On September 9, the Geopolitics and Security Studies Center welcomed guests from the US and Germany – colleagues from Bertelsmann Foundations and Bertelsmann Stiftung, with whom we organized a workshop, film screening, and discussion.
In the morning, the Center hosted an inter-institutional workshop on scenarios for Lithuanian-US relations in the context of possible changes in US military capabilities in Europe. The workshop was led by Anthony Silberfeld, Director of the Bertelsmann Foundation’s Transatlantic Program, Peter Walkenhorst, Senior Project Manager at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, and Adam CEO, Director of Cultivate Labs. Linas Kojala, Director of the GSSC, also spoke at the workshop, discussing the current security situation in the region.
In the evening, at the cinema “Pasaka” we hosted a screening of the “Lithium Rising: Race for Critical Minerals“ and an expert discussion on rare earth elements and China. Mantvydas Bekešius, Chargé d’Affaires of the Republic of Lithuania to the People’s Republic of China, and Raigirdas Boruta, GSSC associate expert and senior policy analyst at STRATA, shared their insights during the discussion. The discussion focused on China’s leadership in the extraction of rare earth elements and what the European Union and the West can do to catch up with China. The participants noted that although China and the West are competing, they do so in different ways – the West respects human rights and adheres to sustainable practices in this and other industries, while China does so by exploiting citizens of poor countries and disregarding any principles of humanity. The speakers agreed that the West has no choice but to continue the fight – as the title of the film suggests, we are in a race, so we have to compete, the only question is how we will do it.
We are also collaborating with the Bertelsmann Foundation on the Transatlantic Periscope project. We invite you to visit the website, which features news about transatlantic relations between the US and Lithuania.
