I mean, to those who heard it. Last Friday, at the Munich Security Policy Conference, a confident, clear-eyed man in his forties walked out onto the podium with decisive steps and addressed Europe. Yes, in his 19-minute speech from memory, the US vice president humbly but honestly and resolutely confronted the leading elite with his mistakes. He did not accuse or scourge anyone, but he drew attention to the serious problems that accelerated and fatally sealed the agony of the already decaying, old continent. The first minute was about condolences, the day before, when a 24-year-old Afghan drove his car into the participants of a trade union demonstration in the Bavarian capital. The politician was deeply touched by the evil that the community suffered. JD Vance then turned to professional issues, and right at the beginning, speaking about security, he pointed out that it is certainly threatened from within, as Europe has withdrawn and deviated from some of its fundamental achievements. These values should not be proclaimed, but all the extraordinary blessings of freedom should be experienced. He said that people cannot be forced to think, feel or believe, “freedom of speech, I am afraid, is in retreat.” The US vice president addressed Europe’s leaders: there is no security if politicians are afraid of the voices, opinions and consciences that govern their own people, and if they flee into fear of their own voters, America cannot do anything for them. He also described mass migration as a challenge that requires a change of direction because people are interested in their homes, their dreams, their security and their ability to take care of themselves and their children. Ultimately, according to Vice President Vance, ignoring people’s opinions, excluding them from politics does not protect us from anything, does not provide security.
It was a round, rough and insightful speech, but it was far from the taste of today’s European elite, and he received nothing but anemic and forced applause, and that only because of false etiquette. It is also a question of what those to whom it was addressed understood from it, but perhaps it is not even a question: little. The German President of the Security Conference concluded with emotion: “After the Vice-President’s speech on Friday, we have to fear that our common values are no longer so common. I am very grateful to all those European politicians who have stood up and affirmed the values and principles that they defend. No one has done this better than President Zelensky. Let me finish… then Ambassador Heusgen cried in the live broadcast.
A perfect snapshot of the disease. Europe’s weak, monomaniacal leaders, against them, we who feel their loss because of the botched measures, the crimes committed and irreparable. And then comes an honest speaker from the other side of the Great Water, elegantly but relentlessly speaks the truth into the face of those responsible, but they do not understand it. They were concreted on the pallet of the truck: they were already raising and tilting the platform, but they were untouchable, glued to it screaming and already deaf in the noise. And we wait for them to collapse on us, then maybe they will finally wake up.
Until then, the war chorus is playing, President Macron pulled together the most determined soloists in Paris at the beginning of the week for a small crisis meeting to see if they can keep Ukraine in a state of war. Peace is a swear word in this world turned upside down, the President of the European Commission held talks with the US President’s Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia in Brussels. The only result of this was that Ursula assured Keith Kellogg that “the European Union is fully committed to providing military assistance to Ukraine and is ready to do more.” The dead on the battlefield, and as if they didn’t exist, this is not a consideration for Eurouschi. What would happen to him if the killing ended, he couldn’t hurry to Kiev every month to hug the brave pianist president. It is also not a disturbing factor that Zelensky admitted that half of the support money is missing, but somehow it is missing.
Pride is a lousy counselor, most of the time he punches the arrogant in the nose. Slowly but surely, this fate awaits the arrogant leaders of the West, even if they do not believe that this can happen to them as well. Their prestige and weight have gone away like birdsong in the spring night, and sobriety will be hard. We live in exciting times, history literally sweeps through us every day. What are the news agencies quoting from President Trump’s post on the social network today? “He is a dictator without elections, Zelensky is better off acting quickly, otherwise he will not have a country left. Meanwhile, we are successfully negotiating an end to the war with Russia…”
Let us be confident and wait persistently for the good times. Realistically, with a clear conscience.
Translated and edited by Kiss Gyöngyi