…our long friendship. Your devout faith and irrepressible vitality are an inspiration to us all. It is also a special pleasure to add my congratulations to Rob Speyer on receiving this year’s Happy Warrior Award. Rob and his parents have been my close friends for many years, and I admire Rob’s abiding commitment to his…
…ction and participate in some of their actions – sometimes on the policy level and always on the discussion level. It seemed to me that if one wants to understand what is needed to shape the events a society encounters in a constructive or helpful way, an illustration of leaders is a good way to…
AI will bring many wonders. It may also destabilize everything from nuclear détente to human friendships. We need to think much harder about how to adapt. Humanity is at the edge of a revolution driven by artificial intelligence. It has the potential to be one of the most significant and far-reaching revolutions in history, yet…
(Adapted from an April 25 speech to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.) The attribute of greatness is reserved for leaders from whose time onward history can be told only in terms of their achievements. I observed essential elements of Germany’s history—as a native son, as a refugee from its upheavals, as a soldier in the American…
…ept of soft power has emerged as a retreat from the balance of power and from the enforcement mechanisms of the international order. Under these conditions, extreme nationalism has grown, paradoxically, as an alternative global system. A kind of isolationism has emerged leaving “the rest of the world” to fend for itself, for better or…
…he railroad and shipping industries were barely functional. Mines and factories were falling apart. The average farmer, unable to procure “the goods for sale which he desires to purchase,” had “withdrawn many fields from crop cultivation,” creating food scarcity in European cities. At the same time, a political and strategic challenge to democratic societies had…
…evening, particularly to commemorate this auspicious occasion — the 35th anniversary of the establishment of International Energy Agency. Feeling like its father, I take special pride in being here. Much has changed since 1973, and I believe that the IEA now stands at a critical juncture that beckons a thoughtful contemplation of its future. Over…
…. The choice between whether to send a presidential message or a communication from me on behalf of the President depended on the tactical situation. During crises, especially during the India-Pakistan war of 1971 and the escalation in Vietnam prior to the summit in 1972, many of the key messages went in the name of…
…quality of the government, but it may also be inherent in the situation. The Asian states, by comparison, are still nations in the original sense with quite well-recognized international borders which conduct foreign policy on the basis of a strategic assessment that they make of the role they can play in the world, on the…
…in his speech, “Service and Leadership” (Dienen und Führen). The range of Merkle’s interests is reflected in the titles of his speeches and essays: “The Art of Prediction;” “Man, Machines, and Technology;” “Rights and Duties in the Republic;” “Service and Leadership;” “Elites and How to Encourage Them;” “Profession as Experience;” “A Critique of Technology;” “Virtue…