Every head of state and government in the world is allowed to have his opinion and to voice it.

We discussed this very important issue yesterday over a beer.

Back in 2007, many people criticized me for my talk at the Munich Security Conference. But what did I say there? I merely pointed out that the former NATO Secretary General Manfred Wörner had guaranteed that NATO would not expand eastwards after the fall of the Wall.

I am convinced that international terrorism gave itself the goal of not allowing the re-election of Bush. The statement by bin Laden in the final stages of the pre-election campaign is the best confirmation of this.

I do not remember when I said this [oil production would collapse ], maybe in the heat of the moment, but I do not think I even said it, but I may just not remember it. I was saying that at a certain level of oil prices new deposits will not be explored. That is what is actually happening. However, surprisingly, our oil and gas workers [mainly oilmen] continue to invest.

Democracy is an internal subject of the developing society. There are fundamentals of democracy, and they should be understood universally in different countries.

We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I can tell you quite honestly.