Dear friends of the Regensburg IP,
a few impressions of the Siko, which I opened with a panel discussion in the Prinz-Carl-Palais with ex-SACEUR (supreme commander of NATO troops in Europe) Chris Cavoli, among others, and then commented on live on TV. The three most important speakers were:
- Merz had a strong performance, finally a chancellor who can talk and has something to say. It's the action that's lacking ...
- Rubio doesn't say a word about Ukraine, Russia or China, but talks about Michelangelo and the Beatles. Message: Trump will work with Europeans if they submit to the Maga ideology. It's amazing how much applause he gets in the hall, the Europeans only hear what they want to hear - their old problem.
- Selenskyj: Help me, I have my back to the wall. I need missile and drone defence! There is a standing ovation, but no Patriots or Tauruses (if that is the correct plural). That's also very European. The Europeans are once again whistling in the dark, dark forest.
My emotional highlight: I meet Maryja Kalesnikawa, the Belarusian opposition activist. When the police tried to throw her out of the country in 2020, she tore up her passport at the border with Ukraine. The result: sentenced to eleven years in Lukashenka's prisons, the first five mostly in solitary confinement. She has only been free since 13 December, brought out of prison, it has to be said, by Trump. The next day I meet her in conversation with Karl Schlögel at the Literaturhaus. What a person, courageous and cheerful. I try to get her to come to the University of Regensburg for a talk in the winter semester.
And the inevitable interview on Trump from me:
Cheers Stephan Bierling
