J.D. Vance delivers "hillbilly" speech in Germany causing angry respose by intelligent Chancellor Olaf Scholz

 Scholz rebukes Vance, defends Europe's stance on hate speech and far right  By Andreas Rinke and Ingrid Melander

Olaf Scholz Chancellor of Germany since 2021. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

MUNICH, Feb 15 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a strong rebuke on Saturday to U.S. Vice President JD Vance's attack on Europe's stance toward hate speech and the far right, saying it was not right for others to tell Germany and Europe what to do. Vance lambasted European leaders on Friday, the first day of the Munich Security Conference, accusing them of censoring free speech and criticising German mainstream parties' "firewall" against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

"That is not appropriate, especially not among friends and allies. We firmly reject that," Scholz told the conference on Saturday, adding there were "good reasons" not to work with the AfD.
The anti-immigration party, currently polling at around 20% ahead of Germany's February 23, national election, has pariah status among other major German parties in a country with a taboo about ultranationalist politics because of its Nazi past.

"Never again fascism, never again racism, never again aggressive war. That is why an overwhelming majority in our country opposes anyone who glorifies or justifies criminal National Socialism," Scholz said, referring to the ideology of Adolf Hitler's 1933-45 Nazi regime.

Vance met on Friday with the leader of AfD, after endorsing the party as a political partner — a stance Berlin dismissed as unwelcome election interference.

Referring more broadly to Vance's criticism of Europe's curtailing of hate speech, which he has likened to censorship, Scholz said: "Today's democracies in Germany and Europe are founded on the historic awareness and realisation that democracies can be destroyed by radical anti-democrats.

In my opinion jealousy drove Putin's obsession with Alexei Navalny and motivated the assassination

Echo editorial published in the French newspaper Le Monde:

"Jealous" in Russian: ревнивый  (revnivyy)

Wherever he was, at liberty or in prison, hospitalized or in good health, at home or abroad, Alexei Navalny's existence had become unbearable for Vladimir Putin. The death of Russia's most famous opposition figure at the age of 47 in an Arctic prison, announced on Friday, February 16, by the prison administration, reveals the Kremlin's determination to suppress all forms of opposition, even in their most constrained state.

There should be no illusions about the investigation that will be carried out into the reasons behind Navalny's death, as he suddenly "fell ill" at the end of a walk, according to prison officials. 

The fact that the news was leaked to the Russian media, without his family or lawyers being informed, reflects the message his death is intended to convey, including to Western leaders gathered at the same time in Munich to discuss defense and security. That is that, Putin is the master of his own house and intends to remain so, whatever the icons adopted by his detractors.

Western leaders made no mistake and directly attributed the responsibility for Navalny's death to Putin. Indeed, it was the repressive regime built up over almost a quarter of a century by the former KGB officer-turned-nearly perpetual president that put an end to Navalny's challenge to Russia's authoritarian system. 

The list of influential Russians who have been killed or died in murky circumstances after opposing, criticizing, or crossing Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin, or the state is long. And it just got longer.

By voluntarily returning to his homeland on January 17, 2021, after miraculously surviving the poisoning intended to kill him, Navalny had committed the supreme act of opposition, an act of insane courage. He refused the banishment of exile and continued to exist politically: even behind bars, even as his convictions piled up perpetually lengthening his sentence, and even in the Arctic prison where he had been relegated 2,000 kilometers away from Moscow.

Cynicism and expansionism:  But Putin knows only one way of dealing with those who oppose him, whether they be champions of democracy like Anna Politkovskaya, Boris Nemtsov and Navalny, or mobsters like Wagner militia leader Yevgeny Prigozhin: death. The moral abyss into which Putin is plunging Russia is seen on a much larger scale in Ukraine, the country where he is also sowing death and which he plunged into war two years ago, after beginning his aggression against his neighbor 10 years ago.

Navalny's martyrdom and that of his still-imprisoned friends, including Vladimir Kara-Murza, who also returned voluntarily and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, recalls the democratic struggle of Soviet-era dissidents. At the time, they received the support of Western countries. Challenged once again today, these countries must regain the path of firmness in the face of the Russian regime's cynicism and expansionism.

In 2021, when Navalny was once again imprisoned, US President Joe Biden warned Moscow that his death in custody would have "devastating" consequences. 

Maintenant! Alors! So, here we are. The circumstances of the death of this admirably obstinate opponent of Putin's system, at a time when Moscow is settling into a long-term war in Ukraine and reinforcing its aggression towards its European neighbors, force Western leaders to ask themselves in all lucidity how they are managing a Russia that is, increasingly, openly hostile and provocative. Failure to do so would be truly devastating.

Senator John McCain has a reputation for doing what's right

Historically, Senator John McCain built his reputation as a straight talker. In my opinion, he could've been President of the United States if he had picked a diferent running mate in the 2007 election. Unfortunately, Senator McCain caved to the right wing Republicans and selected Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, as his running mate. As we know, she more or less ruined his chances because of her inability to connect with skeptical voters in either political party.

Senator John McCain gave a speech  critical of Donald Trump, in Munich, Germany

Now, it appears the Republicn Party loyalists are worried about how Senator John McCain is telling the GOP how he really feels about Donald Trump. I seriously doubt that Senator McCain isn't saying new or secretive about Donald Trump. In fact, everything Senator McCain says about Donald Trump is accurate, exccept the Republlicans won't admit to it publically. Instead, they seem to prefer criticizing Senator McCan for being honest  rather than hold Donald Trump accoutnable for inept political leadership.

John McCain blasts Trump in Munich speech 

CBSNews Reports

WASHINGTON, DC -- Republican Sen. John McCain delivered a withering critique of President Donald Trump in a speech Friday that highlighted fractures within the GOP, as the new administration struggles to overcome a chaotic start.

Speaking in Germany at the Munich Security Conference, McCain didn’t mention the president’s name, according to the prepared text, while he lamented a shift in the United States and Europe away from the “universal values” that forged the Western alliance seven decades ago. 

McCain is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Trump has repeatedly questioned the value of NATO, calling the military pact obsolete, and sought instead to stoke a relationship with (the US enemy) Russian President Vladimir Putin. In fact, Mr. Trump’s defense secretary, Jim Mattis, has accused Putin of wanting to break NATO.  It seems like Donald Trump wants to help Putin achieve his goal, in spite of the US alliance with European nations in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

McCain, who openly quarreled with the president, said “more and more of our fellow citizens seem to be flirting with authoritarianism and romanticizing it as our moral equivalent.”

Moreover, McCain lamented the “hardening resentment we see toward immigrants, and refugees, and minority groups, especially Muslims.” During the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump promised to stop Muslims from entering the U.S. and shortly after taking office issued an executive order banning travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations. (In fact, two court decisions have put this draconian edict into limbo pending Trump's executive order revisions.)

McCain also said the alliance’s founders would be “alarmed by the growing inability, and even unwillingness, to separate truth from lies.” While bashing the news media for being dishonest, Mr. Trump has ignored facts and sought to blame others for his miscues. Trump tweeted Friday that the news media are “the enemy of the American people.”

He went on, saying of NATO’s founders that the most alarming part for them would be a “sense that many of our peoples, including in my own country, are giving up on the West, that they see it as a bad deal that we may be better off without, and that while Western nations still have the power to maintain our world order, it’s unclear whether we have the will.”

“I refuse to accept that our values are morally equivalent to those of our adversaries,” the Arizona Republican went on. “I am a proud, unapologetic believer in the West, and I believe we must always, always stand up for it. For if we do not, who will?”

Mr. Trump has suggested before that the U.S. is not morally superior to foreign powers like Russia. Asked in an interview with Fox News about his attempts to foster a positive relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin -- a “killer” -- the president responded with this: “There are a lot of killers. We have a lot of killers...Well, you think our country is so innocent?”

The senator said he’s aware there is “profound concern across Europe and the world that America is laying down the mantle of global leadership.” But he said that’s not the message they would hear from him or other American leaders “who cared enough to travel here to Munich this weekend.” Mattis had already addressed the conference. Vice President Mike Pence and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly were also scheduled to give speeches.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Thankfully, Senator John McCain is a Republican who will speak "truth to power". As a straight talker, Senator McCain must continue to follow his conscience by telling the world about the wrong minded world view policies of Donald Trump.