President Milanović: Brilliant Western strategists managed to reconcile the world’s two most dangerous states, Russia and China, and turn them into allies

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović delivered in Varaždin today a lecture on the theme “Global Challenges and Political Environment” to students attending the Faculty of Organization and Informatics of the University of Zagreb.

President Milanović delivered the lecture as part of the “SIMON“ project and the use of artificial intelligence for which at the beginning of his lecture he said: “It is a powerful weapon, because by the time you explain it is a lie, it has travelled around the world. It is invasive and powerful, much more powerful than a newspaper article published on a portal”. “The potential for the malicious uses of artificial intelligence in the democratic process – in which informed citizens should decide and make decisions about how they want society to look, how they want money to be distributed, what kind of relationships with neighbours they want, what values ​​in the community – is great and it will be manipulated more and more in the future”, President Milanović said about artificial intelligence.

“What is Croatia’s goal besides mere survival and attracting European Union funds that will exist for some time to come?”, the President wondered, speaking about Croatia’s position in current global challenges. “I will not remain silent about certain things and I will not accept the reminder of the European Commission’s spokesperson as the truth. These matters are being discussed because they directly concern our destiny and our tomorrow, our children and grandchildren, you who are studying and are young. Things are changing and the world has changed dramatically in the last thirty years. Relations between great powers have changed. Countries that were on their knees thirty years ago are no longer on their knees. Competition is fierce,” President Milanović said when speaking global challenges and the political environment.

The fundamental goal and stronghold of Croatia’s politics must be national resilience, the President underlined. “National resilience is simply the power to withstand all elements and foreign influences, be they visible or invisible, good or bad in the ethical and epistemological sense”, he noted.

But national resilience must not be a reaction only after a crisis, but a systematic preparedness for all challenges, the President warned, and in this context he critically pointed out that the European Union is often in a state of permanent recovery, instead of stable development: “There is always some recovery, you can notice that we never live, as far as the Commission is concerned, in normal times. We are always recovering from something. The task of the state government is to ensure the state’s resilience not only after the earthquake, but also before the earthquake.”

The President also shared with the students his view of the functioning of the European Union, emphasizing that EU membership brings certain benefits to Croatia, but also requires a realistic view of its structure and power relations. “How does the European Union function? What makes it a state? I believe that we currently benefit from membership. Croatia, like other smaller states, needs to develop a balanced trade in goods and protect its own interests in international relations. Our interest should be to maintain a current account balance with other states as a small state.”

Speaking about global economic relations, President Milanović also referred to the United States of America, whose economic activity he described as unique in the world: “We do not have the privilege like the USA to print as much money as we want and owe nothing to anyone. America is a story in itself.”

The President of the Republic said that national resilience must remain the central goal of Croatian state policy – the ability for the state to independently deal with crises, protect its interests within the European Union, and recognize global processes without illusions, but with a clear understanding of its own position.

Speaking about the Croatian economy, he referred to the state budget deficit, which according to the proposed budget revision for 2025 amounts to 2.9% of GDP. “The deficit of the consolidated state is below three percent, which is considered the permissible limit according to the convergence criteria because, contrary to what the Government claims, this was saved precisely at the expense of local governments, which can borrow under very strict conditions supervised by the political authorities, the Ministry of Finance,” the President said, adding that state borrowing over four percent also depends on its size. “Small states are not the same as large states. Large states have more room for manoeuver, and small states are simply more prone to disruptions and imbalances in the markets,” he stated.

In his lecture to the students, President Milanović commented on the causes of war, the moral dimensions of support for armed conflict and the geostrategic consequences of the rapprochement of great powers. He particularly emphasized the danger of war rhetoric that scares the population and encourages the escalation of conflicts.

“The policy of many Western countries at this moment towards the war in Ukraine, in my opinion, cannot be classified as rational behaviour because others are dying. And that is already a question of morality: whether you can advocate for a war and resistance when thousands and thousands of people who are not yours are dying there,” he said, emphasizing that the moral framework is crucial when deciding on support for armed conflicts and that scaring the population with war scenarios represents a huge burden on society.

In this context, he called for caution in the rhetoric of political elites when facing the options of war. “The entire policy of Europe revolves around the thesis that Russia will attack Europe, that we should go to war. With which people? Let us not frighten the entire population with war, a war that would lead to the self-destruction of whoever would attempt it, he warned.

The President called for dialogue and diplomatic efforts towards de-escalation, referring to the Cold War practice of discussions between great powers: “Let us try to talk to the other side, let us see what their demons and fears are. I am not saying that those are kind people, but let us talk as the Soviets and Americans did during the Cold War. They even agreed on limitations.“

In this context he talked about the announced meeting of the American and Russian presidents in Budapest and Europe’s reactions: “There is an announcement of a Putin-Trump meeting in Budapest, and Europe – partly out of hatred, partly out of spite for Orban – does not want the meeting to take place, but rather wants it to fail, and the war that is destroying Ukraine to continue. How can a normal person be against this meeting? Maybe that meeting will lead to an end to the war and the killing of hundreds of thousands of young men in uniform. All of Europe and now even Croatia wanted to prevent that meeting from taking place!”

As one of the key geostrategic facts, President Milanović highlighted energy self-sufficiency, which is also crucial for the ability to wage war: “There are only two countries in the world that are energy self-sufficient to wage war, namely America and Russia, China is not. Brilliant Western strategists have managed to do the unachievable – reconcile Moscow and Beijing. So now we have the two most dangerous countries in the world that have become allies, instead of keeping them at a distance. They are united by fear of us, they are actually afraid of us, and we have much less reason to fear them.”

Speaking about Croatian foreign policy, President Milanović referred to the Dayton Agreement and the position of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina are being mistreated, there is no other way to call it. They are simply deprived of the rights guaranteed to them by the Dayton Agreement. What has the Croatian Government done about this? A little, but I do not have the instruments to implement it in the way that states can,” the President said.

“Is our goal to retain the right to speak openly about the things we see in the world, without necessarily annoying the Americans and Germans? To simply not always please someone and not repeat the nonsense we hear from Berlin and other cities that are evidently to the detriment of that state. Should we follow and monitor it or distance ourselves?” President Milanović said, speaking about Croatia’s relationship with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Much of this indicates the need for a paradigm shift, a change in behaviour, a change in priorities, scepticism in selfish national political interest; the world has definitely changed and is no longer governed by one state. It will be different than it has been so far,” President Milanović stated in concluding his lecture.

Ahead of President Milanović’s lecture, the students were addressed by the dean of the Faculty of Organization and Informatics of the University of Zagreb Full Prof. Marina Klačmer Čalopa, PhD, and the head of the “SIMON project Assoc. Prof. Dijana Oreški, PhD, who presented the Project. The “SIMON“ Project is being carried out with the aim of developing an intelligent system for automatic selection of machine learning algorithms in the field of social sciences.

During his visit to the Faculty of Organization and Informatics, President Milanović met with the Faculty’s management. Attending the meeting besides the dean of the Faculty and the head of the “SIMON“ Project, were the vice-rector for Innovations, Transfer Technologies and Cooperation with Business of the University of Zagreb Prof. Jurica Pavičić, PhD, and the vice-rector for Business and Digitalization Prof. Tomislav Bolanča, PhD, and the Mayor of Varaždin Neven Bosilj.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Filip Glas