EU security and defence

The MSC’s closed groupthink militarism offers only one prescription — more weapons — even as record military expenditures, squeezed from taxpayers in economic crisis, destroy diplomacy and drive escalation to the highest war risks in decades. Jan Oberg TFF director February 13, 2026 From Dialogue Forum to Militarised Ritual For decades, the Munich Security Conference (MSC) – which opened today and runs till Sunday – was one of the few places where adversaries could meet without theatrics. Founded in 1963 as the Wehrkundetagung, it served as a discreet Cold War dialogue forum between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Even at moments of high tension, Soviet and later Russian representatives were present, and Munich allowed uncomfortable messages to be delivered directly rather than through press releases or military manoeuvres. That era has vanished. The MSC has become something entirely different: a €13–20 million annual gathering of a closed Western security elite, a polished meeting...

TFF’s comprehensive proposal for dialogue about true peace in Ukraine is due in a day or two Jan Oberg November 20, 2025 What is being whispered through diplomatic corridors today is not peace, but quackery. The alleged 28‑point plan drafted in Washington and Moscow is mentioned as a solution to the Ukraine war. It is being negotiated by US businessman, real estate developer and Trump ally, Steve Witkoff, and by Kirill Dmitriev, who is CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and a close ally of Putin, according to India’s Economic Times. For presumably good reasons, their education, qualifications and experience in international conflict analysis and peace-making remain untold. They look like surgeons who have never opened a medical textbook. It is nothing more than a mirage: a framework of concessions imposed on Ukraine’s citizens, negotiated without Kyiv, and excluding Europe. Like Gaza, it promises “peace” while institutionalising injustice. If half of what is available about...

Officially, the drones were not identified. By simply thinking critically – which journalists and selected experts no longer do – there may be a good reason for that. And this article will never be mentioned in Denmark… Drones over Denmark. No damage. No trace. No answers. Yet the headlines scream “Russian threat,” and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks with a certainty that defies logic: “We don’t know they were Russian—but we know Russia is the biggest threat to Europe.” It could be nobody else – unless you make an interest analysis which I did two days ago. This is not security policy. It’s theatre. And the audience is being played. Let’s rewind. These drones—unphotographed, untracked, unclaimed—appear and vanish like ghosts. Airports shut down. Panic spreads. Military budgets swell. And the narrative hardens: Russia is behind it. But what if that’s not just wrong but deliberately misleading? Here’s a hypothesis for...

– We in Greenland have done everything we can to make the Americans understand that they are violating us as a people and our sovereignty through their constant pressure. But nothing has got through to the Trump administration; on the contrary, they are increasing the pressure with each passing day, and now the international community, at least those we consider friends and allies, must step in instead of making small hesitant statements of support, says Múte Bourup Egede (IA), Photo: Oscar Scott Carl. Denmark’s Broadcasting (DR) has an article today about the upcoming – provocative – official US visit to Greenland. It mentions an article in the Greenlandic newspaper, Sermitsiaq, which is better read here than in DR’s version: Múte: Now the international community must step in – The very aggressive American pressure on Greenlandic society is now so serious that the level cannot get any higher. Standing together in...

How amazing! The Danish government seemed unprepared for the eventuality that President Trump, if elected, would insist once again on getting Greenland – and a few other “things.” Who was asleep – or much too occupied with hating Russia and helping Ukraine to see what was coming? Secondly, Trump – who is no peace-maker but has other motives – grabbed the phone to Russian President Putin. Why did no European leader do exactly that during the last almost three years? And why did Europe not foresee that he would do that; Trump had said time and again that he would engage in the Ukraine war and stop it. They sat there hearing and seeing nothing of what – very predictably – happened outside their European groupthink box. This interview by the China Academy and Thinkers Forum was recorded on February 12, that is, before the disaster unfolded further at the...

It’s produced by The China Academy in Shanghai and speaks for itself with no need for an introduction.

John J. Mearsheimer Aug 05, 2024 The question of who is responsible for causing the Ukraine war has been a deeply contentious issue since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The answer to this question matters enormously because the war has been a disaster for a variety of reasons, the most important of which is that Ukraine has effectively been wrecked. It has lost a substantial amount of its territory and is likely to lose more, its economy is in tatters, huge numbers of Ukrainians are internally displaced or have fled the country, and it has suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties. Of course, Russia has paid a significant blood price as well. On the strategic level, relations between Russia and Europe, not to mention Russia and Ukraine, have been poisoned for the foreseeable future, which means that the threat of a major war in Europe will be with...

Vijay Prashad April 16, 2024 On March 19, 2024, the head of France’s ground forces, General Pierre Schill, published an article in the newspaper, Le Monde, with a blunt title: “The Army Stands Ready.” Schill cut his teeth in France’s overseas adventures in the Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, and Somalia. In this article, General Schill wrote that his troops are “ready” for any confrontation and that he could mobilize 60,000 of France’s 121,000 soldiers within a month for any conflict. He quoted the old Latin phrase—“if you want peace, prepare for war”—and then wrote, “The sources of crisis are multiplying and carry with them risks of spiralling or extending.” General Schill did not mention the name of any country, but it was clear that his reference was to Ukraine since his article came out just over two weeks after French President Emmanuel Macron said on February 27 that...

Suzie Halewood April 15, 2024 “Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime”Ernest Hemingway, 1946 This tax year, the so-called Ministry of Defence will be given £69BN of taxpayers’ money, to effectively subsidise the arms industry and fund more wars of aggression while offering little or nothing in the way of defence. A further £116BN of taxpayers’ money will go to the banks, interest on money that never existed for wars that are not only unnecessary and illegal, but which neither benefit the UK taxpayer, nor those who have lost life and limb in any one of the smorgasbord of conflicts the UK has instigated since WWII. Originally published on Off-Guardian on April 12, 2024 War was outlawed in 1928 by the General Treaty for the Renunciation of War. Known as Kellogg-Briand Pact, the treaty was signed by sixty-three nations, including Britain &...

Liberate yourself from NATO’s anti-intellectual and militarist fearmongering today! Why the omnipresent, massive, and uniform propagation of Russia as a threat against NATO is humbug. How a credible professional quality threat analysis is made instead. Why deciding military expenditures as a percentage of GDP is exemplary nonsense. Why NATO cannot be called ‘defensive’ and 17 reasons why Russia is not a threat to NATO or to neutral states. NATO soon turns 75 – amid its deepest crisis ever, no matter what they say. During all these years, we have heard repeatedly that the ” Russians” – the Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact and today’s Russia – are coming! But while the Soviets/Russians have invaded other countries, they’ve never invaded a NATO or a neutral country in Europe. And when the First Cold War ended a good 30 years ago, and archives were opened, allegedly no plans were found for an out-of-the-blue attack...

I was very pleased to be re-invited very quickly to “Through the Eyes of…” run by Ania K, whose YouTube channel has more than 100,000 subscribers. Please watch our conversation here and also run through the many – 99% appreciative – comments. There is no doubt that people want to hear more about peace possibilities than about war, that they have heard enough doom and gloom to cover up for NATO’s own warmongering and blaming everything on one side in a conflict, namely Russia. It won’t last for long. And peace is eminently possible. Press YouTube at the bottom right to watch it on YouTube and see the comments.