by Carl Kruse
The Harvard club of Berlin invites members of the Carl Kruse Blog to its upcoming “Current Affairs Dinner” to take place March 12, 2025. The topic of discussion is “Does Europe Need Its Own Nuclear Bomb?”
Recent weeks have shaken Europe’s confidence in the transatlantic alliance. Longstanding assumptions about the U.S. as a reliable ally and security guarantor are now in question. In private conversations, German and European officials admit that NATO, as we knew it, may be a thing of the past.
In this moment of uncertainty, we invite you to an “Current Affairs Dinner” with Thorsten Benner, co-founder and director of the Global Public Policy Institute and a 2003 graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School. A leading voice on European security, Benner warns that under President Trump, the United States—our security guarantor for 80 years—is increasingly acting as a hostile force. He argues that Germany and the EU find themselves caught between Trump, Putin, and Xi—struggling for air in a world where the great powers no longer see Europe as a partner, but as prey.
Yet Europe remains unprepared for this reality: “A world where the law of the strongest prevails and where the powerful laugh at Germany and Europe’s self-image as a “civilian power” and a “normative power.”
So how should Europe respond? Among other steps, Benner proposes a solution that would have been considered far-fetched only a few months ago: re-creating nuclear sharing at the European level based on the French and UK arsenals as a plan B for the US nuclear umbrella. Germany should become key part of the European Nuclear Planning Group as one central element of deterrence against Russian aggression.
Join us for this urgent and thought-provoking discussion over dinner on Friday, March 14.The discussion will be held in English.
Secure your spot—this is a conversation Europe cannot afford to ignore.
Speaker: Thorsten Benner
Topic of the Lecture: Does Europe Need Its Own Nuclear Bomb?
When: Friday, March 14, 2025, at 6:30 pm
Where: Restaurant Il Punto, Lasagneria
Neustädtische Kirchstraße 6, 10117 Berlin
“Do we need the bomb?” Link to a recent conversation between Thorsten Benner and MoP Ralf Stegner (English)
https://gppi.net/2025/02/26/do-we-need-the-bomb
Link to an op-ed on the need for a nuclear deterrent (German)
https://gppi.net/2025/02/20/die-mächtigen-lachen-über-uns
Tickets:
Harvard club Members 40 € p.p.
Non-Members: 45 € p.p.
Welcome drinks and two course menu are included.
Drinks with the meal will be charged separately.
Please register via the following link: Registration Link
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The homepage of this Carl Kruse Blog is at https://carlkruse.org
Contact: carl AT carlkruse DOT com
The last two events the Carl Kruse Blog was involved with in Berlin were with the Stanford Club and the Technical University of Berlin and with Colombia University and their Tour of the Documentation Center.
Also find Carl Kruse on Threads.