Nuno Melo’s discourse rekindles warnings of “potential future risks of new conflicts”
Defence Minister Nuno Melo has warned of threats to the Western way of life, questioning the UN’s ability to face the geopolitical context – recalling the extinct League of Nations, and the risk of history repeating itself.
During a speech lasting more than 40 minutes at a lunch organised by the International Club of Portugal in Lisbon yesterday, Nuno Melo considered that Western security faces significant challenges, namely China’s role as the “Western pivot” of the Silk Roads, its “strategic partnership” with Russia and the growing influence of countries such as Iran and North Korea – albeit with “very different geopolitical ambitions”.
The minister warned that the combination of this strategic alignment with “the obvious, clear territorial claims that are known and the desire for affirmation in the global geopolitical context of several countries” reveals a “potential future risk of new conflicts”.
It was a speech reminiscent of warnings by the one man physically ‘absent’ from the headlines at the moment, but very much there in spirit: former Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, who is being constantly challenged to declare his candidacy for President of the Republic.
Regarding the current international scenario, Nuno Melo argued that the opposition to the global alignment defined after the Second World War “must be understood” and “must be challenged because countries do not have to keep to themselves the destiny that others wanted for them”.
However, he stressed that the West “must live up to what is asked of it in this global context”.
“What is really at stake is our way of life. And what is at stake is our need to defend our way of life. I have a good way of life, and I do not intend to replace it with any other,” he added, referring to the changes in the geopolitical context reinforcing “the evidence of the transition to a multipolar order.”
Nuno Melo touched on the protectionist approach of the North American administration – which he classified as “economic nationalism” – highlighting the differences between this policy and the “market globalisation that allowed the development of so many peoples”.
Regarding the relevance or otherwise of the United Nations, Melo recalled the role of the League of Nations, created in 1919 and dissolved in 1946 as a result of not having been able to prevent the expansionist impulses that led to the Second World War.
“The UN was created for the same purpose. It remains to be seen whether it is up to the challenges of our times. It is desirable that it does not meet the end that the League of Nations did in its time, due to this incapacity that we all end up realising is measured in global conflicts and millions of deaths. What is the point of this? Sometimes history repeats itself and we can hope that it does not repeat itself.”
The CDS leader also warned that it is currently estimated that Russia’s investment in defence this year will exceed that of all 27 member countries of the European Union. This is “not encouraging” and reinforces the need to the EU to increase its contribution to NATO to guarantee burden-sharing and ensure that it does not live “under the protective umbrella of others”.
It was in so many ways a speech that has come previously from Henrique Gouveia e Melo, but up till now has not come from a member of Portugal’s government.ND
Source material: LUSA
