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纳瓦尔尼的去世未能给共和党参议员 J.D. 万斯带来任何影响
https://www.politico.eu/article/navalny-death-fails-to-move-the-dial-for-vance/
在慕尼黑安全会议上，美国参议员加倍强调乌克兰应该将领土割让给俄罗斯。
参议院继续就对外援助计划进行辩论，因为该计划已接近通过美国 参议员 J.D. 万斯 | 奇普·索莫德维拉/盖蒂图片社
苏珊·林奇 2 024 年 2 月 18 日
美国参议员 J.D. 万斯在美国国会中以最强烈反对援助乌克兰的人之一而闻名。 现在他已将这一信息带到了欧洲。
在本周末的慕尼黑安全会议上，这位 39 岁的首次当选参议员再次强调了他的观点，即帮助乌克兰不符合美国的利益。
万斯在接受《政治》杂志采访时表示，乌克兰人是“令人钦佩的人民，正在一场令人钦佩的冲突中战斗”。 “但对于我们应该实现的目标，确实缺乏战略明确性，”他说。
“我们根本没有制造能力来无限期地支持东欧的地面战争。 我认为领导人有责任向他们的人民阐明这一点，”万斯说。“这种情况预计会持续多久？ 预计花费多少钱？ 重要的是，我们实际上应该如何生产支持乌克兰人所需的武器？” 他问。
在慕尼黑巴伐利亚霍夫酒店神圣的大厅里，国防和安全官员每年都在这里聚会，这样的言论是一种亵渎。 一年一度的聚会是对跨大西洋关系的庆祝，也是亲乌克兰情绪的堡垒。
慕尼黑安全会议长期以来吸引了大量美国参加。 从已故的约翰·麦凯恩到乔·拜登，数百名美国政界人士曾跨越大西洋，讨论安全、国防和战略问题。
在俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京发动的战争临近两周年之际，乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽伦斯基和外交部长德米特罗·库莱巴率领乌克兰代表团前往慕尼黑，请求提供更多帮助和弹药。
“潜在的动态”
阿列克谢·纳瓦尔尼 (Alexei Navalny) 的去世是在周五会议开幕之际宣布的，这给会议进程蒙上了阴影。
但对于万斯来说，这并没有改变微积分。
“看，他显然是一个非常勇敢的人。 很难不钦佩他，但我认为这并没有真正改变潜在的动态，”来自俄亥俄州的共和党人万斯说。
“这显然是一个悲惨事件。但你必须清醒地看待这个问题，”他说。 “普京不是一个伟大的人，但这并没有改变美国或欧洲的战略要务。我们知道纳瓦尔尼死了，因为我们知道普京是一个残酷的人，但我知道普京是一个残酷的人 一年前，我知道一年后他将成为一个残酷的人。”
万斯表示，他没有计划在慕尼黑会见乌克兰代表团。 “我认为我不会学到任何新东西。我以前见过乌克兰领导层，但它在日程安排上行不通，”他说。
但他表示，他在会议上的谈话并没有改变他的想法，即美国必须退后一步，而不是参与乌克兰击败俄罗斯的努力。
他说，即使美国众议院最终批准了一项长期停滞的对乌克兰援助计划，“这也不会改变基本事实——我们可以发送的弹药有限，乌克兰在 自己的人力。 情况必须从根本上改变，他们才能在战场上取得重大进展。”
“我们必须面对现实”
这位参议员还深入阐述了他有争议的观点，即乌克兰最终将把领土割让给俄罗斯。
他说：“任何和平解决方案都需要乌克兰做出一些重大的领土让步，而且你会达成和平协议，因为这是摆脱冲突的唯一出路。我们必须面对现实。”
在慕尼黑会议上，此类言论被禁止，因为乌克兰试图为其西方盟友提供更多火炮。 在数十次闭门会议中，乌克兰官员表示，他们迫切需要更多武器，尤其是金牛座巡航导弹和远程 ATACMS 导弹，因为他们试图击败弗拉基米尔·普京的军队。
“乌克兰人已经证明，我们可以迫使俄罗斯撤退，”泽伦斯基在周六的主旨演讲中对代表们说。 “我们可以夺回我们的土地，而普京可能会失败，这种情况在战场上已经发生过不止一次了。”
立陶宛外交部长加布里埃尔·兰茨贝吉斯反驳了万斯的言论，认为西方安全受到威胁。 “拥有一个安全的乌克兰不仅符合乌克兰的利益。 这是欧洲的，也是跨大西洋的，”他告诉《政治》杂志。
“稳定是有利可图的。每个人都从中受益，”兰茨伯格斯说。 “事实证明，它对欧洲和美国都是双向的，并且已经有效了半个多世纪。”
万斯的慕尼黑之旅是
这是他自 2022 年当选美国参议员以来首次访问欧洲。作为首次竞选候选人，他因 2016 年回忆录《乡巴佬挽歌》而名声大噪，现已成为美国前总统唐纳德·特朗普的坚定捍卫者，尽管此前他曾这样描述自己 作为一个“从不支持特朗普”的人。
万斯参议员向慕尼黑安全会议发出“警钟”
2924 年 2 月 18 日
https://www.vance.senate.gov/press-releases/senator-vance-delivers-a-wake-up-call-to-munich-security-conference/
“我认为这里有一个根本性问题，欧洲确实必须警醒……你无法用GDP、欧元或美元赢得战争。 你可以用武器赢得战争，而西方却没有制造足够的武器。”
德国慕尼黑——参议员 JD 万斯（俄亥俄州共和党）今天上午在慕尼黑安全会议上发表讲话，给欧洲敲响了“警钟”。
请观看参议员万斯的讲话并阅读以下文字记录：
万斯参议员谈到特朗普总统成功威慑俄罗斯、西方生产武器的能力有限以及美国需要将重点转向东亚：
“我们必须记住，尽管有很多令人沮丧的事情，而且我在私人会议和公开会议上也听到过很多这样的说法，但唐纳德·特朗普可能是这一代人中最能威慑俄罗斯的总统。
“事实上，俄罗斯在过去20年里唯一一次没有入侵外国是唐纳德·特朗普担任总统的四年。 有趣的是，这么多人指责特朗普、我或其他人落入普京的口袋，但弗拉基米尔·普京说他想成为下一任总统的人不是唐纳德·特朗普——他说乔·拜登是他首选的候选人，因为 他更容易预测。
“现在，在欧洲安全问题上，我认为欧洲确实必须意识到一个根本问题。 我本着友谊的精神而不是批评的精神提出这一点，因为，不，我不认为我们应该退出北约，不，我不认为我们应该放弃欧洲。 但是，是的，我认为我们应该转向。 美国必须更加关注东亚。 这将是美国未来 40 年外交政策的未来，欧洲必须认识到这一事实。
“现在，让我抛出一些事实。 第一，从美利坚合众国的角度来看，乌克兰问题是，我相信，我代表了大多数美国公众舆论，尽管我不代表来到慕尼黑的参议员的大多数意见。 没有明确的终点，从根本上来说，美国支持乌克兰的限制因素不是金钱，而是军火。 美国，顺便说一句，欧洲也是如此，我们没有制造足够的弹药来支持东欧战争、中东战争以及东亚潜在的突发事件。 所以美国从根本上来说是有限的。
“现在，让我抛出非常具体的细节。 PAC-3是一款爱国者拦截机，乌克兰一个月的使用时间相当于美国一年的生产量。 爱国者导弹系统是五年前的订单，155毫米火炮是五年前的订单。我们在美国正在谈论到2025年底将我们的火炮产量提高到每月10万枚。 此时此刻，俄罗斯人每月的收入接近 50 万。 因此，乌克兰面临的问题是美国没有制造足够的武器，欧洲也没有制造足够的武器，而现实远比美国的政治意愿或我们印多少钱然后寄给欧洲重要得多。 我在这里要提出的最后一点是为了回应，因为我知道人们已经听到了特朗普所说的话，你知道，他们批评了它，他们说，好吧，“特朗普将放弃欧洲。”
“我认为这根本不是真的。 我认为特朗普实际上是在敲响警钟，要求欧洲必须在自身安全方面发挥更大的作用。 德国今年的支出将超过GDP的2%。 当然，这是我们在美国必须真正推动的事情，而现在它终于扫清了这个门槛。
“但这不仅仅是花钱的问题。 德国明天可以部署多少个机械化旅？ 也许是一个。 欧洲的问题在于，它本身没有提供足够的威慑力，因为它在自身安全方面没有采取主动。 我认为美国的安全毯导致了欧洲安全的萎缩。
“再说一次，重点不是我们想放弃欧洲。 关键是我们作为一个国家需要关注东亚，我们需要我们的欧洲盟友在欧洲挺身而出。 我很欣赏我的英国朋友[大卫·拉米]在这里所说的话。 当然，我认为英格兰是少数几个例外之一，它在上一代人中部署了一支非常有能力的军队。 但对于欧洲很多国家来说情况并非如此，这种情况必须改变。”
万斯参议员认为需要通过谈判实现和平
d 乌克兰战争：
“普京对欧洲构成生存威胁的想法与我们试图说服我们的盟友花费 GDP 2% 的事实相比，这是非常困难的。 这些想法非常紧张。 我不认为弗拉基米尔·普京对欧洲构成生存威胁，他的威胁再次表明欧洲必须在自身安全方面发挥更积极的作用。
“这是第一。 但我再次回到关于“放弃乌克兰”的问题。如果国会目前正在审议的一揽子计划，即向乌克兰提供 610 亿美元的补充援助，获得通过，我必须对你说实话，这不会 从根本上改变战场的现实。 目前我们可以向乌克兰运送的弹药数量非常有限。
“再说一遍，不是靠美国的意志力或美国的钱，而是靠美国的制造能力。 我刚才强调的所有延期交货订单，这些都不是未来的问题。 这些都是当今的问题，并且它们带来了真正的限制。 所以我想说的是，在这个充满真正限制的世界里，在乌克兰要实现什么是现实的？ 我们能否将过去 18 个月设定的武器装备水平发送给未来 18 个月？
“我们根本做不到。 无论美国国会开出多少支票，我们的能力都有限。 弹药在战争中非常重要。 当然，我们没有谈论的是，人力在战争中非常重要，而我们知道乌克兰人在这方面非常有限。 因此，我们的论点，至少我在这里的论点是，考虑到我们面临的现实，弹药和人力的真正限制，合理地完成什么以及我们何时真正认为我们能够完成它？
“我的论点是，看，我认为合理实现的目标是通过谈判实现和平。 我认为俄罗斯现在有动力坐到谈判桌前。 我认为乌克兰、欧洲和美国都有动力坐到谈判桌前。 那将会发生。 这将以谈判和平告终。 问题是谈判何时能达成和平，以及和平会是什么样子。
万斯参议员谈与对手打交道时优先考虑美国利益：
“对于纳瓦尔尼之死的回应：看，他显然是一个勇敢的人。 他的死是一场悲剧。 我认为他不应该入狱。 我认为他不应该在监狱里被杀。 我谴责普京这样做。 但问题是：它并没有告诉我们任何关于普京的新信息。
“我从来没有说过普京是一个善良、友好的人。 我说过，他是一个有独特利益的人，美国必须对这个有独特利益的人做出回应。 我们不必同意他的观点。 我们可以与他竞争，而且我们经常会与他竞争。 但他是坏人这一事实并不意味着我们不能进行基本外交并优先考虑美国的利益。 世界各地都有很多坏人，我现在对东亚的一些问题比对欧洲的问题更感兴趣。
万斯参议员谈西方武器制造状况、去工业化带来的风险，以及GDP等指标无法表明一个国家的军事实力：
“我们需要欧洲在安全方面发挥更大的作用，这并不是因为我们不关心欧洲……而是因为我们必须认识到我们生活在一个资源匮乏的世界。 当我听到这些问题以及我进行过的许多私人谈话时，我认为在慕尼黑安全会议上非常非常主导的态度之一就是美国超级大国无所不能的想法 立刻。
“我要告诉你的是，我们生活在一个物资匮乏的世界，一个物资匮乏、武器制造以及美国制造战争关键机器的能力的世界，而这个物资匮乏的世界正是我试图让我们获得的。 一切都需要醒来。 在那个资源匮乏的世界里，我们无法支持乌克兰、中东以及东亚的突发事件。 这没有任何意义。 就武器制造而言，数学是行不通的。
“我想在这里说的最后一点是，我在这个房间里听到了很多自我祝贺的声音，以及我在美国家乡进行的一些谈话，这不仅仅是对欧洲的批评，还有很多批评。 自我庆幸我们的GDP比俄罗斯的GDP大多少。
“是的，我们比俄罗斯更富有。 我们的公民比普通俄罗斯公民生活得更好。 这当然是值得庆祝和自豪的事情。 但你无法用 GDP、欧元或美元赢得战争。 你可以用武器赢得战争，而西方却没有制造足够的武器。 我并不是想在这里打击德国，因为我爱德国，但我想回应一下郎女士之前所说的一些话。 看，德国是北约中唯一一个没有遵循愚蠢的华盛顿共识并允许自己的国家这样做的国家。
在 70 年代、80 年代和 90 年代去工业化。 然而，就在普京越来越强大、俄罗斯军队大举入侵欧洲国家的时刻，德国就开始去工业化了吗？
“看看现在德国制造业工作的人数与十年前的情况相比。 看看现在德国生产的关键原材料与十年前的情况对比。 现在的能源依赖程度与 10 或 20 年前相比。 我们必须停止去工业化。 我们希望欧洲取得成功，但欧洲必须在自身安全方面发挥更大作用。 没有工业，你就无法做到这一点。”
Navalny's death fails to move the dial for Republican Senator J.D. Vance
At Munich Security Conference, American senator doubles-down on view that Ukraine should cede territory to Russia.
U.S. Senator J.D. Vance | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
U.S. Senator J.D. Vance has made a name for himself in the United States Congress as one of the most vociferous opponents of aid for Ukraine. Now he has brought that message to Europe.
At the Munich Security Conference this weekend, the 39-year-old first-time senator doubled-down on his view that helping Ukraine is not in America’s interests.
Ukrainians are "admirable people fighting an admirable conflict," Vance told POLITICO in an interview. "But there's a real lack of strategic clarity about what we're supposed to accomplish," he said.
“We simply do not have manufacturing capacity to support a ground war in Eastern Europe indefinitely. And I think it's incumbent upon leaders to articulate this for their populations," Vance said. "How long is this expected to go on? How much is it expected to cost? And importantly, how are we actually supposed to produce the weapons necessary to support the Ukrainians?” he asked.
In the hallowed halls of the Bayerischer Hof hotel in Munich where the annual gathering of defense and security officials is taking place, such talk is sacrilege. The annual gathering is a celebration of transatlantic relations and a bastion of pro-Ukraine sentiment.
The Munich Security Conference has long attracted a large U.S. presence. From the late John McCain to Joe Biden, hundreds of U.S. politicians have made the trip across the Atlantic to talk security, defense and strategy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba have led the Ukrainian delegation in Munich, pleading for more help and ammunition as the war launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin approaches its two-year anniversary.
'The underlying dynamics'
The death of Alexei Navalny, announced just as the conference was kicking off on Friday, has cast a dark shadow over the proceedings.
But for Vance it doesn’t change the calculus.
“Look, he was obviously an extremely brave guy. It’s hard not to admire him, but I don’t think it really changes the underlying dynamics," said Vance, a Republican from Ohio.
"It’s obviously a tragic event. But you have to go into this clear eyed," he said. "Putin is not a great human being, but that doesn't change what the strategic imperatives of the United States or Europe are. We know Navalny died, because we know Putin is a brutal guy, but I knew Putin was a brutal guy a year ago and I know he will be a brutal guy a year from now.”
Vance said he had no plans to meet the Ukrainian delegation in Munich. "I didn't think I would learn anything new. I've met the Ukrainian leadership before, and it just didn't work in the schedule," he said.
But he said the conversations he has had at the conference have done nothing to change his mind on the imperative for the United States to step back, not engage, with the Ukrainian effort to defeat Russia.
Even if the U.S. House of Representatives ultimately approves a long-stalled aid package to Ukraine, he said, “it doesn’t change the fundamental facts — that we are limited in the munitions that we can send, that Ukraine is limited in terms of its own manpower. The situation has to fundamentally change for them to make significant battlefield gains."
'We have to deal with reality'
The senator also dug in on his controversial view that Ukraine will ultimately cede territory to Russia.
“Any peace settlement is going to require some significant territorial concessions from Ukraine, and you're gonna have a peace deal, because that's the only way out of the conflict," he said. "We have to deal with reality.”
At the Munich conference, such talk is verboten, as Ukraine tries to make the case for more artillery from its Western allies. In dozens of closed-door meetings, Ukrainian officials have made the argument that they desperately need more weapons — particularly Taurus cruise missiles and long-range ATACMS missiles — as they try to defeat Vladimir Putin’s army.
“Ukrainians have proven that we can force Russia to retreat,” Zelenskyy told delegates in a key-note speech Saturday. “We can get our land back, and Putin can lose, and this has already happened more than once on the battlefield.”
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielus Landsbergis pushed back against Vance’s comments, arguing that Western security is at stake. “It’s not just in Ukraine’s interest to have a secure Ukraine. It’s European and it’s transatlantic," he told POLITICO.
"Stability is profitable. Everybody gains from it," Landsbergis said. "It has been proven that it works both ways, for Europe and for the United States and has been working for more than half a century.”
Vance’s trip to Munich is one of his first to Europe since his election to the U.S. Senate in 2022. A first-time election candidate who shot to fame for his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, he has become a staunch defender of former U.S. President Donald Trump, despite previously describing himself as a “never-Trumper.”
Senator Vance delivers a "wake up call" to Munich Security Conference
Feb 18, 2924
“I think there’s a fundamental issue here that Europe really has to wake up to … You don’t win wars with GDP or euros or dollars. You win wars with weapons, and the West doesn’t make enough weapons.”
MUNICH, GERMANY – Senator JD Vance (R-OH) delivered a “wake up call” to Europe in remarks to the Munich Security Conference this morning.
Watch Senator Vance’s remarks here and read a transcript below:
Senator Vance on President Trump’s success in deterring Russia, the limited ability of the West to produce weapons, and the United States’ need to pivot its focus to East Asia:
“We have to remember that despite a lot of the hand-wringing, and I’ve heard a lot of it in private meetings and public meetings, Donald Trump was maybe the best president at deterring Russia in a generation.
“In fact, the only time that Russia has not invaded a foreign country over the last 20 years was the four years that Donald Trump was President. And it’s interesting that so many people accuse Trump, or me, or others of being in Putin’s pocket, and yet the person that Vladimir Putin says he wants to be the next president is not Donald Trump – he says Joe Biden is his preferred candidate because he’s more predictable.
“Now, on the question of European security, I think there’s a fundamental issue here that Europe really has to wake up to. And I offer this in the spirit of friendship, not in the spirit of criticism, because, no, I don’t think that we should pull out of NATO, and no, I don’t think that we should abandon Europe. But yes, I think that we should pivot. The United States has to focus more on East Asia. That is going to be the future of American foreign policy for the next 40 years, and Europe has to wake up to that fact.
“Now, let me just throw a couple of facts out there. Number one, the problem in Ukraine from the perspective of the United States of America, and I represent, I believe, the majority of American public opinion, even though I don’t represent the majority of opinion of senators who come to Munich, is that there’s no clear endpoint, and fundamentally the limiting factors for American support of Ukraine, it’s not money, it’s munitions. America, and this is true, by the way, of Europe too, we don’t make enough munitions to support a war in Eastern Europe, a war in the Middle East, and potentially a contingency in East Asia. So the United States is fundamentally limited.
“Now, let me just throw very specific details. The PAC-3, which is a Patriot interceptor, Ukraine uses in a month what the United States makes in a year. The Patriot missile system is on a five year back order, 155 millimeter artillery shells on more than a five year back order, We’re talking in the United States about ramping up our production of artillery to 100,000 a month by the end of 2025. The Russians make close to 500,000 a month right now at this very minute. So the problem here vis-à-vis Ukraine is America doesn’t make enough weapons, Europe doesn’t make enough weapons, and that reality is far more important than American political will or how much money we print and then send to Europe. And the final point that I’ll make just to respond here, because I know people have heard what Trump said, and you know, they’ve criticized it and they’ve said, well, ‘Trump is going to abandon Europe.’
“I don’t think that’s true at all. I think Trump is actually issuing a wake up call to say that Europe has to take a bigger role in its own security. Germany just this year will spend more than 2% of GDP. That, of course, is something that we had to really push for in the United States, and it just now has finally cleared that threshold.
“But it’s not just about money spent. How many mechanized brigades could Germany field tomorrow? Maybe one. The problem with Europe is that it doesn’t provide enough of a deterrence on its own because it hasn’t taken the initiative in its own security. I think that the American security blanket has allowed European security to atrophy.
“And again, the point is not we want to abandon Europe. The point is we need to focus as a country on East Asia, and we need our European allies to step up in Europe. I appreciate what my English friend [David Lammy] over here said. And of course, England has been one of the few exceptions where I think it has fielded a very capable military over the last generation. But that hasn’t been true for a lot of Europe, and that has to change.”
Senator Vance on the need for a negotiated peace to end the war in Ukraine:
“It’s very hard, the juxtaposition between the idea that Putin poses an existential threat to Europe, compared again against the fact that we’re trying to convince our allies to spend 2% of GDP. Those ideas are very much in tension. I do not think that Vladimir Putin is an existential threat to Europe and to the extent that he is, again, that suggests that Europe has to take a more aggressive role in its own security.
“That’s number one. But again, I go back to this question about ‘abandoning Ukraine.’ If the package that’s running through the Congress right now, $61 billion of supplemental aid to Ukraine, goes through, I have to be honest to you, that is not going to fundamentally change the reality on the battlefield. The amount of munitions that we can send to Ukraine right now is very limited.
“Again, not by American willpower or by American money, but by American manufacturing capacity. All of those back orders that I just highlighted, those are not problems in the future. Those are problems today, and they provide real limitations. So all I’m saying is in that world of real limitations, what is realistic to accomplish in Ukraine? Can we send the level of weaponry we’ve set for the last 18 months for the next 18 months?
“We simply cannot. No matter how many checks the US Congress writes, we are limited there. Munitions matter a lot in warfare. What we haven’t talked about, of course, is manpower matters a lot in warfare, and we know the Ukrainians are very limited on that. So our argument, at least my argument here is, given the realities that we face, the very real constraints in munitions and manpower, what is reasonable to accomplish and when do we actually think we’re going to accomplish it?
“And my argument is, look, I think what’s reasonable to accomplish is some negotiated peace. I think Russia has incentive to come to the table right now. I think Ukraine, Europe, and the United States have incentive to come to the table. That is going to happen. This will end in a negotiated peace. The question is when it ends in a negotiated peace and what that looks like.
Senator Vance on prioritizing American interests when engaging with adversaries:
“To respond to Navalny’s death: look, he was clearly a brave person. His death is a tragedy. I don’t think that he should have been in prison. I don’t think that he should have been killed in prison. And I condemn Putin for doing it. But here’s the problem: it doesn’t teach us anything new about Putin.
“I’ve never once argued that Putin is a kind and friendly person. I’ve argued that he’s a person with distinct interests, and the United States has to respond to that person with distinct interests. We don’t have to agree with him. We can contest him and we often will contest him. But the fact that he’s a bad guy does not mean we can’t engage in basic diplomacy and prioritizing America’s interests. There are a lot of bad guys all over the world, and I’m much more interested in some of the problems in East Asia right now than I am in Europe.
Senator Vance on the state of weapons manufacturing in the West, the risk posed by deindustrialization, and the inability of measures like GDP to indicate a nation’s military strength:
“We need Europe to play a bigger share of the security role, and that’s not because we don’t care about Europe … it’s because we have to recognize that we live in a world of scarcity. When I listen to these questions and I listen to so many of the private conversations I’ve had, one of the attitudes that I think is very, very dominant at the Munich Security Conference is the idea of the American superpower that can do everything all at once.
“And what I’m telling you is that we live in a world of scarcity, a world of scarcity and weapons manufacturing and America’s capacity to make the critical machinery of war, and that world of scarcity is what I’m trying to get us all to wake up to. In that world of scarcity, we can’t support Ukraine and the Middle East and contingencies in East Asia. It just doesn’t make any sense. The math doesn’t work out in terms of weapons manufacturing.
“One final point I want to make here is I hear a lot of self-congratulation in this room and some of the conversations that I’ve had back home in the United States, this is not just a criticism of Europe, a lot of self-congratulation about how much our GDP is bigger than Russia’s GDP.
“And yes, we are richer than Russia. Our citizens have better lives than the average Russian citizen. That is certainly something to celebrate and be proud of. But you don’t win wars with GDP or euros or dollars. You win wars with weapons, and the West doesn’t make enough weapons. I don’t mean to beat up on Germany here because I love Germany, but I want to respond to something [Member of the German Bundestag] Ms. Lang said earlier. Look, Germany is the one country, maybe in NATO, that did not follow the stupid Washington consensus and allow their country to be deindustrialized during the ‘70s, ’80s, and ‘90s. And yet, at the very moment that Putin is more and more powerful, where the Russian army is invading European countries en masse, this is the point at which Germany starts to deindustrialize?
“Look at the number of people working in manufacturing in Germany now versus ten years ago. Look at the critical raw materials produced in Germany now versus ten years ago. The energy dependence now versus 10 or 20 years ago. We have got to stop deindustrializing. We want Europe to be successful, but Europe has got to take a bigger role in its own security. You can’t do that without industry.”
