TEHRAN- The Munich Security Conference (MSC) advertises itself as a leading international forum with diplomatic initiatives addressing "the world's most pressing security concerns", but a U.S.-based consultancy firm drives the agenda.

The MSC is an annual summit that claims to assemble "more than 450 high-profile and senior decision-makers as well as thought-leaders from around the world, including heads of state, ministers, leading personalities of international and non-governmental organizations" among others. 

The MSC website claims the event believes in the need for "an informed and sustained public debate on security policy broadly defined and thus aims to involve the wider public in its debates."

Also, it broadcasts a selection of the debates held during the two-day summit and disseminates the results on social media to attract a wider audience.

The conference in Germany has been running for some 50 years, but it wasn't until about a decade ago when the MSC was losing international acclaim. Then German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen brought in the U.S.-based consultancy firm McKinsey to deviate MSC's path to a more sinister militarism one. 

More than 10,000 anti-war protesters gathered in southern Munich to protest against the MSC.According to Politico, citing current and former MSC employees, as well as internal documents seen by the newspaper, one of the biggest consultancy firms in the world has taken control of the event’s agenda, shaping its program and the guest list for years.

It has been a delicate, quiet, and profit-making move as MSC is a state-sponsored conference held with the German government's support with high-ranking politicians from around the world. 

It's also a very sensitive issue in Germany as MSC and von der Leyen, responsible for MSC, and her two daughters who worked for McKinsey, were caught in a scandal involving allegations of cronyism and irregularities in procurement.

As defense minister, von der Leyen hired then-head of McKinsey’s Berlin office, Katrin Suder, as a senior aide to the defense ministry.

That led to a lengthy parliamentary probe and a 700-page report on how the ministry misused hundreds of millions of Euros. 

By the time the parliamentary probe ended in 2020, von der Leyen was comfortably relocated to Brussels as president of the European Commission and Suder had left the ministry. 

The probe concluded that the ties between von der Leyen’s ministry and her 
McKinsey consultant Suder was unprofessional and much of the work Suder was hired for could have been handled by the ministry itself. 

Many German opposition politicians argued that von der Leyen and Suder bore political responsibility for direct involvement in corrupt procurement practices.

According to Politico, Von der Leyen and Suder were central to the evolution of McKinsey’s involvement with the MSC.

This is why McKinsey’s role in the MSC has been pushed under the carpet.

But until this year's conference, the evidence points to McKinsey playing the biggest role in shaping MSC's agenda and final analysis report. The U.S.-based firm denies this. 

“Europe could save 13 billion euros annually by pooling defense procurement,” one MSC report claimed, citing McKinsey.

In the acknowledgements, the report cites McKinsey among the think tanks and government ministries for “research and input.” 

What it doesn’t reveal, MSC sources told Politico, is that the report was largely conceived and funded by the U.S. consultancy firm.

What MSC wants is for European policymakers to splash their money and steer the EU on a path toward common defense.

This has been a longstanding goal for many in Europe despite the fact it has proven very difficult to achieve.

This is the same goal for McKinsey’s biggest clients, such as Airbus which manufactures military aircraft and has also called for common procurement in the region. 

Other firms that attended the MSC under McKinsey’s behind-the-scenes management include Raytheon, one of the U.S.'s largest arms manufacturers, which is playing a major role in the Ukraine war.

Over the years, contributions to the MSC have risen significantly despite the organizers going to great pain to avoid the reputation of sacrificing substance for financial gain.

The focus of this year's conference was mostly on Ukraine.

Oe of the biggest consultancy firms in the world has taken control of the event’s agenda, shaping its program and the guest list for years.Among the keynote speakers during the weekend's MSC summit were hawks such as UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who urged world leaders to send the most advanced weapons to Ukraine, despite the economic costs of the war proving too much to bear.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined a large U.S. delegation that also took part in the conference. 

The delegation included other top U.S. hawks, such as senator Lindsey Graham, a leading advocate of sending arms to Ukraine.

He alleged in Munich that China would be encouraged to take military action against Taiwan if the United States and its European allies failed to back Ukraine.

"If you care about China and you don't get the connection between Russia, Ukraine and China, you are missing a lot," Graham told Reuters.

European leaders and security experts also vowed to intensify support for the Ukraine war.

This is while more than 10,000 anti-war protesters gathered in southern Munich to protest against the MSC.

The protest was just one of more than a dozen demonstrations across the city which drew together anti-NATO protestors.

According to the U.S. Department of State, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his French, German and UK counterparts on the sidelines of the conference.  

They are said to have regurgitated their alleged concern about Iran’s nuclear "escalation" and its lack of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), calling on Tehran to reverse course. 

They also discussed their concerns about the deepening two-way military cooperation between Iran and Russia. 

They also reaffirmed their "solidarity with the Iranian people".

Iran has maintained its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes and the country is subject to the most robust inspections regime by the IAEA. 

A recent inspection at Iran's Ferdow nuclear plant led to confusion among one of the nuclear agency's inspectors. An explanation by the Iranian side led to the inspector's understanding.

But that did not stop the Western signatories to the JCPOA, such as Germany, France and the UK from using the case to try and add international pressure on Iran under the pretext of its peaceful nuclear program. 

This is the same nuclear program that international spy agencies, including the U.S. intelligence community, have publicly declared is peaceful. 

No country in the world cooperates more with the IAEA as much as Iran. The Israeli regime which has hundreds of nuclear warheads prohibits the IAEA from any inspection of its nuclear sites despite being the biggest destabilising player in the region.

This is the same regime that is not a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). However, this doesn't appear to bother the U.S., France, Germany and the UK who support Israeli war crimes and genocide. 

When the JCPOA was signed between Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States plus Germany), it was stipulated in the agreement that any side that violates the nuclear deal, the other side has the right to respond.

Since it was the U.S. that violated the deal by withdrawing from it altogether and reinstated the sanctions, Iran is perfectly acting in line with its rights as stipulated in the JCPOA. It has increased its uranium enrichment program.

Perhaps Blinken and his French, German and UK counterparts need to read the JCPOA articles again, but more thoroughly this time.

Any military cooperation between Iran and Russia is within the rights of two independent, sovereign countries. 

Washington doesn't like any type of actions that it perceives as a potential threat to its declining hegemonic rule around the world. 

As much as Western leaders and mainstream media are eager to allege, Iran has not provided Russia with a single drone so that it be used in the Ukraine war.

It has instead advocated for a peaceful solution to the Ukraine conflict.

This is in stark contrast to the U.S.-led NATO military alliance that seeks to prolong the war and the suffering of Ukrainians by sending more weapons to the warzone.

The U.S., France, Germany and the UK that reaffirmed their "solidarity with the Iranian people" can start by lifting the sanctions imposed on the Iranian people.

Sanctions that are aimed at starving the Iranian people into submission and sanctions that killed cancer patients and children with rare diseases. 

The U.S. and its European proxies highlighted once more at the MSC how much they care for the Iranian people. 

This is the rare kindness in human history when you state you stand by the Iranian nation by killing the most vulnerable in the society. 

These are just some of the sinister acts and statements all under the shadows of the Munich Security Conference, where politicians deceive, firms make profit and corruption is at its highest level.