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Munich Security Conference invites AfD parliamentarians, €30 million stolen in German bank vault heist and at least 40 dead in Swiss New Year's mishap

Munich Security Conference invites AfD parliamentarians, €30 million stolen in German bank vault heist and at least 40 dead in Swiss New Year's mishap

Happy new year! In Switzerland, it began with tragedy at the ski resort town of Crans-Montana. The roof in a crowded bar caught fire, sparked by a careless and senseless accident involving champagne bottles, sparklers and young people in their prime living their best life. It would be wrong to extrapolate meaning rather than mourn but that does not mean it is an incident without lessons for crisis management, response and recovery.

The roof on fire does however offer a metaphor for the zwischen den Jahren, the week between years. Carefully built structures can crumble. In Russian, the term krycha or roof refers to official cover for an act of political or economic opportunism, for a mafia or power broker. When the krycha is gone, the enterprise collapses and must be managed, often at first chaotically, then after the initial shock, a new status quo takes shape. But a roof is not just a powerful figure, it can also be an idea that acts as cohesion. Breaking out of silos of consensus can reveal certain fundamental truths that will soon be self-evident. In the absence of a krycha or the paradigm of a thought-stopping cliché under which everything rests, new vocabularies take hold.

The former Chief of Defense of the Swiss Army Thomas Süssli told Neue Zürcher Zeitung in an interview published last Saturday that "Switzerland cannot defend itself alone." He made headlines around the world in a country known for its so-called neutrality. "Historically, there have been several neutral countries that were unarmed and were drawn into a war," he noted, adding further truth to injury. On today's eastern front, we have the example of the neutral interwar Baltic states who fell under half a century of brutal occupation by the Soviet Union briefly, then the Nazis, and then again the Soviet Union for much of the latter half of the twentieth century.

On the other side of the Atlantic, part of the broader ecosystem into which Alpine security rests, former Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, known for her firebrand of hard MAGA, gave a series of interviews to Robert Draper in The New York Times Magazine. In the article, the cracks of MAGA are not just beginning to show but have ruptured like the Santa Ana freeway in a massive earthquake. According to the article, when she realized loyalty was not a two-way street, the spell broke and "had a liberating effect" on Greene. The whole article is worth a read but shows that even the most ardent and unapologetic have adorned themselves in a mask of morés they may not fully subscribe to when push comes to shove.

Where new consensus comes from and who builds it is enough of a reason to stick around for another turn around the sun. While everything is the same, it never will be again. The Westphalian nation-state still holds and the most important partner in European security, the United States of America, celebrates 250 years and does so facing great peril internally and in the world. As American society stands tall and proud as it always has, this American knows that resilience is not built on pretty moments but over the course of difficult battles.

Welcome to the new Alpine Security Monitor! You can subscribe (and become a paid subscriber!) for weekly updates on security and geopolitics as it concerns the Alpine region, namely Austria, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland (ok, little Liechtenstein and Monaco too when merited). If this was forwarded to you, welcome!

MUNICH, GERMANY – AfD parliamentarians invited to Munich Security Conference

  • The Guardian reports Monday Wolfgang Ischinger has opted to break from the past and invite members of parliament from the far-right Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD) to the 2026 edition of the Munich Security Conference following a fiery speech from US Vice-President J.D. Vance last year that chastised his hosts for excluding AfD.
  • What firewall against the far-right? Organizers confirmed "The reversal" and a spokeserson for the conference "declined to explain the new policy," of inviting "the anti-immigrant, pro-Kremlin party" but instead offered a meek explanation that "It was decided to invite members of parliament from all parties represented in the Bundestag", notably those on foreign affairs and defense committees. Before 2024, "The same principle applied".
  • Last year, "Vance raised hackles by meeting on the sidelines of the MSC wth AfD's co-leader Alice Weidel".

 

GELSENKIRCHEN, GERMANY -- €30 million stolen in bank vault heist

  • Deutsche Welle reports Tuesday burglars successfully drilled a hole into a Sparkasse bank vault overnight Sunday in the western German city of Gelsenkirchen and looted an estimated €30 million ($35 million) worth of value from the contents of safety deposit boxes.
  • The thieves used a large drill to obtain access before ransacking safety deposit boxes of their contents, with police describing the heist "as highly professional" and requiring of "extensive planning, inside knowledge and significant criminal resolve".
  • The perpetrators "gained access to the bank from a parking garage." Items looted from nearly 3,000 safety deposit boxes included "cash, jewelry, and gold." Police had to secure the area as bank customers protested outside. Surveillance footage "shows a black Audi RS 6 leaving the garage early Monday morning with masked occupants inside."

 

CRANS-MONTANA, SWITZERLAND – At least 40 dead in devastating fire on New Year's Eve

  • The Washington Post and Swissinfo report at least 40 people were killed and 115 injured in an accidental fire at Le Constellation bar located within the Crans-Montana Mountain Resort on New Year's Eve at 1:30 a.m. after the roof caught fire.
  • Initial reports indicated an explosion but authorities said the explosion was rather caused by fire after the roof of the building caught fire when flares in large champagne bottles were too close to the roof, sparking a fire. US-based Vail Resorts acquired the property in 2023, though Swiss business records show Vail Resorts does not own Le Constellation bar.
  • "Many of the victims were young people celebrating the New Year," according to state councillor Stéphane Ganzer. Swiss President Guy Parmelin declared five days of national mourning for "one of the most traumatic events in Switzerland's history", The Guardian reports.

 

ZÜRICH, SWITZERLAND – Homes of right-wing Swiss People's Party politicians vandalized

  • Swissinfo reports last Friday the front door of homes belonging to Zürich cantonal parliamentarian Lorenz Habicher and president of the Kreis 3 brand Stefan Deul were reportedly vandalized with paint, according to the Swiss People's Party city and cantonal branches.
  • Police in the city of Zürich "confirmed one such case on Friday" though no details were provided.
  • The Swiss People's Party placed the blame for the acts of vandalism on "left-wing extremists" which is more than a throwaway line in a Swiss context, though such types are currently not so radicalized beyond acts of vandalism, property damage and the glorification of violence.

 

MILAN, ITALY – Nine arrested over Hamas funding through Palestinian charities

  • The Associated Press reports Saturday Italian authorities arrested nine people connected to three charities "on suspicion of raising millions of euros for the Palestinian militant group Hamas," including Mohammad Hannoun, the president of the Palestinian Association of Italy.
  • Italian authorities described Hannoun as "head of the Italian cell of the Hamas organization" and said in a statement the three charities in question sent "about 7 million euros ($8.2 million) to 'associations based in Gaza, the Palestinian territories, or Israel, owned, controlled, or linked to Hamas'".
  • Prosecutors allege a laundering operation where "the illegal funds were delivered through 'triangulation operations' via bank transfers or through organizations based abroad to associations based in Gaza, which have been declared illegal by Israel for their ties to Hamas."

 

Stay safe and keep it that way in the new year!

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