It is a bleak picture of the world that Wolfgang Ischinger paints. The “wrecking ball” is currently being used to smash “what would actually belong to a stable international order,” said the chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC). This year’s “Munich Security Report,” which he presented in Berlin on Monday, also bears the title “Under Destruction.”
There is no question that this year’s MSC is taking place in extremely difficult times. In many Western societies, political forces have gained influence that prefer a policy of destruction to reform policy, the preparatory report says now published report. With US President Donald Trump at the helm, a world is emerging that is characterized by transactional deals instead of principled cooperation, in which private interests supersede public interests and in which the will of the great powers instead of an international set of rules shapes the fate of the world’s regions.
More than a thousand participants from around 120 countries have registered for the event next weekend at the Bayerischer Hof, including more than 60 heads of state and government. However, the highest-ranking representatives of the superpowers USA and China will only be Foreign Ministers Marco Rubio and Wang Yi. As in previous years, Russia was not invited due to its war of aggression in Ukraine. The Putin regime is currently acting as if it is willing to negotiate, but at the same time it is “terrorizing” the Ukrainian civilian population, said Ischinger.
AfD is there, the left is not
According to Ischinger, four central points will run through the entire conference: Firstly, it will be about Germany’s role in Europe and the world. Secondly, the focus is on the question of Europe’s ability to “assert itself more strongly with its own strengths in the future, represent its own interests and speak with one voice”. The third major issue is the troubled transatlantic relations. Fourthly, it will be about the global crises, the most important of which is currently the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also confirmed his participation.
The list of participants also includes EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and numerous other representatives of international organizations. Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is coming to Munich for the first time, is likely to receive particular attention. With a courageous appeal for a new alliance of the Central Powers he made headlines at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who will give the opening speech on Friday, the federal government will compete with almost full team strength. Of the opposition parties, the Greens and the AfD, which was invited again this time after a two-year breakbe prominently represented. The Left Party, however, will not be there. According to a party spokesman, neither the party nor the parliamentary group leaders received an invitation.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is coming to Munich for the first time, is likely to receive particular attention
US Democrats travel to Munich
Last year had US Vice President James David “JD” Vance with his frontal attack from the far right caused outraged reactions to the domestic political situation in Europe. Ischinger does not expect such an appearance from Rubio this year, who is scheduled to appear on Saturday. Until proven otherwise, he assumes “that we can expect the American Secretary of State to talk about American foreign policy and not about issues that do not directly affect his department,” said conference leader Ischinger. At least that is his expectation.
Some of the fiercest opponents of the current US administration are also expected from the USA. Ischinger announced the participation of California Governor Gavin Newsom, left-wing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer as prominent representatives of the opposition Democratic Party.
As in the past three years, Iran will not be represented at the MSC by official delegates from the Islamic Republic. Given the “general weather situation” and the “massacre-like events” in Iran “Even after intensive consultation with our own government,” we refrained from inviting government representatives, said Ischinger. He “unfortunately has the impression that constructive talks with the Iranian side are unlikely to take place in Munich at this moment.” However, representatives of the Iranian opposition would be present instead.
He will be there Shah’s son Reza Pahlavi. Not without controversy due to the bloody rule of his father, who was overthrown in 1979, Pahlavi, who lives in the USA, has supported the past mass protests against the Iranian leadership and is considered the best-known Iranian opposition figure in exile. He is also announced as a speaker at a major rally planned for Saturday on Munich’s Theresienwiese under the motto “Human rights and freedom in Iran. International solidarity with the Iranian people”, at which up to 100,000 people are expected.