US Vice president James Vance confronted European leaders with their attacks on freedom of speech and forced them to perceive when, in an unprecedented speech in Munich, he described in item the past of political persecutions which they have achieved over fresh years.
The vice president of the U.S. has made a fool of European liars. erstwhile Vice president James Vance entered the phase at the Munich safety Conference to discuss the global safety policy and the future of the West, the majority expected to focus on Russia's war with Ukraine and Europe's seriously neglected safety commitments. Meanwhile, he barely mentioned the subject. Instead, he gave a speech in which he criticised Europe for censorship and anti-democratic attempts to suppress the results of elections that they did not like.
Vance began by praying for the victims of the Munich terrorist attack the day before, in which a 24-year-old Afghan invader drove a car into a crowd close the railway station, wounding at least 28 people. He then gave only 2 sentences on Europe's safety and the Russian-Ukrainian War. Finally, he moved on to the – as it was – essential part. He said he wanted to address the issue most: "The withdrawal of Europe from any of its most basic values, values shared with the United States of America".
– I was amazed erstwhile the erstwhile European Commissioner appeared on tv and thundered delighted that the Romanian court had annulled the full election. He warned that if things did not go as planned, the same could happen in Germany.
These disrespectful statements shock American ears. Over the years, we have been told that everything we fund and support happens in the name of our common democratic values. Everything, from our policy towards Ukraine to digital censorship, is presented as a defence of democracy. But erstwhile we see the European courts canceling the elections and high-ranking officials threatening to appeal others, we should ask whether we are keeping to advanced standards. And I say this due to the fact that I believe that we are on the same team.
We must do more than just talk about democratic values. We gotta live them. Now, in the vivid memory of many of you in this room, the Cold War has set the defenders of democracy against much more tyrannical forces on this continent. And think of the side in this fight that censored dissidents, closed churches, canceled elections. Were they good people? surely not. – he said.
Vance then confronted European leaders with their attacks on freedom of speech and forced them to perceive erstwhile he specifically recalled their disastrous evidence of political persecution.
"I am looking at Brussels, where the European Commission's Commissioners warned citizens that they intend to close social media in a time of social unrest: at a time erstwhile they see what they consider to be "hateful content". Or the same country where police raided citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist comments online. This was expected to be an alleged fight against “migration”.
I am looking at Sweden, where 2 weeks ago the government sentenced a Christian activist for his engagement in the burning of the Koran, which ended in the execution of his friend. And, as the justice observed in his case, Swedish laws allegedly protecting freedom of expression do not in fact, I quote, "free pass" to do or say anything without the hazard of offending a group of believers.
And possibly the most disturbing thing is that I am looking at our very dear friends, the United Kingdom, where the departure from the rights of conscience has placed sub-save spiritual rights on the target. A small over 2 years ago, the British government accused Adam Smith Conner, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and army veteran, of a disgusting crime of standing 50 meters from the abortion clinic and silent prayer for 3 minutes. He didn't disturb anyone, he didn't interact with anyone, he just prayed quietly.
When British law enforcement officials spotted him and demanded him to say what he was praying for, Adam simply replied that on behalf of his unborn son, whom he and his erstwhile girlfriend had murdered many years earlier. Adam was found guilty of violating the fresh government's “buffer zones” law, which criminalizes silent prayer and another actions that could affect the decision of a individual within 200 metres of the abortion facility. He was sentenced to pay thousands of pounds of legal expenses to the prosecution.
I want I could say that this was a one-time, crazy example of a miswritten law passed against 1 person. But no. Last October, just a fewer months ago, the Scottish government began sending letters to citizens whose homes are in the alleged safe access zones, informing them that even private prayer in their own homes could mean breaking the law. Of course, the government urged readers to study fellow citizens suspected of a thought crime in Britain and throughout Europe He said.
Vance defended Christians. He defended pro-life supporters. He umaneized the aborted child, standing in front of an audience consisting mainly of abortion extremists. He stressed that even thought crimes are now being punished by law in Britain, the country that gave up George Orwell. Vance noted that even Europe's attempts to fight Russian "disinformation" stress that Europe seems to lose religion in the vitality of its own democracy.
– Now for many of us on the another side of the Atlantic it looks more and more like old rooted interests hiding behind ugly words from russian times, specified as disinformation and disinformation, who simply dislike the thought that individual with an alternate point of view could express a different opinion or, God forbid, vote differently or even worse, win elections “He said to a stunned audience.
He concluded his speech with a vital appeal to return to the value of freedom of speech. His words should be quoted again in full:
– I believe that rejecting people, rejecting their concerns, and worse, closing the media, delegating elections or excluding people from the political process does not defend anything. In fact, this is the surest way to destruct democracy. Speaking and expressing opinions is not interference in elections. Even erstwhile people express their views outside your country, and even erstwhile these people are very influential – and believe me, I say this with all the humor – if American democracy has survived 10 years of Greta Thunberg's swindling, you will last a fewer months Elona Muska.
But no democracy, whether American, German or European, can last erstwhile it tells millions of voters that their thoughts and fears, their aspirations, their requests for relief are invalid or unworthy of consideration. Democracy is based on the sacred rule that the voice of the people matters. There's no area for specified dams. Either you keep that regulation or you don't. Europeans – people truly have a voice. And I am profoundly convinced that we do not gotta fear the future.
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