UN warns the world is more dangerous now than during the Cold War

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the world is probably a more dangerous place now than it was during the Cold War. With East-West tensions at their highest since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, he said a small mistake or miscommunication between major powers could have catastrophic consequences.

In his opening speech at an annual security conference in Munich, Germany, he stated that “the threat to global security is now more complex and probably greater” than during the Cold War.

During the Cold War, the decades-long confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 20th century, “there were mechanisms that allowed the protagonists to calculate risks and use secondary channels to prevent crises,” Guterres recalled. “Today, many of those systems no longer exist and most of the people trained to use them are no longer here with us.”

He noted that he still believes the Russian troop build-up around Ukraine will not result in a military conflict, but urged “all parties to be extremely careful with their rhetoric. Public statements should aim to reduce tensions, not inflame them,” Guterres said.

The Munich Security Conference was also attended by US Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. No senior Russian officials attended.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the Russians missed an opportunity.

“Particularly in the current extremely threatening situation, it would have been important to meet Russian representatives in Munich as well,” he said in a statement ahead of the conference. Even small steps toward peace would be “better than one big step toward war.”