Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) participated in a panel discussion over the weekend at the Munich Security Conference in Germany where he discussed the United States’ response to conflicts around the globe.
Vance, during the panel discussion titled “Figuring Out Relationship Goals: The EU and Its Partners,” said Europe “must wake up to” the fact that wars are won with weapons, not monetarily.
“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,” Vance explained. “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.”
"You don't win wars with GDP, Euros, or Dollars. You win wars with weapons. And the West doesn't make enough weapons."
— 🇺🇸 Senator @JDVance1 at #MSC2024
— Munich Security Conference (@MunSecConf) February 18, 2024
In regards to the war between Russia and Ukraine, Vance praised former President Donald Trump’s “success” in deterring Russia.
“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,” Vance said. “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.”
Vance went on to stress the need for a negotiated peace to end the war in Ukraine, noting the United States and Ukraine’s “very real constraints in munitions and manpower.”
“I think what’s reasonable to accomplish is some negotiated peace. I think Russia has incentive to come to the table right now,” Vance said. “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.”
Vance also touched on Europe’s role in the security discussion, saying it must “step up” by taking a “bigger role in its own security.”
“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,” Vance said. “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.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Image “JD Vance in Munich” by DWNews.
