A former US envoy to Russia, Michael McFaul, on Friday condemned the speech Vice-President JD Vance made at the security conference in Munich, Germany, where he criticised the lack of values in Europe.
McFaul described Vance’s comments as ‘insulting’ to Europe.
“There was a hypothesis in the speech that Europeans in democracies are not allowed to speak and are not being represented,” McFaul told Politico.
“The notion that there is censorship—[Vance] used the word ‘commissars’ to describe the European Union—that is just insulting, and it’s just empirically not true.”
He added, “But then he left out the places where it is true.”
Recall that Vance had earlier today launched a scathing attack on European democracies.
He said the greatest threat facing the continent was not from Russia and China, but “from within”.
Vance said he is more worried about the lack of free speech in Europe than about China and Russia.
