The appointment of Christoph Heusgen as the new chairman of the Munich Security Conference has turned things for the worse, in the direction of confrontation against Russia. For the first time in several decades, the conference will be held without any participation of Russian officials—simply because Heusgen has decided not to invite any of them. Instead, representatives of “civil society” opponents of Moscow have been invited
Several hundred politicians from around the world will attend the Munich Security Conference taking place over Feb. 17-19. “Of these, 150 are high-level government representatives,” including more than a hundred heads of state, heads of government, or ministers, Heusgen told journalists in Berlin yesterday. These include U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party and Politburo member Wang Yi. Heusgen confirmed their participation, along with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva. Heusgen also specified that around 20 Ukrainian MPs and a gaggle of U.S. Senators would arrive in Munich.
