Israeli negotiations, the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, Gulf security, disputes over Iran’s policies, and the war against al-Qaeda and the Taliban and associated militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The United States has serious decisions to make about all of these issues, and it needs to know what the motivations are behind the policies of the other major world powers. What do these major world powers think they have at stake in these outcomes? To what extent do they think their interests converge with or diverge from U.S. interests? To what extent do they think their economic opportunities and global standing would be affected by these outcomes? Do any of them want to see a gradual erosion of American power or even U.S. failure in the region? Answering these questions will help the United States formulate its policies and to know if it can or cannot expect cooperation from other powers as we implement our policies.