And I say all of this to try toput this meeting and the challenges that we face in a context.So long as I canremember, I have understood that the United States and Europe arestrongestwhen we stand united together for peace and prosperity, when we stand instrongdefense of our common security, and when we stand up for freedom and forcommonvalues. And everything I see in the world today tells me that this is a momentwhere it’sgoing to take more than words to fulfill this commitment. All of usneed to think harder and actmore in order to meet this challenge.
With no disrespect whatsoever –in fact, only with the purest of admiration to thestrategic and extraordinaryvision of Brent Scowcroft sitting over here, Henry Kissinger, ZbigBrzezinski,who I don’t see but I know is here somewhere. There he is. These are menwhohelped to shape and guide us through the Cold War and the tense moments and therealdangers that it presented. But the fact is that this generation ofconfluence of challenges thatwe’re confronting together are in many ways morecomplex and more vexing than those of thelast century. The largely bipolarworld of the Cold War, East-West, was relativelystraightforward compared tothe forces that have been released with the fall of the Berlin Wall,the riseof sectarianism, the rise of religious extremism, and the failure of governancein manyplaces. In fact, we should none of us be surprised that it is thewisdom and vision of HenryKissinger in his brilliant book Diplomacy – which,if you’ve read it, reread it; if you haven’t,read it for the first time – laysall of this out in his first chapter as he talks about the balance –the oldgame of balance of power and interests. And as he predicts that this is moreconvolutedbecause of the absence of a structure to really manage and cope withthis new order that weface. Those were his words.
So today we are witnessing youthpopulations, huge youth populations: 65 percent of acountry under the age of30, under the age of 25 in some places; 50 percent under the age of21; 40percent under the age of 18 – unemployed, disenfranchised, except forwhatglobalization has brought them in their capacity to be able to reach out andsee what therest of the world is doing even as they are denied the opportunityto do it too – an enormous,desperate yearning for education, for jobs, foropportunity. That’s what drove Tahrir Square,not the Muslim Brotherhood, notany religious extremism, but young kids with dreams. That’swhat led that fruitvendor in Tunisia to self-immolate after he grew too tired of beingslappedaround by a police officer, denied his opportunity just to sell his fruit wareswhere hewanted to.
We are facing threats ofterrorism and untamed growth in radical sectarianism andreligious extremism,which increases the challenge of failed and failing governments and thevacuumsthat they leave behind. And all of this is agitated by a voracious globalizedappetiteand competition for resources and markets that do not alwayssufficiently share the benefits ofwealth and improved quality of life with allcitizens.
And this is all before you get tothe challenge of global food security, water availability,and global climatechange. These are the great tests of our time. Now, even as our economiesinthe United States and Europe begin to emerge from the economic trials of thelast years, weare not immune to extremism or to the natural difficulties ofnurturing democracy, andparticularly as we measure what is happening with thenumber of jihadists who are attracted bythe magnet of the Assad regime toSyria, where from Europe and from America and fromAustralia and from GreatBritain and from many other places they now flock to learn the tradeof terror,and then perhaps to return to their home shores.
The task of building a Europethat is whole and free and at peace is not complete. And inorder to meettoday’s challenges both near and far, America needs a strong Europe, andEuropeneeds a committed and engaged America. And that means turning inward is notanoption for any of us. When we lead together, others will join us. But when wedon’t, thesimple fact is that few are prepared or willing to step up. That’sjust a fact. And leading, I sayrespectfully, does not mean meeting in Munichfor good discussions. It means committingresources even in a difficult time tomake certain that we are helping countries to fight backagainst the complex,vexing challenges of our day.
I’ll tell you, I was recently inKorea and reminded that 10 of the 15 countries that used toreceive aid fromthe United States of America as recently as in the last 10 years are todaydonorcountries. Think about that: 10 of the 15 and the others are on their wayto being donorcountries. Now let me be fair. We need to have this debate inAmerica too right now. The smallfraction of our budget that we invest in ourdiplomacy and in foreign assistance is a minisculeinvestment compared to thecost of the crises that we fail to avoid.
So as a transatlantic community,we cannot retreat and we must do more than justrecover – all of us. What weneed in 2014 is a transatlantic renaissance, a new burst of energyand commitmentand investment in the three roots of our strength: our economic prosperity,ourshared security, and the common values that sustain us.
Now first, our shared prosperity:Who would have imagined at the first Munich conferencein 1963 that $2.6billion in goods and services would flow between us every day? Thatdidn’thappen by accident, nor did the 4 trillion that we invest in each other’seconomies everysingle year, or the more than 13 million jobs that we supportmutually because of it. The depthand breadth of our economic position andpartnership was a conscious choice of the men Idescribed and other men andwomen during that period of time who had a vision, and they needto be aconscious reflection of our vision today.