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This book is called What Is at Stake Now and it deals with nothing less than the future of the global world. Is that not presumptuous? After all, who can say where humanity is heading?

The predictions made one hundred or even just twenty years ago may elicit nothing but smiles of bewilderment today. But I do not want to make any predictions in this book. Instead, I want to reflect on how we are behaving today, what we are striving for and what we should avoid if we hope to preserve our world for future generations.

I am very concerned by the current events, developments and plans of which I have recently become aware.

In January 2020, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which is published in Chicago and has gauged the danger of nuclear war since 1945, moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock ahead by nearly half a minute. Symbolically speaking, it is now 100 seconds to midnight – we are 100 seconds away from war. The situation has not been this dire since 1953.

We live in a globalized world, but we have not yet understood it or learned how to get along together in it. This realization has occupied me for a long time. We often do not notice the dangers lying in wait for us until it is too late. And when we do finally recognize them, we do not dare to act. We have not learned the art of partnership and cooperation, and politics often lags behind the rapid changes in the world.

I was politically active at a time when my country and the whole world were ripe for colossal changes. We took on the challenges. We made mistakes and misjudged some things. Yet we initiated changes of historic dimensions, and they were peaceful. I think this gives me the right to reflect on the future, too, and to share my thoughts with you, dear readers.

I hope this book inspires you to think and act yourselves – because, ultimately, all of us together are responsible for the future of the global world.