But since around 2015, we’ve been trying to open that up. At the time, we realized that women in particular had issues with the army. More specifically: mothers. Because they have to hand over their sons to an institution they have no access to, no insight into, and no understanding of. We’ve tried to change that.
But because the army is such a large system, it repeatedly allows space for others as well. Our current Chief of the Army has a saying: “There are Red Monkeys, and there are Farmers.” I’m not sure if you’re familiar with that image.
It’s a double-edged sword. Seeing someone like Merkel as a “Chancellor of Peace” reflects a somewhat Eurocentric perspective. She was a proponent of the idea of “cooperation through interlinked trade.” But globally, there have always been between 30 and 50 open conflicts.
Now the threat is more direct, closer. My three major concerns are: first, a global economic crisis. Second, this culture of bullying – the law of the strongest. The way supranational organizations are being treated now makes it possible again to conquer countries. And third, the cultural conflict that has emerged, especially in the United States. But more concerningly, also closer to home: Hungary and Slovakia – and Poland will follow. We’re now dealing with confrontations and questions we could never have imagined before.
Which ones do you mean specifically?Hungary is quite clear. In fact, Hungary served as a model for Project 2025 by the Heritage Foundation and Trump. Their core question is: “How can you use democratic means to dismantle a democratic state and turn it into an authoritarian one?” The insight: first, you have to eliminate all authorities – or, so to speak, shoot them down. Then come the media, then the judiciary, and finally, you have to bring education into line. That’s essentially what happened in Hungary. And that is what’s causing some concern.
We are now directly affected.
What are the consequences?This can have far-reaching consequences immediately: uncertainty, unrest. In fact, I’ve been trained for exactly such a situation for the past twenty years. So I feel completely at ease – because this is exactly what we’ve always anticipated, while always hoping it would never happen. I would much prefer if it weren’t the case.It’s a bit like waking up in the morning and saying: “If I don’t feel any pain, I must be dead.” So if I ever stopped encountering resistance, I’d feel like I was doing the wrong things.
For me, resistance is always a sign that we’ve hit trigger points, pushed someone out of their comfort zone, and identified issues that are probably worth pursuing. That’s why I always feel I grow through resistance. In a way, I almost need it – it helps me reflect and put things into perspective. You’ll never be able to anticipate all resistance in advance.
Is there anything I haven’t asked that you would have liked to say?No, for me this was truly interesting. It really did me good. I realize that we live in bubbles. Right now, things in my environment are incredibly exciting. I get to do many things that actually have nothing to do with the military at all.For example?We’ve been trying to bring the military closer to the business world – or bring ourselves into the business world. Educational institutions that were once said to never cooperate with the army are now participating in training programs with us. So something really has changed.