“We reside in a brand new period in geopolitics and it will require all of us to type of re-examine what that appears like and what our position goes to be,” Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State, mentioned in Washington on February 13 earlier than heading to attend the Munich Safety Convention. “The previous world is gone,” he mentioned.
The previous world Mr. Rubio referred to was one during which Western dominance prevailed unchallenged. On February 14, whereas addressing the convention, he hailed the colonial interval as a part of the West’s “enlargement”.
“For 5 centuries, earlier than the tip of the Second World Battle, the West had been increasing — its missionaries, its pilgrims, its troopers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, construct huge empires extending out throughout the globe,” he mentioned, with no reference to the crimes and loot of colonialism. “However in 1945, for the primary time because the age of Columbus, it was contracting. Europe was in ruins… The nice Western empires had entered into terminal decline, accelerated by godless communist revolutions and by anti-colonial uprisings that may remodel the world,” added Mr. Rubio, just some months forward of the 250th anniversary of the USA’ independence from Britain.
Additionally Learn | Rubio strikes constructive tone however persists in U.S. criticism of European allies
‘Managed decline’
This “managed decline”, in Mr. Rubio’s views, was accelerated by two issues. First, “waves of mass migration” to the West from the remainder that “threatens the cohesion of our societies and the continuity of our tradition and the way forward for our individuals”. Second, the West embraced “a dogmatic imaginative and prescient” of free commerce, which benefited its adversaries who protected their economies and took management of vital provide chains.
In different phrases, Mr. Rubio was reiterating what U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance mentioned in Munich final yr. The liberal, free commerce, pro-immigration insurance policies of Western democracies have accelerated the decline of the West, whereas America’s adversaries (learn China) saved rising, altering the stability within the international order. The change within the stability of energy led to the collapse of the previous order. Mr. Rubio didn’t cease there.
The system of worldwide cooperation and establishments “should be reformed” and “rebuilt”, he mentioned. The U.N. couldn’t resolve the conflict in Gaza, Mr. Rubio mentioned, with out mentioning the truth that each the Trump and Biden administrations had repeatedly vetoed resolutions within the U.N. Safety Council that had been vital of Israel. It was the American management “that freed captives from barbarians and led to a fragile truce”, mentioned Mr. Rubio, with out touching upon Israel’s continued bombings in Gaza or its devastation of the enclave the place no less than 75,000 individuals, principally ladies and youngsters, had been killed in two years. Mr. Rubio’s reply to the obvious lack of ability of the U.N. in resolving international conflicts is American unilateralism.
He credited the Trump administration with bringing Russia and Ukraine to tables and “constraining” (not “obliterating” as Mr. Trump has claimed) the nuclear programme of “radical Shia clerics” of Iran. He additionally claimed that U.S. Particular Forces introduced Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s President, “to justice”, referring to the January 3 American assault of the South American nation and the kidnapping of its president. In Mr. Rubio’s worldview, worldwide regulation is an “abstraction”, unilateralism is efficient management and sovereignty of weaker powers reminiscent of Iran and Venezuela, is non-existent and the rights of the Palestinians exist solely on the fringes of the previous world.
Additionally Learn | With a second plane provider deployment, Trump raises the stakes with Iran
Civilisational alliance
If Mr. Vance disparaged the European mannequin of governance and defence, Mr. Rubio provided a window for Europe to hitch palms with America. “We’re a part of one civilization — Western civilization. We’re sure to 1 one other by the deepest bonds that nations may share, solid by centuries of shared historical past, Christian religion, tradition, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices our forefathers made collectively for the widespread civilization to which we’ve fallen inheritor,” he mentioned in Munich.
However the brand new alliance, in keeping with him, must be rooted in widespread civilisational heritage, moderately than geopolitical commonalities. “We in America have no real interest in being well mannered and orderly caretakers of the West’s managed decline. We don’t search to separate, however to revitalise an previous friendship and renew the best civilization in human historical past,” he added. Mr. Rubio mentioned America is “charting a path for a brand new century of prosperity”. And he needs Europe with the U.S. on this civilisation revitalisation mission. The gang in Munich applauded when Mr. Rubio ended his speech.
Printed – February 18, 2026 01:39 pm IST
