🧵Moving between speeches, panels and round tables here at @MunSecConf I suddenly had this eerie feeling that perhaps this is what 1938 in Europe must have felt like. We all know that there is a storm brewing outside, but here inside the Bayerischer Hoff all seems normal. 1/
Shaking hands with European and American friends I have worked with over the past three decades, making new acquaintances—it all seems so routine. And yet it all changes suddenly when a Ukrainian parliamentarian pointedly tells the audience we are failing to act fast enough. 2/
Or when a Moldovan speaks of her country hanging by the fingernails, not knowing what comes tomorrow. Or when a Finn, a Balt, or a Pole doesn’t mince words to tell us all the truth about what’s riding on this war. But then the conversation seems to revert back to platitudes.3/
Was this what 1938 felt like before the German Nazi rape of Czechoslovakia? Satiated countries in the West issuing solemn assurances to Prague and others, but knowing deep in their bones that those checks would not be cashed? Because it was somebody else’s business, not ours? 4/
Over the past 2 days I sat down with Ukrainian parliamentarians. They spoke of their country’s struggle for survival with a passion you seldom hear in Western political circles. I was proud to be with them, but embarrassed that-while we ultimately do what’s right-we are so slow5/
So where does this leave us, especially Europe? Do we have what it takes to imbue our rhetoric with the requisite urgency when it comes to policy. Rhetoric is not policy. I’ve sat through too many discussions where everything has been said but not by everyone, so we droned on./6
It’s not rocket science. It’s about spending the money to produce weapons and munitions so we can send them to #Ukraine. It’s about agreeing what the end state should look like not for #Ukraine, but for all of us. It’s about imagination, leadership and courage. #ArmUkraineNow/End
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