How to Save Freedom?

«The Strategic Challenges in the Southern Arc of Crisis»

Speech by Ulrich Weisser (in German)

Former director of planning and policy and former military advisor to the German minister of defence

The global economic and financial crisis is difficult to overcome. But it would go completely off the rails if it also became strategically charged – through conflicts or wars that can no longer be controlled regionally. Crisis management must therefore also establish a context for the global crisis and conflict potential.

For understandable reasons, our focus is on the periphery of Europe, the southern arc of crisis, which encompasses the extended Middle East – the crisis belt that also includes the terror-prone Mediterranean region of North Africa. It encompasses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Pakistan’s fragility, the war in Afghanistan and, above all, Islamist terror from Gaza to Mumbai. Finally, we must not forget the piracy that threatens the lifelines of our trade in the Indian Ocean, including the Indo-Chinese maritime rivalry in the Indian Ocean.

Here you can find the full text of the speech as PDF:

Speech

«NATO’s Future: Relevant or Relic?»

Speech by Robert E. Hunter

American foreign policy expert, former United States ambassador to NATO

How to save freedom? An important topic – one might argue that it is the “evergreen” topic, always relevant and always at or near the top of the list of matters of concern to humankind. But to link that topic with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – NATO – is not at all obvious. What, indeed, can the future of a military organization have to do with “saving freedom?”

Here you can find the full text of the speech as PDF:

Speech