February 11, 2026 at 11:30 AM
‘Under destruction’? US tensions with NATO allies to take center stage at Munich conference
Besides transatlantic tension, other topics on the agenda at the Munich Security Conference include AI, climate change, hybrid warfare, nuclear security and space.
BELFAST — As heads of states, defense ministers, industry leaders and analysts prepare to descend on Hotel Bayerischer Hof for the annual Munich Security Conference (MSC), burning issues around a slew of geopolitical events laid out in a new report from the event host are set to dominate proceedings. This year’s report, published days before the gathering begins, highlights tension between the US and Europe over Ukraine, the Greenland standoff and Europe’s increasing “sense of insecurity.” Titled “Under Destruction,” the report delivers strong criticism of the US, accusing Washington of leading “wrecking-ball politics” across the globe — a style the authors defined as “sweeping destruction” instead of thoughtful policy reform. “The most prominent of those who promise to free their country from the existing order’s constraints and rebuild a stronger, more prosperous nation is the current US administration.
As a result, more than 80 years after construction began, the US-led post-1945 international order is now under destruction,” reads the document, published Monday. MSC Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger, in a Monday panel discussion previewing MSC, compared this year’s meeting to a bicycle repair shop. “This repair work is … about rebuilding trust and confidence across the Atlantic,” adding that, “at least for the European participants in Munich, [a secondary mission] is to go from lamenting … what [President] Donald Trump has said or not said, to real action, to decisions.