The Vice President of the United States JD Vance made a historic speech during the Munich Security Conference. It caused a lot of commotion from the usual suspects. For those who understand realpolitik and the significance of the times we are living in, it sets the stage for a seismic shift in global power dynamics, one that prioritizes national interest and a refocus on security investments over the excesses of the liberal world order. Vice President Vance’s speech about the need for freedom and security was welcomed by most Europeans, by all freedom lovers, and shocked and irritated the arrogant bureaucrats and power-hungry elites who do not want a change in the status quo.
Vance’s address was not a mere speech—it was a manifesto for a new American posture in the attempt of many actors towards a multipolar world. The United States, under the Trump administration, has rightly understood that we currently are in a world order in transition. The decades-long weaknesses of the West—most of them self-inflicted—have emboldened Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Meanwhile, what is considered Global South wants a seat at the table and their voices heard. There is a great need for the West to recognize the growing influence of the Global South and to work with it as an equal partner, especially as the Political East, including China and Russia, is strengthening alliances to challenge the current global order.
These dynamics call for reforms in international institutions, increased energy independence, and a change in the fragile economic model that the West has built in recent decades to ensure stability in the new global order and avoid the imposition of authoritarian models.
‘Europe, meanwhile, is in its worst situation, probably since the end of the Second World War’
America is choosing a middle ground between liberal internationalism and isolationism. The dichotomy presented by the establishment during the past decades that you must either send boots to the ground and export democracy to faraway lands or isolate from the world stage has been proven entirely false. The United States can focus on its internal problems and be at the height of the challenges the world faces at the same time. In fact, by focusing on its border, finding the necessary social cohesion, fighting against cultural Marxism, lowering taxes, cutting red tape, encouraging production, investment and private sector innovation and employment, and ultimately consolidating its finances, it can find the strength to rise to the international challenges of our time. That is what President Trump is doing at the start of his second term.
Europe, meanwhile, is in its worst situation, probably since the end of the Second World War. There is a war in European territory that the elites ruling our continent do not seem eager to end. Its bureaucracy is ever-expanding and forcibly imposing its policies on sovereign peoples. The continent is being crushed by over-regulation, taxation, and centralization of the capital, means of production and decision-making by unelected individuals who are unaccountable for their actions.
After WWII, Europe chose to outsource its security to the United States, opting to spend its money on welfare. In recent years, this irresponsibility degraded into outright ideological spending and the imposition of wokeism, cultural Marxism and far-left ideas. Now, Europe wants to have it both ways. It wants to have the United States pay for European security while the old continent ruins itself with unproductive ideological spending, and it wants to impose on the US its own ideas, policies and stances. It is time Europe grew up and realized you cannot impose on the ones paying for you what you want.
‘A Western-based world order needs a coalition of strong countries, each holding their dignity and values yet cooperating on their common goals’
Europe needs to first change its path from the socialism and cultural Marxism that is destroying it from within to a free market, capitalist system. Secondly, it needs to invest more in its security, but within NATO.
When the United States says that Europe needs to focus on its own security, it does not mean that the Americans are abandoning their allies. It merely means that America is looking for a trustworthy partner that can pull its own weight and not be a burden for the United States. We, as Europeans, should be happy about this change in the US stance if we care about our interests. European leaders like to be treated as spoiled children. Now it is time for them to act as the adults they are, find common ground with the US, change their centralized economic and political models and help keep the balance of power in the West.
A Western-based world order cannot be achieved solely by the US. It needs a coalition of strong countries, each holding their dignity, values, and even interests, yet cooperating on their common goals. History shows it can be done. It merely needs leaders with enough foresight and prudence to find the needed equilibrium and restrain the dogs of war without falling prey to the false allure of appeasement and retreat.
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