AGI

Security & Defense

German-American defense and security ties and the NATO alliance are critical to meeting modern threats. Moving past the traditional threats found in earlier years, today’s concerns range from rouge states, to cybersecurity, to terrorism, and more. German-American cooperation is essential.
Reset

Demolition Enterprise Trump: A Manual for Saving the Transatlantic Relationship

Transatlantic relations play an important role in how the West reacts to the challenges of the twenty-first century, and certain measures must be taken to maintain the relationship under the …

The Transatlantic Alliance: Between Reassurance and Renewal

There is a well-known warning to all politicians seeking to sound convincing to their audiences: if you have to explain too much, you are losing them. If there are too many ambiguities in a message, you trip yourself up justifying them. The platform of the Munich Security Conference is a tough testing ground for all politicians given the enormous concentration on what is discussed there. This year’s meeting was no exception.

The New Parameters of German Foreign Policy

The election of Donald Trump threatens to radically change the parameters of German foreign policy that go back to the foundation of the Federal Republic in 1949. Germany has benefited …

MSC 2017: The World at a Crossroads

The Munich Security Conference has had many memorable milestones over the last half century; I have been privileged to experience several. The famous “I am not convinced” exchange between Joschka Fischer …

Dangerous Silence

It is not the first time the Bundeswehr is engaged in the Baltic States. For a number of years, the German air force has participated as a rotating member in …

Uncertainty Surrounds the Putin-Trump Relationship

Few issues stir more concerns—and confusion—about where the Trump administration is heading than relations with Russia. Several Cabinet secretaries, during their confirmation hearings and subsequent statements, voiced strong support for …

Expectations for the Munich Security Conference

The Munich Security Conference convenes at a time of the great unraveling of the world order.   The world is less stable and more uncertain than it has been for years. …

Berlin’s New Pragmatism in an Era of Radical Uncertainty

Germany has emerged as the EU’s central economic and political power in today’s crisis-ridden Europe. The U.K., after the Brexit vote, has probably dropped out of global crisis management for …

Looking to Germany: What Berlin Can and Can’t Do for the Liberal Order

With U.S. President Donald Trump poised to pull the United States back from global leadership and with the United Kingdom mired in a messy withdrawal from the European Union, Germany …

In a World of Cyber Threats, Isolationism Will Never Win

President Trump has said cybersecurity is a priority for his administration. It is also one of the fastest growing spending priorities for the U.S. government this fiscal year. Across the …

How to Kill an Idea: An American’s Observations on the NPD Party-Ban Proceedings

How should a democracy protect itself from forces that seem intent on destroying freedom and open discourse?  The German constitution (Basic Law) establishes a “militant democracy” that is prepared to …