53rd Munich Security Conference
With a total of 680 participants,[1] including 30 heads of state and government, nearly 60 representatives of international organizations and 65 top business leaders,[2] it was the largest conference to date.
At the same time, von der Leyen stressed the importance of close transatlantic cooperation[5] and said that Germany would "bear a larger, a fairer part of the burdens for the common Atlantic security".
[12] Schäuble and MEP Elmar Brok both stressed the need for the EU to take its own internal and external security into its own hands in order to prevent a further loss of overall stature.
[8] During an evening event, NATO defence ministers from the UK, France, Netherlands, Canada and Turkey discussed the situation of the Western Alliance in the context of the financial dimension of providing for their collective security.
Fallon therefore welcomed Washington's push for binding commitments to document the progress of the individual Alliance partners to reach the 2% target and provide for better burden-sharing in defence matters.
The Dutch defence minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert pointed out that Europeans had been able to take a peace dividend over a long period of time, even when the security situation deteriorated.
[28] On the second day of the conference, Chancellor Angela Merkel described the great changes in foreign policy in her speech[29] and called for a new global order pattern, which would have to be developed 25 years after the end of the East-West confrontation.
[32] The Chancellor included amongst others NATO, which has grown in importance due to Russian annexation of the Crimea and the "conflicts in the east of Ukraine, during which Russia supported the separatists".
[34] US Vice President Mike Pence reaffirmed the United States' readiness to ensure mutual security guarantees: "The US strongly supports NATO, and will remain steadfast in its commitments to the transatlantic alliance."
At the same time, the Vice President confirmed the American view that Europeans had long since ignored the principle of fair burden-sharing and warned: "This undermines the foundations of our alliance.
"[35] The Vice President demanded that NATO increase its contribution to the fight against international terrorism,[34] according to Pence, currently the biggest threat to the West.
[39] At the same time, the UN Secretary General stressed that the UN needs fundamental reforms that would enable the organization to develop simpler and quicker procedures for crisis management and to become more transparent.
[36] The "European path" of security policy complements these aspects with questions of education, employment growth and responsible governance, Mogherini added.
[46] The Russian Foreign Minister called for a reduction in the global influence of Western countries, as the world could not be ruled in the long run by an "elite club of states".
[46] In a panel discussion on global health risks, Microsoft founder Bill Gates warned of new forms of terrorism with biological weapons.
Gates said that in a few years, according to epidemiologists, terrorists might be capable of developing genetically modified species of deadly agents on the computer screen.
In addition, the link between health issues and international security is ignored, even though constant biotechnological progress allows the development of new vaccines and medicines which would help to curb epidemics early on.
According to Gates, research must be carried out on how to respond to the panic reactions of the general population and the over-congestion of transport or communication systems in order to ensure sufficient medical care at all times.
Kagame warned that if the government, the authorities, and the people do not trusted each other, essential security mechanisms, such as the health system, would fail in crisis situations such as epidemics.
[14] German Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière and US Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly took part in a panel discussion on combating terrorism.
The newly appointed US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly spoke also about the "travel ban" issued by the Trump government to citizens from seven Muslim countries.
The Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif expressed his critical opinion on America's approach in the discussion and stated that such a travel ban was not helping in the fight against terrorism, but rather promotes Islamophobia, which terrorists will take advantage of.
[53] Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman in his speech accused Iran of pursuing nuclear ambitions and destabilizing the situation in the Middle East through proxy wars and the associated smuggling of weapons.
[56] During the conference, Jane Harman, President of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, discussed with US Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Lindsey Graham and Christopher Murphy the policies of the Russian Federation under Putin.
Democrat Senator Murphy was convinced that Russia had tried to actively influence the 2016 US presidential elections, and demanded that this be examined by Congress and to possibly impose further sanctions.
Republican Senator Graham confirmed the statements of the previous speaker and urged US President Trump to take decisive action against Russia, regardless of the fact that the 2016 election attacks were directed not against his party but the Democrats.
The influential internal Republican party critic of Donald Trump predicted that further attempts of interference would occur, e.g. in French or German election campaigns, if there was no effective response to Moscow's cyber attacks.
[58] The prize was presented by Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, who described Gauck as an "advocate of civil rights", and who had previously worked as a pastor in the GDR to overcome seemingly insoluble problems.
"[61] The fact that the US did not object to a meeting of the Normandy Group was interpreted by observers as a sign of Washington's support for Germany's role as a mediator in the conflict.
[2] The report, a collaborative effort by the MSC and various think tanks, also highlighted the challenges for international security policies and raised the spectre of an end to the current Western-dominated world order.
