The German Chancellor unequivocally reaffirmed Germany’s candidacy for leader of Europe and, more importantly, outlined a course for Europe to achieve “strategic autonomy” from the United States
With a little imagination, the annual Munich Security Conference can be presented as a big social event or royal ball in one of Alexander I’s or Louis XVIII’s European palaces. Just like at a grand ball, great importance is attached to details here, the invitees gossip and exchange rumours, and, on occasion...
The conclusion is clear: to preserve the liberal world order by all means, to rationalize United States policy, and to isolate Russia and China or make them return to their usual roles. But a return of the old order of post-bipolar times is unlikely
Andrey Kortunov:
Why the World is Not Becoming Multipolar
The organizers of the Munich Security Conference have released their
annual report
. As usual, it is a good and well-founded text. The analysis of key international trends is combined with...
Amidst the increasing risks of a military confrontation between Russia and the West, politicians would better to take into account the experience of religious leaders like Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill. By Russia Direct With a great deal of buzz about a global war, involving Russia and other great powers, the recent Munich Security conference is very symbolic and ill-omened. It seems to create a sort of the catch 22 situation: the more politicians talk about it, the more concerns they have, the...
... responsibility falling on the shoulders of the leading global players – the United States, the European Union, Russia and China. However, we still seem incapable of presenting a collective response even to the most fundamental threats.
Regulars of the MSC remember President Putin’s famous Munich Speech of 2007 very well. Observers would then often refer to the speech as one manifesting a strategic turn in Russia’s foreign policy and a challenge to the United States and the West. I believe ...
Snow is still white in the fields
but spring is in the water’s voice.
Running, the waters wake the sleepy banks.
They run, they glisten, they rejoice…
Surprisingly, one of Fyodor Tyutchev’s best known poems was written not in Moscow or in his family estate, but in his beloved Munich, where he spent the best years of his life. And it was not inspired by the March landscapes of central Russia, but by the awakening spring in the Alpine foothills of the Kingdom of Bavaria. The chances...
... seems impossible to talk when everyone’s listening
The Munich Security Conference is a perfect place to talk and listen. But it seems impossible to talk when everyone’s listening.
One would imagine that the 2016 Munich Security Conference (MSC) is the event of the season for all those who care about stopping the suffering of millions of people all over the world. The reasons for that suffering or fear thereof are easy to list just by taking a quick look at any media front page – Syria,...