‘New sheriff in town’: Speech rocks entire continent
US Vice President JD Vance has left European leaders stunned with a blistering 19-minute speech that could change everything.
US Vice President JD Vance has been accused of “trying to pick a fight” with Europe after he gave a blistering 19-minute speech at a military conference that left leaders stunned — as he barely mentioned Russia and instead accused European nations of stifling free speech.
He also met the leader of a far right political party he was accused of promoting during the speech.
There was a “new sheriff in town” in the form of Donald Trump, said Mr Vance at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, local time.
Mr Vance’s comments came soon after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Moscow was “preparing for war” against NATO as soon as next year.
US President’s Trump revelation that he spoken to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to start Ukraine peace talks has left many nervous both in Kyiv and across Europe.
Many fear any deal could sideline Ukraine and NATO, reward Putin and possibly see Russia simply regroup and rearm for further battles against Ukraine and other nations.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was criticised when earlier this week he publicly said Ukraine would not join NATO, US troops would not set foot in Ukraine and Kyiv would have to accept there was no going back to its previous borders.
Many in Europe had said he had given up key bargaining chips with Russia before talks had even began.
Those concerns weren’t lessened by a bombastic speech by US Vice President JD Vance where he barely mentioned Russia.
“The threat that I worry the most about vis a vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China …. what I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values … shared with the United States of America,” he told the bewildered crowd.
Vance berates Europe, barely mentions Russia
Those attending were hoping the speech by Mr Vance would give some reassurance that the US had Europe’s back.
They didn’t get it. Free speech, migration and defending Elon Musk got more priority that Russia.
“It looks more and more like old, entrenched interests, hiding behind ugly, Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation, who simply don’t like the idea that somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion or, God forbid, vote a different way or, even worse, win an election,” he said in Munich.
Mr Vance highlighted the UK where someone praying too close to an abortion clinic was arrested and Sweden where a man burning the Koran was charged. European democracies deny they are restricting free speech.
Vance meets far right politicians
Mr Vance also said there was “no room for firewalls” in politics.
That appeared to be a reference to the upcoming German election. Polling suggests the far right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party is currently in second place but other parties have said they will create a “firewall” to keep the AfD out of any power sharing agreement by refusing to a deal with them to form government.
Later, away from the conference he met up with Alice Weidel, the leader of AfD, reported German broadcaster ZDF. That will be seen as a big boost to her campaign to become the next German Chancellor.
Awkward silence from crowd
Mr Vance pushed back at concerns about Elon Musk openly campaigning for far-right parties in Europe, including the AfD.
“If American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg’s scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk”.
Mr Vance then left room for a laugh from the audience. But no laugh came as the stunned onlookers stayed mute.
In the speech, Mr Vance said he believed the US could come to a “reasonable settlement” with Russia on peace. And, in words that might be slightly more comforting to Ukraine and Europe more widely, he said the US was not against pressuring Russia with both economic and military “tools of leverage”.
He added that “Europe is of course a very important ally to the United States, NATO is a very important military alliance”.
Mr Vance also met with Ukraine's Mr Zelensky where the VP said he wanted a “durable peace,” and “not the kind of peace that’s going to have Eastern Europe in conflict just a couple years down the road”.
‘Picking a fight’
Mr Vance’s speech, devoid of any major talk of security, went down like a lead balloon.
European Union foreign policy head and former Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas was underwhelmed.
“Listening to that speech, (the Americans) try to pick a fight with us and we don’t want to pick a fight with our friends.”
She lamented Mr Vance didn’t focus more on the present threat of Russia,
German defence minister Boris Pistorius said: “If I have understood him correctly, he is comparing conditions in parts of Europe with those in authoritarian regions … that is not acceptable”.
Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt went further saying the speech was “worse than expected”.
“At best it was totally irrelevant to European or global security concerns.
“At worst it was blatant interference in the German election campaign in favour of far-right AfD”.
Putin ‘planning war against NATO next year’
Prior to the Vice President’s speech, Mr Zelensky was in Munich to try and ensure it had a seat at the negotiating table and to warn that Ukraine needed a security guarantee, ideally involving the US. If that wasn’t forthcoming, he said, Russia may expand its war.
Talking to reporters he cited “intelligence” that showed Russia could deploy 15 military divisions in Belarus this year of between 100,000 and 150,000 people.
Belarus is to the north of Ukraine and has been used by Russia previously to funnel invasion target. But Mr Zelensky warned Ukraine might not be a target.
“I am not sure that this group will go on the offensive against Ukraine. But it will go on the offensive,” he said.
“Just like in 2022, they could move forward towards Ukraine – or they could go to Poland or the Baltics. And I believe this is his idea,” he said.
“I think that he’s preparing the war against NATO countries next year,” he added.
“That is what I think. I don’t know. It is not 100 per cent.
“God bless we will stop this crazy guy”.
Other European nations and the US have warned Putin could turn his sights on other countries. But none have suggested it could happen as soon as 2026. That was seen as too soon for Russia to be able to lick its wounds and rearm.
Mr Zelensky said a security umbrella was vital to discourage Putin’s imperialist tendencies as well as NATO weaponry. Moscow has said it wants to see Ukraine essentially disarmed.
Ukraine’s ‘red line’
Mr Zelensky also revealed that when he spoke to President Trump this week he told him Mr Putin was a “liar”. On Thursday, US time, Mr Trump said he felt he could “trust” the Russian leader.
“I have told President Trump that I am ready to talk at any time – without conditions,” said Mr Zelensky.
“We are prepared to discuss everything, from troop deployments to NATO.”
However, he said his “red line” in negotiations was formal recognition of any Ukraine territories Moscow remains in as being officially Russian. That doesn’t preclude Kyiv recognising that Moscow has control of some areas.
European nations and NATO have been left reeling by Mr Trump’s announcement he would begin negotiations with Putin to end the war which took them by surprise.
Originally published as ‘New sheriff in town’: Speech rocks entire continent
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