The Guardian view on JD Vance in Munich: Europe must stand up for its values | Editorial
www.theguardian.com
Sun, 16 Feb 2025 19:30:11 +0200
The vicepresidents speech on Friday was another wakeup call for European leaders.
On defence and in other areas, they need to chart their own courseIn 2007, Vladimir Putin delivered a speech to the Munich security conference that stunned western diplomats by launching an unforeseen assault on the post1989 international order.
The United States, alleged Mr Putin, had perniciously manufactured a unipolar world in which there is one master, one sovereign.
Seven years later, Russian forces illegally occupied Crimea, and Moscowfunded separatists seized swathes of territory in eastern Ukraine, in what turned out to be the precursor to fullblown invasion.Nearly two decades later, the disturbing speech at the same venue by the US vicepresident, JD Vance, may prove to be similarly significant as the geopolitics of the 21st century continue to shift.
Mr Vance had been expected to concentrate last Fridays remarks on Ukraine, after a week in which Donald Trump appeared to be unilaterally preparing to negotiate a ceasefire deal entirely on Mr Putins terms.
Instead, he used his platform as a pulpit from which to berate the USs European allies on issues such as multiculturalism, migration and the regulation of social media.
Indefensibly, the Trump administration now actively cheerleads for farright parties such as Germanys Alternative fr Deutschland, whose leader, Alice Weidel, he chose to meet in Munich.
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