Galery

1

The meeting of Greek Minister of Defence Panos Kammenos with his US counterpart Ashton Carter in Washington that is planned for tomorrow will not take place, the cause for its cancellation being the busy schedule of the US Secretary of Defense, as the official message by the Pentagon indicates. Analysts, however, define such an act against a Minister of Defence of a NATO member state as unusual, thus provoking various interpretations. Indicative is the fact that Ashton Carter met with his Polish counterpart at the Pentagon yesterday.

Panos Kammenos will not meet even the second in the hierarchy of the US Department of Defense, Robert O. Work. There is a small probability of Christine Wormuth, Secretary of Defense for Policy, receiving him.

The meeting between Carter and Kammenos was announced two months ago. In addition to the talks between the two ministers, the visit of the Greek Minister of Defence to Washington would include a series of other meetings. A few days ago, however, the Department of Defense informed Athens on the cancellation of the meeting with Ashton Carter.

However, Panos Kammenos has left for Washington, probably in the hope that the meeting will still take place, even at the last moment. In the end, it is clear that on Friday he will meet with Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, visit the CIA headquarters and lay a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery.

Despite Kammenos’ recent statements about the establishment of a NATO military base in the Aegean Sea, many of his remarks and actions have irritated a number of European countries, the US and the North Atlantic Alliance. His threats that Greece would allow illegal immigrants to travel freely thus flooding Europe with jihadists and his particularly warm relations with Moscow are just some of them. And all this is happening shortly after the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Antalya, where Moscow's actions in Ukraine were the first issue on the agenda.

Earlier today (Greek time) Panos Kammenos had a meeting with Greek organizations in the US. He will have a working lunch with deputies in the offices of Lockheed Martin as well as meetings with Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Mac Thornberry and with senators. His schedule also includes a dinner at the left oriented think-tank Atlantic Council and a meeting with the members of the conservative Hudson Institute.

In addition, Panos Kammenos, whose party Independent Greeks is one of the most anti-Semitic political formations in Greece, will visit the Holocaust Museum and will meet with Jewish organizations.

It is worth noting that according to European Parliament President Martin Schulz, SYRIZA’s coalition with Independent Greeks is a mistake. In particular, in an interview with a German newspaper he had pointed out that "even an elephant in a china shop would be a better diplomat than Mr. Kammenos."

The Greek Minister of Defence is also known for the legal proceeding he launches against the journalists and media when he does not like the material they have published. He has recently made a claim against journalist and cartoonist Andreas Petroulakis and demanded compensation amounting to 1 million euro.