Putin Has Long Wanted More Power in Europe. Trump Could Grant It.
Putin Has Long Wanted More Power in Europe. Trump Could Grant It.
Remarks by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are fueling concerns that the U.S. will move away from Europe and align with Moscow.
Comments by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance raised fears among attendees [of the annual security conference in Munich] that under the new administration the United States. might [sic] align with Russia and either assail Europe or abandon it altogether.
The presence of American troops has been the underpinning of 80 years of peace in Western Europe since the end of World War II. But in a speech in Warsaw on Friday, before his arrival at the conference, Mr. Hegseth warned European leaders they shouldn’t assume that the United States will be there forever.
Later in the day, at the Munich conference, Mr. Vance delivered an even scarier message for many European attendees: The enemy he sees isn’t Russia or China, but Europe itself.
Mr. Vance set about attacking European nations for using what he called undemocratic methods to restrain far-right parties that in some cases have been backed by Russia. He argued that the continent needed to recognize the desires of its voters, stop attempting to moderate disinformation in undemocratic ways and instead allow such parties to thrive as the will of the people.
Mr. Vance hit out in particular at Romania, where the country’s constitutional court in December canceled a presidential election that an ultranationalist backed by an apparent Russian influence campaign looked poised to win. The election has been rescheduled for May.