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BeyondGeography

(40,959 posts) Fri Feb 13, 2026, 10:48 AM 5 hrs ago

Frederick Merz in Munich today: "The culture wars of MAGA are not ours."

The German Chancellor just spoke at the opening of the Munich Security Conference.

A full report is here:

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/02/13/merz-warns-munich-security-conference-freedom-is-no-longer-a-given

Here are some highlights:

A more dangerous world for everyone:

The world order as it has stood for decades "no longer exists" – and he warned the United States that it will not be powerful enough to "go it alone" in the new age of great power politics.

Great power politics is riskier than the rules-based order it has replaced:

Great power politics, it seems, offers strong and easy answers – at least to the big players, and at least at a first glance," he said. “Under this illusion, big power politics turns away from a world in which increasing connectivity translates into the rule of law and peaceful relations between states. Big power politics has its own rules. It is fast, harsh, and often unpredictable."

The relationship between the US and Europe is now in doubt:

"A divide has opened up between Europe and the United States," Merz said. "Vice President J.D. Vance said this very openly here at the Munich Security Conference a year ago, and he was right." However, Merz said he does not subscribe to Vance's diagnosis, speaking instead of European values – including those in direct disagreement with the Trump administration's decisions and beliefs, in particular its withdrawal from multilateral organisations and abandonment of efforts to combat the climate emergency.

“The culture wars of MAGA in the US are not ours," he insisted. “Freedom of speech here ends where the words spoken are directed against human dignity and our basic law. We do not believe in tariffs and protectionism, but in free trade. We stick to climate agreements and the World Health Organization because we're convinced that global challenges can only be solved together."

On Ukraine, Russia can not be trusted to negotiate in good faith:

Merz insisted that Russia could not yet be trusted to negotiate in good faith on ending its assault – and called out Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's visit to Moscow in 2024, albeit without naming him. "There was somebody from the European Union, a prime minister, who travelled to Moscow on his own," Merz recalled. "He had no mandate; he went there, he achieved nothing. In the week after, we saw the heaviest attacks on civil infrastructure, and private homes, on hospitals, we had ever seen until this time.

"So if it makes sense to talk, we are willing to talk," Merz continued. "But as you can see with the American side, Russia is not yet willing to talk seriously. This war will only end when Russia is at least economically, potentially militarily, exhausted. Russia has to give up this terrible war against Ukraine, and we have to do everything that is needed to bring them to the point where they see no further advantages for them to continue this terrible war.

Europe will have to meet Russia’s military strength by investing in its own:

"Russia's GDP is currently about €2 trillion. That of the European Union is almost 10 times as high – but still, Europe is not 10 times as strong as Russia today. "Our military, political, economic, and technological potential is huge, but we haven't tapped it to the necessary extent for a very long time. So the most important thing is to flick the switch in our minds now. We have to understand that in the era of big powers, our freedom is no longer a given. It is at stake. We will need to show firmness and determination to assert this freedom.”