Thee Council of National Directors (CND) of the Polish American Congress (PAC) will meet in Washington, DC 25-28 September 2017 in a political context shaped by both hopeful and fearful events.

On the hopeful side, Warsaw hosted THE THREE SEAS INITIA- TIVE CONFERENCE early in July. Poland as the key country of the Intermarium, the lands between the Baltic, Black, and Adriat- ic Seas, guides this project. e goal is to avoid a power vacuum from developing in this region between Germany and Russia. e way to achieve this purpose is to build a regional grouping, with lines of communication running from north-to-south, to link together the countries of the Intermarium, rather than from west- to-east, which divides these countries from each other. A uni ed Intermarium will promote economic growth, energy indepen- dence, and collective security.

Readers may recall that the Polish State, then based in London, put forward a similar plan during World War II. is was the project of a Czechoslovak — Polish Confederation as the nucleus of a larger regional grouping, which did not succeed, according
to Professor Piotr Wandycz, due to Soviet opposition. Today, the Kremlin does not want the Intermarium project to go forward. A strong and truly sovereign Intermarium will prevent the re-es- tablishment of a Russian sphere of in uence in this region, and attenuate German economic hegemony.