Key points
- How are you going to end the war unless you’re talking to Russia: Vance
- Criticises Germany’s free speech laws
- Europe is on its own now: security expert
NATIONAL HARBOR, United States: Europe is on the “cusp of peace,” US Vice President JD Vance said Thursday, crediting Donald Trump’s push to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has prompted fears of Kyiv being forced to capitulate.
“It’s going to take a smart statesman to figure this stuff out,” Vance said during an on-stage interview at a conservative conference near the capital Washington, according to AFP.
“But we’ve got that in the White House, and I really believe that we’re on the cusp of peace in Europe for the first time in three years, because we have leadership from the Oval Office,” he said.
“Europe on its own”
According to AFP, US President Trump has dramatically shifted Washington’s position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine since returning to the White House one month ago.
Muhammad Ali, a security expert on the shifting trans-Atlantic relationship in an interview with WE News English, remarked, “Europe is on its own now”.
Europe is on its Own Now
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The Republican has rattled Kyiv and its European backers by opening talks with Moscow that they fear could force Ukraine to bow to Russia, according to AFP.
Kyiv was not invited to talks in Riyadh earlier this week between Moscow and Washington as they moved to sideline both Ukraine and Europe.
Zelensky a “dictator”
Trump also tried to strike a deal with Ukraine over access to its rare minerals in return for American aid, which President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected over the weekend.
In the days since, Trump has savaged him as a “dictator,” while Zelensky has also let his anger show in a bitter break between the one-time allies.
Vance defended his boss’s move to hold talks with Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February of 2022.
“How are you going to end the war unless you’re talking to Russia,” he said at CPAC, without addressing criticisms that the US is sidelining Kyiv and Europe and ceding to Moscow’s demands.
“It’s really simple. He wants the killing to stop. He wants to bring lasting peace to Europe… Wherever war breaks out, he’s going to be the president of peace.”
Free speech in Europe
According to a DW report, US Vice President JD Vance has stepped up his criticism of the state of free speech in Europe, linking hate speech laws with the US military presence in Germany.
Vance made the comments at the conference of conservative activists.
Vance referred to Washington’s longtime military deployment in Germany and how he thought US service personnel could be impacted by the country’s hate speech laws.
“There are thousands upon thousands of American troops in Germany today. Do you think that the American taxpayer is going to stand for that, if you get thrown in jail in Germany for posting a mean tweet? Of course, they’re not,” he told activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
German defence
“Germany’s entire defence is subsidized by the American taxpayer,” he then claimed.
The US vice president also insisted that the US would “continue to have important alliances with Europe,” telling CPAC moderator Mercedes Schlapp, “I do think the strength of those alliances is going to depend on whether we take our societies in the right direction.”
The US military has more than 80,000 soldiers stationed in Europe, including at Germany’s Ramstein Air Base.
Reacting negatively to Vance’s latest claims that Germany’s defence is subsidised by US taxpayers, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said, “I still believe in reason and facts.” He added that he hoped that accurate media reports would also reach the US.
