Helsinki Security Conference Insights

War may begin with a missile, but in Europe today this is not

the only scenario that frightens decision-makers.

A cyberattack, disruption of power grids, drones, media disinformation

and targeting elections. All have become parts

of the new security equation. This is precisely what more than

350 officials and experts in security and defense are discussing.

Here at the fifth edition of the Helsinki Security Conference,

which opens under the title “Layers of Security.” The basic idea

is simple: It is no longer possible to protect a state

through the military alone. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

summed up the experience of nearly five years of full-scale war

by saying that the state needs a modern army and a strong

defense industry, in addition to strong allies.

But the Russian threat, according to the discussions, does not stop at the

battlefield. Moldovan President Maia Sandu said her country

recorded eight Russian violations of its airspace

in just one week. Finnish President Alexander Stubb

He is also looking beyond the war. He says the collapse of

trust between Russia and the West is so profound that

rebuilding it, even in a post-Putin era, will be

a long process. Here, the conference's questions shift from

how the war in Ukraine ends to the broader question of how Europe will

be secure afterward. The answer being put forward in

Helsinki is not about tanks and missiles.

The conference discusses artificial intelligence, technology, the defense industry,

energy security, nuclear deterrence, and relations with the United States.

From Helsinki, the message seems clear. Preparing

for war no longer means only preparing to fight, but

preparing for the state to continue functioning.

Al Araby TV.