Here are few famous quotes from the participants of the Munich Security Conference #MSC2018, when asked about the most pressing global Security challenges:
Jean Asselborn – Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Luxembourg
“The wars in the war in Syria. They could have huge impacts for the whole of the Middle East.”
Nikola Dimitrov – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Macedonia
“The tendency to look inward at a time when we need more global engagement.”
Lyse Doucet – Chief international correspondent at the BBC
“The lack of trust between the major powers and the major institutions that govern the world.”
Mikheil Janelidze – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Georgia
“Rising insecurity due to the concentration on internal politics.”
John Kerry – Visiting distinguished statesman at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and former U.S. Secretary of State
“Leadership and the absence of strong governance.”
Ivan Krastev Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies
“That less and less world leaders understand what is going on. There is a sense of mass disorientation.”
Hans-Dieter Lucas – German ambassador to NATO
“Complexity, unpredictability, and volatility. They are a breeding ground for major crises.”
Jüri Luik – Minister of Defense, Estonia
“The enormous risks in cyberspace.”
Michael McFaul – Director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University
“The possibility of war in North Korea.”
David Miliband – President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee
“The loss of confidence that the world’s problems are soluble.”
Cem Özdemir – Member of German Bundestag
“That someone who stands for the opposite of Western values is sitting in the White House, the house of Western democracy.”
Aleksey Pushkov – Chairman of the Commission on Information and Media of the Federation Council, Parliament of the Russian Federation
“The crisis of international law and the end of the rules-based system by a number of actors.”
Kenneth Roth – Executive director of Human Rights Watch
“The failure of the political middle to vigorously defend democratic values in the face of the populist backlash.”
Marc Rutte – Prime Minister of the Netherlands
“Climate change.”
Javier Solana – Former secretary general of NATO and former EU foreign policy chief
“The unpredictability of the United States, and the discrepancy between fantastic economic growth and the state of politics.”
Ellen O. Tauscher – Member of the Board of Directors, Nuclear Threat Initiative
“That politics has become so polarizing it is very difficult to get consensus on major issues.”
Ambika Vishwanath – Geopolitical and strategic consultant, Mumbai
“Not putting water on the geo-security agenda.”
Author
Yasir Aziz
Overseas Tribune Correspondent
Warsaw, Poland
