Latest news with #ChristophHeusgen
Russia Today
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
The US is giving its European vassals what they've been asking for, and it's brutal
It's the 'end of an era" and Germany is 'in disarray.' And not just Germany: 'Pandemonium' rages in Europe; the continent is under 'assault.' Its elites are 'shaken, anxious, and sometimes aghast,' as an 'ideological war' has been declared against their fiefdom, which is being 'left in the dust.' A big 'boom' has sounded, and a 'ferocious reckoning' is underway. In short, it's a 'European nightmare.' The above are quotes from (in order of appearance), the Financial Times, The Telegraph, and The Economist (all three from Britain), Le Monde (France), Bloomberg (US), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Bild (both Germany), and, finally, the (German) head of the Munich Security Conference Christoph Heusgen himself. Later, Heusgen, a beyond-middle-aged man and experienced bureaucrat, just cried, literally. For which he was applauded. What happened? Have 'the Russians' finally done what whole divisions of NATO-EU politicians, generals, admirals, think tankers, media talking heads and careerist intellectuals have been feverishly promising for years already? Are their tanks rolling down the Kudamm in Berlin and the Champs Elysees in Paris already? Not that Moscow has given any sound reason to believe it wants to do such things (who'd want to conquer a heap of economic misery, demographic malaise, and cultural pessimism, really?) But that has never mattered to European 'elite' fantasies. No, it's not that: The Russians are not coming. Indeed, it's the other way around. As in that 1970s Hollywood horror movie where 'the call comes from inside the house,' the sum of all fears for NATO-EU Europe is now emanating from Washington. How ironic. For it's not Russia but the all-new Trumpist US that is panicking its own subjects: The Americans are leaving. Or, at least, they have made it brutally clear that they are tired of babying their EU vassals, who need to get ready to stand on their own feet. What an idea! A bloc of roughly 450 million inhabitants and in possession of modern (if steadily declining) industries – defend itself? What's next? Asking healthy adults to walk, breathe, and eat on their own? The timing, at least, of that overdue dose of tough love from Washington is not entirely fair, to be sure: The US, after all, has profited from its European colonies as well; and especially recently Washington's policies have mightily deindustrialized, subverted, and generally crippled NATO-EU Europe. Very much with the help of the proxy war and puppet regime in Ukraine, the American empire has begun to devour its most loyal, submissive, self-abasing subjects – and now it's asking the sorry remnants to stop being so clingy. It's harsh, no doubt. Yet geopolitics is not about fairness but power. And the comprador 'elites' of NATO-EU Europe have only themselves to blame for letting the US treat their countries like dirt. Now things are escalating quickly: A genuine reset, maybe even a new détente between Russia and the US is a real possibility. That's a very good, sensible thing for the world. But for the Euro-vassals, even this propitious turn of events comes with a very bitter taste: Washington has told them that they need not be in the room when serious powers talk. And Washington is right. Being first systematically abused, fleeced, and then dropped – as in that very, very bad relationship every good friend would tell you to get the hell out of – would be awful enough. Yet things are even worse for a Europe that has made itself kickable as perhaps never before. Because Washington is not simply threatening to abandon it. The vassals should be so lucky! No, what Washington is really suggesting is a whole new and very raw deal: You, vassals, stay under our command and influence. In fact, we want even more of that. And in return we, your overlords, owe you nothing. Call it Mafia 2.0: all the extortion, none of the 'protection.' That was one but not the only message of the already famous speech that US Vice President J.D. Vance delivered at the Munich Security Conference. The speech, not long but packing a punch and well worth listening to in full, touched on various issues, including a terrorist attack in Munich that coincided with the conference, the authoritarian suppression of dissent with abortion in Britain, the recent canceling of elections in Romania, the upcoming vote in Germany, and, of course, migration. The silly hysteria around allegations of Russian meddling in Western politics and Greta Thunberg and Elon Musk also got a mention. What kept these topics together was one simple but important idea: Vance reminded his listeners that genuine security – it was a security conference after all – is not only a matter of defense against outside threats but also requires domestic stability and consent inside countries. That, in turn, he argued, means that the NATO-EU vassals are running their fiefdoms all wrong. Vance admonished his listeners that they marginalize and suppress opinions and political choices which genuine democracies should, instead, accommodate. Let's be fair but let's not idealize Vance or the US, either: His criticism of Brussels, Paris, Berlin, London etc. and their Centrist-authoritarian habits is fundamentally on point. Yet it is ironic and especially shameful for the Euro-vassals that it took an American, a representative of a de facto oligarchy/plutocracy, to tell them about democracy. Moreover, and more importantly, Vance was, of course, deeply dishonest, too: His criticism of European attacks on essential freedoms made no mention of the single most important and most violently suppressed opinion of them all: namely resistance against the apartheid state of Israel and its genocide of the Palestinians. There, Vance and his Trumpist friends are just as bad as their European vassals, at least. Vance, in short, had a big point while also engaging in a big lie. More generally, it was clear that the US vice president was biased and intended to support, in particular, those on the right, with an affinity for Trumpism, against being 'firewalled' out of European politics. Indeed, without mentioning the party by name, he made it clear that he wants the German establishment to accept the AfD as a normal part of the political system. He also demonstratively met with AfD leader and chancellor candidate Alice Weidel (and not with irrelevant lame-duck chancellor Olaf Scholz: that's what you get for grinning sheepishly when they blow up your pipelines). Judging by the polls, such a 'normalization' of the AfD would make it part of the next government – a prospect about which Berlin's cartel of traditional parties is still in denial. Vance's pointed – and again, factually correct – attack on the manner in which elections have recently been suppressed in Romania aimed in the same direction. Even Germany's stodgy Centrist-conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has acknowledged that the official pretext for annulling the election (bad Russia, of course…) was 'extraordinarily thin.' Vance used the occasion to fire a loud warning shot across the European bow: He singled out former EU commissioner Thierry Breton's bizarre praise for the Romanian operation and less than hidden threat to do the same in Germany, in case German voters dare vote in a manner Brussels won't like. The US vice president, in effect, told his listeners: Don't you dare. Let's zoom out for a moment: What was the broader significance of the speech – apart from announcing that the Euro-vassals will be on their own as far as security is concerned but will remain under intense American influence regarding their domestic politics? Three points stand out: Number one: Appeasement does not work. And I mean, of course, not regarding Russia, but the US, which is Europe's real problem. We have seen repeated attempts to do precisely that – appease Washington by promising to buy more liquefied natural gas and arms and spend more on defense (a lot, a ruinously lot more). And yet: the Euro-vassals still got socked in the eye as never before. Point number two: 'Values' are not your friends. After years of the arrogant invocation of allegedly superior 'values,' the Euro-vassals got the 'value' treatment themselves: Vance pointedly started his speech by declaring that Washington believes that it is Europe – no, not Russia or China - that has abandoned the right 'values.' Indeed, the US vice president's whole speech was also a textbook application of the rhetoric of values to meddle in other states' business. So that's what that feels like, his listeners might have thought, if they were capable of self-reflection. And point number three: If you wish to put Munich 2025 into historical context, forget about 'Munich 1938.' The endless, stupid comparison of everything with what happened between Hitler and Chamberlain back then has, of course, made its umpteenth appearance now, too. To be frank, it seems the only thing spent Western ideology cadres such Timothy Garton Ash, his Noltean clone Tim Snyder, or the information warriors at The Economist can ever think about. And yet, in reality, the other Munich Europeans should actually recall now is that of 2007. That's when they were warned, extensively and in detail, by none other than Russian President Vladimir Putin. Many remember his speech then as above all a warning regarding Russia's security interests – one that was flippantly disregarded, which is one reason the West has now lost a war against Moscow. But Putin's 2007 Munich speech was more than that, namely a fundamental if short analysis of the enormous dangers inherent in US power and especially American domination. A wiser Europe would have listened and balanced against this obvious threat. A very, very unwise Europe decided to instead throw in its lot with Washington as never before, come what may. Now a reckoning is due.
Fox News
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Tearful chair of Munich Security Conference expresses 'fear' in farewell address after blistering Vance speech
The outgoing chairman of the Munich Security Conference delivered an emotional farewell speech that ended in tears, after he expressed "fear" over Vice President JD Vance's blistering speech to the annual conference on international security policy. "This conference started as a trans-Atlantic conference," German diplomat and chair of the conference Christoph Heusgen said Sunday. "After the speech of Vice President Vance on Friday, we have to fear that our common value base is not that common anymore. I'm very grateful to all those European politicians that spoke out and reaffirmed the values and principles that they are defending. No one did this better than President Zelenskyy, who has been fighting for these values – democracy, freedom, rule of law for the past three years." Heusgen's speech marked the close to his leadership of the Munich Security Conference, as former Secretary-General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg takes the reins of the international security forum. Heusgen had served as leader of the forum since 2022. Social media critics began posting snippets of Heusgen's speech to X Sunday, claiming the German diplomat and longtime advisor to former German Chancellor Angela Merkel broke down in tears over his frustrations with Vance's blistering speech to the international body. The conference clarified on X that the diplomat reportedly broke down due to his speech being his last as chairman of the forum. "Our former Chair Christoph Heusgen did not shed a few tears out of 'frustration.' It was his farewell speech as he was leaving the MSC after this year's conference. He was saying goodbye to the team at this very moment. The video snippet here is edited together," the conference posted to X Monday morning. The full video of Heusgen's speech shows him breaking down into tears after warning that "our rules-based international order is under pressure." "It is clear that our rules-based international order is under pressure," he said. "It is my strong belief… that this multipolar world needs to be based on a single set of norms and principles, on the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This order is easy to disrupt, it's easy to destroy, but it's much harder to rebuild, so let us stick to these values. Let us not reinvent them, but focus on strengthening their consistent application." President Donald Trump has frequently taken shots at the United Nations since his first administration, and said earlier in February that the U.N. was "not being well run" and needs to get its "act together." "Let me conclude. And this becomes difficult," Heusgen said, choking up, before leaving the podium on the stage and hugging various members of the audience. A spokesperson for the conference reiterated to Fox News Digital Monday that Heusgen teared up solely due to the fact that he was ending his three-year term leading the forum and that "many long-time participants and friends were in the Conference Hall to say goodbye" to the diplomat. "I was truly touched by the warm farewell I received from the entire MSC team and so many friends after my last MSC as chairman," Heusgen added in comment to Fox News Digital. "It was a very emotional moment on stage at the end of my term. A video is circulating on the internet that takes this scene of my departure out of context. Unfortunately, this once again shows how the mechanisms of disinformation work." His speech to the assembly followed Vance's on Friday, where the U.S. vice president lambasted "Soviet"-style European censorship, joked about left-wing environmentalist Greta Thunberg, and slammed ongoing immigration woes that have throttled European nations and the U.S. under the Biden administration. "Trust me, I say this with all humor," Vance said at one point of his speech. "If American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk." Vance also took issue with current immigration practices across the world, calling them "out-of-control migration" policies that include allowing unvetted migrants into foreign nations. Vance's comments followed a suspect identified as an Afghan migrant ramming a car into pedestrians at a trade union demonstration in Munich Thursday, killing a mother and child and injuring at least 37 others. "But why did this happen in the first place?" Vance said in his speech of the Munich car attack. "It's a terrible story, but it's one we've heard way too many times in Europe, and unfortunately, too many times in the United States, as well. An asylum seeker, often a young man in his mid-20s, already known to police, rams a car into a crowd and shatters a community. How many times must we suffer these appalling setbacks before we change course and take our shared civilization in a new direction?" Other world leaders seemingly took issue with Vance's speech during the forum, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying the day after Vance's speech that Germany rejects "outsiders intervening in our democracy." Stateside, conservatives have celebrated Vance's speech as "almost Reaganesque," "pro-American" and pro-free speech on social media and during Fox News interviews. Fox News Digital reached out to the Munich Security Conference on Monday for additional comment regarding Heusgen's speech and did not immediately receive a reply.
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Munich Security Conference chief calls event a 'European nightmare'
The Munich Security Conference (MSC) was "in a certain sense a European nightmare," according to the head of the meeting, Christoph Heusgen, after the close of the high-profile gathering of world leaders and foreign policy experts on Sunday. However, the conference also brought a lot of clarity, Heusgen told German public broadcaster ZDF. The event showed "this America under Trump lives on a different planet," he said. "We also noticed that even Republican senators are very cautious about speaking publicly because they are afraid of their president." His comments came after a series of upsets, starting with US Vice President JD Vance lambasting European allies for endangering democracy, excluding populist parties and failing to heed opposition to migration. German lawmakers were angered when he indirectly referenced the domestic political debate ahead of snap elections on February 23. Vance said, "There is no place for firewalls," referring to mainstream parties ruling out working with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). In a further snub, he met the leaders of the German political parties, including the AfD, but failed to meet Scholz. Ukraine was among the main topics in focus for the 60 world leaders and more than 100 ministers gathered in Munich, alongside Israel and the Palestinian Territories and Syria. But European leaders and Ukraine left the conference fearing they would may be excluded from bilateral peace talks between the US and Russia as Washington prepares talks with Moscow on ending Russia's war on Ukraine. Of potential peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, Europe must stand together, Heusgen said. "We need to show much more strength," he said. Europe not only wants to sit at the table during negotiations but must also develop its own security plan for Ukraine. European leaders are set to gether in Paris on Monday to discuss future strategy on Ukraine. Former NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg is replacing Heusgen at the helm of the key international security conference, with the next gathering due in February 2026.
Bloomberg
16-02-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
MSC's Heusgen on Ukraine, VP Vance, Europe's Challenge
Munich Security Conference Chairman Christoph Heusgen discusses the 'shockwave' caused by US Vice President JD Vance's speech at the event as well as the ongoing movement in discussions around Ukraine's future and the challenge for Europe's leaders to be part of the conversation. Heusgen spoke in an interview with Bloomberg's Oliver Crook in Munich. (Source: Bloomberg)
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hopes for Ukraine peace deal framework at Munich Security Conference
The director of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) hopes the "contours" of a peace agreement for Ukraine can be reached at the high-profile international summit in southern Germany this weekend. "We hope - and we already have corresponding signals - that Munich will be used to make progress with regards to peace in Ukraine," said Christoph Heusgen in Berlin on Monday. Heusgen was in the German capital to present the "Munich Security Report 2025" ahead of the conference. The MSC is due to take place from Friday to Sunday, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US Vice President JD Vance and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz all expected to attend along with some 60 other political leaders. A meeting between Scholz and Vance is expected. "Whether a plan will be announced at the conference remains to be seen," said Heusgen. "What I'm sure about is that the conference will be used to see the contours of such a plan, and which parameters must be in an agreement." Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for almost three years. German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Monday that intensive efforts at various levels to end the killing in Ukraine were ongoing. However, Berlin's stance that "nothing should be decided over the heads of the Ukrainians" remained unchanged, he noted. The European Union is expected to send a high-profile delegation to the security meeting, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who will be accompanied by the bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, European Council President Antonio Costa and the first-ever European commissioner for defence, Andrius Kubilius. Russia has not been invited to take part since launching its war on Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The Munich Security Report 2025 presented by Heusgen analyses "the far-reaching consequences of the multipolarization of the international order." It found that "for many politicians and citizens around the globe, a more multipolar world holds significant promise." However, recent developments suggest that "the negative effects of greater multipolarity are prevailing as divides between major powers grow and competition among different order models stands in the way of joint approaches to global crises and threats." The US, China and Russia are seen as superpowers by an overwhelming majority in almost all countries, followed by Britain, Japan and Germany, said Tobias Bunde, director of research at MSC.
