But what security are they talking about?
by Yorgos Mitralias
At first glance, everything separates the Munich Conference of 1938 from the Munich Security Conference of 2026. The former saw Czechoslovakia sacrificed on the altar of Hitler’s appeasement policy by the “great democracies” of Europe, which allowed this “appeased” Hitler to unleash the Second World War by invading Poland a year later. As for the second in 2026, it produced virtually no tangible results, limiting itself to stating what we already knew: the deep transatlantic crisis and the end of the (neo)liberal international order. In short, at first glance, the only thing these two conferences have in common is the name of the city that hosted them, Munich.
And yet, a slightly closer look at what happened at this 62nd Security Conference reveals more than just similarities with the infamous Munich Conference of 1938. Thus, 88 years later, the 2026 Security Conference can boast of its unspoken agreements, which translate into a series of “sacrifices” as significant, if not more so, than the sacrifice of Czechoslovakia in 1938. And the first and by far the most important of these sacrifices made by all the Western powers is undoubtedly the one concerning the most serious threat to the security of humanity as a whole: the climate catastrophe! Three days of speeches by our Western leaders and not a word (!) about the climate catastrophe, except for a few miserable, climate-denying words from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “To appease a climate cult, we have imposed energy policies on ourselves that are impoverishing our people ” !
So, we can legitimately ask ourselves what all these eminent figures talked about during the Security Conference, when they remained deafeningly silent on the climate crisis, which is increasingly and rightly considered the greatest threat to the very subject of their conference: security. The security of each of their nations and of the whole world! Moreover, it is no coincidence that just three months ago, “Iceland described the potential collapse of an important ocean current system in the Atlantic (caused by the climate crisis) as a threat to national security and an existential challenge.” (1)
In simple terms, they sacrificed the climate catastrophe on the altar of their material (capitalist) and short-term interests, ostensibly refusing to see the terrible disaster that their criminal blindness is preparing. Just as their political ancestors did 88 years ago, when they chose to sacrifice the Czechoslovakians and their countries in order to preserve peace by satisfying… the Friedenskanzler (Chancellor of Peace) Adolf Hitler! We know the horrible outcome…
It should be noted that the enthusiastic reactions and standing ovation of the political celebrities present at Rubio’s speech are reminiscent of another infamous display of enthusiasm: that of the majority of government leaders and the media upon the announcement of the outcome of the 1938 conference. This enthusiasm was provoked by Rubio’s slightly more conciliatory tone in 2026 and by Hitler’s pacifist professions of faith in 1938. The highly relevant comment, whispered only in private, by the then French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier, “Ah, the fools! If only they knew,” remains highly topical…
Unfortunately, in addition to the climate catastrophe, our leaders participating in the 2026 Security Conference “sacrificed” and consequently “forgot” to address several other major issues of our time that determine the present and future of… the security of humanity. For example, they remained unmoved by the tragedies in Africa, pretending not to see the misfortunes (genocides, mass famines, civil wars, coups d’état, dictatorships, the cessation of US aid, etc.) that are afflicting the African continent. It is as if Africa did not exist for its former and current colonial and neocolonial powers, which “forget” that they have contributed and continue to contribute greatly to its present tragedies.
That said, the “oversights” of the 2026 Munich Security Conference reached new heights of cynicism when US Senator Marco Rubio did not even mention Ukraine in his speech. And worse, when all Western participants chose to say nothing about the ongoing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, nor of the deadly violence perpetrated daily in the Occupied Territories by Netanyahu’s army and its settlers. As if these two colonial wars of extermination of indigenous populations had absolutely nothing to do with the security not only of the Ukrainian and Palestinian populations, but also of all of us in Europe, the Middle East, and the whole world!
It goes without saying that for Trump’s United States, Marco Rubio’s silence on the climate catastrophe, the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza, and Putin’s war against Ukraine comes as no surprise, as it is perfectly in line with the policies and actions of Trumpism: climate change is just a scam, the extermination of the Palestinians is being carried out by Israel with Trump’s active complicity, and Putin enjoys Trump’s support in his war against Ukraine, which has reduced aid to Ukraine to… zero. Yes, zero!
But what about the silence or half-truths of the Europeans? Their complicity with the Zionist state and its crimes and their traditional subservience to the United States do not explain everything. Surprised and deeply destabilized by Trump and his upheaval of the “international order” and the good old neoliberal certainties, the European bourgeoisie and their governments no longer know which way to turn. This is all the more so as their unity is being undermined by increasingly consistent dissident factions, which seem to be definitively succumbing to the not-so-discreet charms of an increasingly hardline far right, or even neo-Nazis. So Europeans prefer to remain silent or mince their words, leaving their NATO secretary, the incredibly servile Mark Rutte, free to call Trump… “Daddy”!
After all that has been said, one can only exclaim: but what security are they talking about? Whose security? And also, what peace and what international law? What democratic rights and freedoms? What democracy? From one Munich to another, those from below of the world remain spectators to the same gruesome spectacle offered by the powerful. Those who have never had the slightest scruple when it comes to sacrificing the poor and the small on the altar of their interests. The rest is just smoke and mirrors and cheap demagoguery…
Note
1.Trump in Greenland: old-fashioned colonialism and acceleration of the climate catastrophe! : https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-in-greenland-old-fashioned-colonialism-and-acceleration-of-the-climate-catastrophe/