AnewZ's Orkhan Amashov reports from Munich as the three-day Munich Security Conference kicked off on Friday (13 February), bringing together world leaders, diplomats, and policy makers to discuss pressing global security challenges.
“The rupture of the Transatlantic Alliance is facing one of its major crises in living memory,” said the president of the Munich Security Conference in his opening remarks, framing the event around this year’s conference report, Under Destruction, which examines the state of global affairs as a “wrecking ball” from multiple angles.
Amashov described the atmosphere as “electric,” noting that the conference, held at Munich’s Hotel Bayerischer Hof, is unusually condensed compared with gatherings such as Davos or the UN General Assembly, with leaders arriving for a flurry of meetings and panel sessions.
A key focus is the U.S. delegation, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose speech, on Saturday, is expected to set the tone for U.S.-Europe relations amid heightened tensions over NATO cohesion and Arctic security. Discussions are also expected to address China’s potential role in limiting Russia’s actions in Ukraine, an issue European leaders are watching closely.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev arrived in Munich on Friday, holding meetings with senior officials, including the head of the Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq.
President Aliyev is scheduled to participate in a panel discussion on Saturday.
Other historic moments in the conference’s 60-year history, such as Vladimir Putin’s 2007 speech, were cited as context for current debates, highlighting how strategic signalling from global powers continues to shape European security calculations.
The conference continues through Sunday, with a series of speeches, bilateral meetings, and panel discussions aimed at addressing what organisers describe as “unprecedented challenges” to the international order and alliance cohesion.
Senior Fellow Qinduo Zhu of the Pangoal Institution told AnewZ from Munich that European leaders are increasingly recognising the need to take responsibility for their own security.
“After 80 years of protection, Europe has grown up. They now understand they are on their own and must face this new reality,” Zhu said.
He added that while the shift in mindset is broadly accepted, European nations are still adjusting to the practical challenges of assuming greater responsibility for defence and NATO cohesion.
On the impact of the Ukraine war, Zhu highlighted that it has intensified debates over deterrence and the future structure of NATO.
“The U.S. is rebalancing the alliance, transforming NATO into a partnership-oriented framework that is very different from the unipolar period following the Soviet Union’s collapse,” he explained.
He noted that European states remain partners of the U.S., but the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and broader geopolitical pressures mean Europe must invest more in its security and economic resilience.
Zhu described the emerging narrative at the Munich Security Conference as one of urgency.
He reiterated that Europe must act independently, strengthen NATO, and confront the challenges of the new global order while balancing economic competition, transatlantic expectations and the complex dynamics of the Ukraine crisis.
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Global oil prices reached a four year high on Monday (9 March), surpassing $119 a barrel, as conflict in the Middle East rumbled on. Meanwhile, the Turkish Military said NATO air defence systems destroyed a missile fired from Iran towards the country.
Global oil prices surpassed $119 a barrel on Monday (9 March, 2026), an almost four year high, as the Middle East conflict rumbled on.
China has urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to resolve their dispute through dialogue after Chinese envoy Yue Xiaoyong met Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, as fighting between the two neighbours entered its eleventh day.
Iranian civilian and military officials have pledged their obedience to the new leader, Ayatollah Seyed Mojtaba Khamenei, with President Masoud Pezeshkian saying his leadership “will herald a new era of dignity and authority for the Iranian nation.”.
Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is a hardline cleric with strong backing from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. His rise signals continuity in Tehran's anti-Western policies.
Global oil prices surpassed $119 a barrel on Monday (9 March, 2026), an almost four year high, as the Middle East conflict rumbled on.
Trump says the United States "don’t need people that join wars after we’ve already won," targeting his criticism at UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Israel continues to fire missles at strategic sites in Iran and Gulf regions report more strikes from Iran.
China has urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to resolve their dispute through dialogue after Chinese envoy Yue Xiaoyong met Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, as fighting between the two neighbours entered its eleventh day.
Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as supreme leader on Monday (9 March), signaling that hardliners remain firmly in charge, as the week-old U.S.-Israeli war with Iran pushed oil above $100 a barrel.
U.S. President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke by phone on Sunday as tensions between Washington and Westminster deepened over the conflict involving Iran. The call came less than a day after Trump criticised Britain’s response to U.S. strikes on Iranian targets.
Norwegian police are searching for a suspect after an explosion at the U.S. embassy in Oslo on 8 March caused minor damage but no injuries, in what authorities say may have been a deliberate attack linked to the Middle East crisis.
An explosion damaged a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liège early on Monday (9 March) in what authorities said was an antisemitic attack that caused damage but no injuries.
The Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers will meet on Monday to discuss a global rise in oil prices and a joint release of oil from emergency reserves coordinated by the International Energy Agency, the Financial Times reports.
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