51st Munich Security Conference

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Federal Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen opens the 51st Munich Security Conference.

The 51st Munich Security Conference took place from February 6th to 8th, 2015. Among the more than 400 international participants from almost 80 countries were 20 heads of state and government, 70 foreign and defense ministers and 30 CEOs of large companies. The German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen gave the opening speech.

In her speech, she explained Germany's willingness to take on international leadership responsibility. This is not to be understood as a tour “with a spiked hat ”, explained the minister, but rather a “tour from the center”. That could also mean “fighting together”. Von der Leyen derived her country's obligation to defend human rights from German history, but admitted that the German population was “more cautious” on this issue.

Ukraine

In connection with the conflict in Ukraine , von der Leyen accused Russia of waging an "undeclared war" there. However, she spoke out against the delivery of weapons to Ukraine.

Even NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg appealed on the opening of Russia to relent in the conflict. "The Cold War is history and it should stay that way," explained Stoltenberg. He reaffirmed NATO's determination to repel any attack, but also warned of the long-term security implications of reduced defense budgets. A meeting between Stoltenberg and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during the conference was described as "frosty".

Chancellor Angela Merkel at the 51st Security Conference

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel traveled to Munich immediately after a joint mediation mission with French President François Hollande to visit Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. In her speech, Merkel again refused arms deliveries to Ukraine and spoke out in favor of a diplomatic solution and the revitalization of the Minsk Agreement , since the conflict could still not be resolved militarily. She has called Russian politics “disillusioning” since the agreement was signed, but at the same time referred to her personal experiences in East Germany with the construction and fall of the Berlin Wall as an example of the successful non-military solution to a conflict. In response to repeated demands for arms deliveries to Ukraine, the Chancellor replied: "I am very doubtful." According to Merkel, Putin cannot be persuaded to give in with arms and soldiers. After her speech, Merkel met with US Vice President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for a three-way meeting.

At the conference, Poroshenko declared his country's readiness for an unconditional ceasefire and accused Russia of intervening in the conflict with regular army units. As evidence, he presented the conference participants with the passports of Russian soldiers who fought in eastern Ukraine. Poroshenko supported the Franco-German mediation efforts, but pushed for quick results. At the same time, he demanded arms deliveries from the West for his country, which as a sovereign state had the right to defend itself.

US Vice President Biden called on Russian President Putin to “get out of Ukraine” and made him personally responsible for the situation there. "It is the result of Putin's decisions that the world looks different today," said Biden at the security conference. He also supported the Franco-German peace efforts on behalf of US President Barack Obama , but expressed skepticism about Russia's willingness to keep to the agreements made. Biden declared that the conflict in Ukraine could not be resolved militarily, but at the same time emphasized Ukraine's right to self-defense. The vice president warned Russia of the economic consequences if the country does not give way in the conflict with Ukraine. According to Biden, Russia's President Putin is faced with the decision to “accept withdrawal from Ukraine or rising economic costs at home”. He also announced that his country would continue to deliver military equipment to Ukraine in the future, but did not respond to the requested arms deliveries.

US Senators Bob Corker and John McCain had also spoken out in favor of arms deliveries . McCain expressed his conviction at the conference that Russian President Putin was not interested in any diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict, but wanted to dominate Russia's neighboring states. Therefore, the West must supply Ukraine with “defensive weapons” in order to increase the costs for Putin, explained the senator, who interpreted the conflict as “a prelude to further aggression”. In drastic terms, McCain criticized the German government's negative attitude towards arms deliveries to Ukraine. He called Merkel's attitude “foolish”, compared her policies with the appeasement of the 1930s and assumed that she was ignorant and indifferent to the victims in Ukraine. McCain's harsh criticism of Chancellor Merkel was rejected by German politicians. US Senator Lindsey Graham also criticized the German stance, accusing Merkel of committing a mistake and of turning his back on those who fight for democracy. Graham recalled the sacrifices other nations made during the Cold War to secure the freedom of the Federal Republic.

At the security conference, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov accused the West of deliberately intensifying the conflict in Ukraine. Russia itself is not responsible for this conflict, Lavrov said. In his speech, he also blamed the USA for the massive tensions in the relationship between the West and Russia. Lavrov accused the United States of pursuing global dominance and of violating international agreements with its missile defense in Europe. The Russian Foreign Minister described the current situation as a “turning point” at which the West had to decide whether it wanted to “establish a security architecture with, without or against Russia”. Lavrov was positive about the Franco-German peace efforts.

Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (left) and US Secretary of State John Kerry at the 51st Security Conference

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed harsh criticism of Lavrov's speech . He called on Russia to be more willing to compromise and accused his Russian counterpart of having made no contribution to resolving the conflict with his speech. The minister ruled out a quick end to the conflict. Like Chancellor Merkel before, Steinmeier also rejected arms deliveries to Ukraine, describing them as "high-risk" and "counterproductive". The most important task is to limit the conflict in order to gain scope for political solutions, explained the Foreign Minister. He emphasized that lasting security in Europe could only be achieved together with Russia, just as Russia had a good future only with and not against Europe.

US Secretary of State John Kerry stressed the US's close cooperation with Europe and said there was no division or disagreement on the Ukraine issue. Kerry also spoke out in favor of a diplomatic solution to the crisis and accused the Russian President Putin of "brazen efforts" to destabilize eastern Ukraine.

At the conference, British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond supported Chancellor Merkel's negative stance on arms deliveries to Ukraine. His cabinet colleague, Defense Minister Michael Fallon , who had coordinated with Federal Defense Minister von der Leyen, warned of further escalations in the event that offensive weapons systems were delivered. He rejected Senator McCain's accusation of appeasement against Chancellor Merkel and described the serious effects of the economic sanctions on the Russian economy. Fallon accused Russian President Putin of having direct control over the Russian separatists in Ukraine. At the same time, Putin's action increased cohesion within NATO, the British minister continued. The French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius also rejected arms deliveries and offered Russia to come to an agreement on autonomous rights for ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine. The minister refused to extend Russian control to Ukrainian territory, calling it a violation of European order.

Philip M. Breedlove , NATO's Commander-in-Chief in Europe and previously skeptical about arms deliveries to Ukraine, said at the conference that "the possibility of a military option should not be ruled out from the outset" should negotiations and sanctions fail. However, the general himself ruled out the use of ground troops.

Nuclear negotiations with Iran and the fight against terror

In connection with the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program , the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Jawad Zarif objected at the conference to a further extension of the agreement period, which ran until the end of March 2015. He reported support from the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i for the Iranian government's nuclear negotiations and called for the sanctions against his country to be lifted. The EU foreign affairs representative Federica Mogherini was optimistic about the course of the negotiations with Iran and spoke in Munich of a "historic opportunity" to resolve the conflict. During the security conference, Sarif and US Secretary of State Kerry met twice for direct negotiations. The Israeli minister Yuval Steinitz warned at the conference of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East if Iran should become a nuclear power.

In the fight against the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS), the Israeli minister called for more military and financial support from the West for Egypt , Jordan , the Kurds and moderate forces in Syria . US Secretary of State Kerry reported in Munich that the international coalition against IS had carried out 2,000 attacks against the terrorists since August 2014. The attacks helped to free 700 square kilometers from IS rule. In connection with the burning of the Jordanian pilot Muʿādh al-Kasāsba alive by the IS, Kerry spoke of a “new dimension of corruption” and announced that he would act relentlessly against terrorist groups such as IS and Boko Haram .

Refugees and the Global Order

During a panel discussion, UN refugee commissioner António Guterres warned of the dangers of the global refugee crisis for peace and security. Guterres described the global security situation with the words: "We do not have a bipolar world, we do not have a multilateral world, we have a chaotic world." Salil Shetty , Secretary General of Amnesty International , accused the international community of failing to protect human rights and advocated it UN Security Council decisions on human rights violations for a restriction of the right of veto. Shetty criticizes the EU for the fact that its 27 member states have only accepted 9,000 refugees from Syria, while the five neighboring states of Syria have to cope with 3.8 million civil war refugees. The Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam called the situation of his country, which had taken 1.5 million refugees from Syria with four million inhabitants, catastrophic. Federal Development Minister Gerd Müller promised Tammam further aid and called on the EU to accept more refugees. In the discussion, Müller complained about the global disproportion between military spending and development aid and received support from the Vice President of the German Bundestag , Claudia Roth , for his demand for the redistribution of funds .

The collapse of the global order was the subject of another panel discussion at which Martin Schulz , President of the European Parliament , Kumi Naidoo , international director of Greenpeace , and George Soros , investor and philanthropist, discussed the possibilities of a future new world order. Previously, the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland presented a proposal to reform the UN Security Council .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The world is looking for solutions to its greatest problems. bz-berlin.de, February 6, 2015, accessed on May 18, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Dark prospects for the world crisis solver. handelsblatt.com, February 6, 2015, accessed May 18, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Munich Security Conference: How does Merkel use her big stage? n-tv.de, February 6, 2015, accessed on May 18, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Manuscript of the Defense Minister's speech at the 51st Munich Security Conference. bmvg.de, February 6, 2015, accessed on May 18, 2015 .
  5. ↑ a b guided tour - but without a pimple hood. taz.de, February 6, 2015, accessed on May 18, 2015 .
  6. ↑ a b Germany wants to lead - but without a pimple hood. welt.de, February 7, 2015, accessed on May 18, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Leyen: Weapons for Kiev are fire accelerators. War in Ukraine. faz.net, February 6, 2015, accessed May 19, 2015 .
  8. ↑ "Fire accelerator" in Ukraine: Von der Leyen does not want to deliver weapons. n-tv.de, February 6, 2015, accessed on May 19, 2015 .
  9. ↑ Lead from the middle, fight together. sueddeutsche.de, February 6, 2015, accessed on May 19, 2015 .
  10. ↑ NATO Secretary General on the conflict with Russia: Frosty meeting between Stoltenberg and Lavrov: "We see it very differently". focus.de, February 7, 2015, accessed on May 19, 2015 .
  11. ↑ Exhausted Chancellor wants to create peace without weapons. welt.de, February 7, 2015, accessed on May 21, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Weapons for Kiev? Merkel is "very doubtful". sueddeutsche.de, February 7, 2015, accessed on May 21, 2015 .
  13. ↑ Poroshenko ready for an unconditional ceasefire. zeit.de, February 7, 2015, accessed on May 25, 2015 .
  14. ↑ Poroshenko's cry for help in Munich: "How much more evidence does the world need?" spiegel.de, February 7, 2015, accessed on May 25, 2015 .
  15. ^ Biden to Putin: Get out of Ukraine. cnn.com, February 7, 2015, accessed May 25, 2015 .
  16. ↑ Biden: Putin can't do what he wants. faz.net, February 7, 2015, accessed May 25, 2015 .
  17. ↑ US Vice President Biden threatens Russia with high costs. zeit.de, February 7, 2015, accessed on May 25, 2015 .
  18. ↑ Merkel: Even armament does not stop Putin. Ukraine war. faz.net, February 7, 2015, accessed August 14, 2015 .
  19. ↑ "Putin's compromises only prelude to further aggression". McCain for arms deliveries. faz.net, February 8, 2015, accessed May 25, 2015 .
  20. ↑ a b McCain accuses Merkel of “folly”. Ukraine politics. faz.net, February 7, 2015, accessed May 25, 2015 .
  21. ↑ a b “A question of will”: McCain warns of a major attack on world order: “It is worth fighting now”. focus.de, February 8, 2015, accessed on May 25, 2015 .
  22. ^ German-American rift on the open stage. welt.de, February 7, 2015, accessed on May 25, 2015 .
  23. ↑ a b Lavrov blames the United States. Ukraine crisis. spiegel.de, February 7, 2015, accessed June 4, 2015 .
  24. ↑ a b Steinmeier attacks Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov. zeit.de, February 8, 2015, accessed June 4, 2015 .
  25. ↑ Putin: Russia doesn't want a war. Ukraine conflict. faz.net, February 7, 2015, accessed June 4, 2015 .
  26. ↑ Steinmeier criticizes Lavrov speech. spiegel.de, February 8, 2015, accessed June 4, 2015 .
  27. ↑ Kerry emphasizes the unity of Europe and the USA. Ukraine crisis. merkur.de, February 8, 2015, accessed June 4, 2015 .
  28. ^ Munich Security Conference: Arms dispute among brothers in arms. derstandard.at, February 8, 2015, accessed on August 14, 2015 .
  29. ↑ "This is not an appeasement towards Russia. Welt.de, February 11, 2015, accessed on August 14, 2015 .
  30. ↑ Everyone talks to one another and about one another. Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference. tagesspiegel.de, February 8, 2015, accessed on August 14, 2015 .
  31. ↑ The arms debate is coming. zeit.de, February 6, 2015, accessed June 4, 2015 .
  32. ↑ NATO general does not want to rule out military option. spiegel.de, February 7, 2015, accessed June 4, 2015 .
  33. ↑ Tehran does not want the nuclear talks to be extended. Iran and USA. handelsblatt.com, February 8, 2015, accessed September 14, 2015 .
  34. ↑ a b Iranians play for time in nuclear negotiations. sueddeutsche.de, February 8, 2015, accessed on September 14, 2015 .
  35. ↑ Success is tangible in Atom talks. Green light from Tehran. n-tv.de, February 8, 2015, accessed on September 14, 2015 .
  36. ^ "A nuclear race in the Middle East must be prevented". Yuval Steinitz, Israel's Minister of Intelligence. euronews.com, February 19, 2015, accessed September 14, 2015 .
  37. ^ Israeli minister urges West to give more armst o Kurds, Jordan. yahoo.com, February 6, 2015, accessed September 14, 2015 .
  38. ↑ USA: Great successes in the fight against IS terrorist militia. dw.com, February 8, 2015, accessed September 14, 2015 .
  39. ↑ US-led coalition squeezing Islamic State, Kerry says. timesofisrael.com, February 8, 2015, accessed September 14, 2015 .
  40. ↑ a b "We have a chaotic world". Flight and displacement. faz.net, February 7, 2015, accessed September 14, 2015 .
  41. ↑ a b c Millions of calls for help fade away in Munich. rp-online.de, February 7, 2015, accessed on September 14, 2015 .
  42. ↑ Federal Minister Müller: Development policy is of great importance for global security. bmz.de, February 11, 2015, accessed on September 14, 2015 .
  43. ↑ The world revolves around him. spiegel.de, February 6, 2015, accessed on September 14, 2015 .
  44. ↑ New proposals for UN reform. taz.de, February 7, 2015, accessed on September 14, 2015 .