This year's Munich Security Conference (MSC) was originally expected to focus primarily on two issues: how to end the war in Ukraine without making concessions to Russia, and how Europe can increase its defense spending. These two issues are related to Europe's security and future development, and have attracted much attention.
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03-26, 2025However, the highest-ranking U.S. representative, Vice President JD Vance, did not use his speaking opportunity on the podium to discuss either of the above issues. Instead, he stunned attendees at Friday's conference by lashing out at Washington's allies, including the UK, and denouncing disinformation, misinformation, and the right to freedom of speech. This was a far cry from the conference's intended goals and sparked widespread discussion.
The speech lasted about 20 minutes, and most of the representatives present remained silent. Vance even joked, "If American democracy can withstand 10 years of scolding from climate activist Greta Thunberg, then you can withstand a few months of Elon Musk." However, the joke did not elicit any laughter. He also accused European governments of abandoning their values and ignoring voters' concerns about immigration and freedom of speech. All in all, Vance's speech was a disaster, a real misjudgment.
An American commentator told me afterwards, "It's all for domestic consumption in the US." This sentence hinted at the true purpose of Vance's remarks. However, Vance later met with the embattled Ukrainian President Zelensky, who tried his best to put on a positive attitude. Zelensky said that they had a "good conversation" and called it "our first meeting, certainly not the last." The Ukrainian leader stressed that Washington and Kyiv need to strengthen communication and cooperation to "develop a plan to stop Putin and end the war."
Zelensky added: "We are really very eager for peace. But we need real security guarantees." However, according to US President Trump, Russian President Putin also wants peace, but a peace on his terms. Unless those terms have quietly changed, they still include Ukraine's submission to Russia's demands and the permanent cession of territory to Moscow. Vance's speech came after Trump, through his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, admitted that restoring Ukraine's territory to its state before Russia's first invasion in 2014 was simply "not realistic," effectively weakening Ukraine's negotiating position. In addition, the United States has dashed Kyiv's hopes of joining NATO and ruled out sending US troops to help protect Ukraine's borders from Russia's next invasion.
Before the Munich Security Conference, Europe was shocked by the news of an apparently friendly 90-minute phone conversation between Trump and Putin, which abruptly ended the three-year freeze that the West had maintained with the Russian leader since the 2022 invasion. Delegates in Munich planned to focus on the war in Ukraine during a high-level debate on Saturday. The concern among European leaders and their delegations in Munich is that in Donald Trump's eagerness to reach a peace deal in Ukraine, Putin will emerge victorious, become more powerful, and plan to seize more European territory.
