WSJ Prints Alexander Gellos’ Letter to the Editor on Rubio Speech in Athens
Bouie says Rubio’s vision of the West ignores how Greek and Roman learning was preserved beyond Europe, while NATO allies boosted defense spending nearly 20% in 2025.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Athens last week, delivering a speech on the Pnyx calling for European nations to "emerge from its long slumber" and renew the West's commitment to power, industry, and defense.
- Following Vice President JD Vance's February 2025 criticism of European leaders, Rubio's address aimed to extend an "olive branch" by invoking ancient Greek concepts like "the fire of passion, strength, courage, pride."
- New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie argued that Rubio's concept of "Western civilization" is incoherent and that he is "rejecting the actual values" that define the West, such as liberty and democracy.
- Rejecting Rubio's premise that these principles belong exclusively to one civilization, Bouie noted that classical knowledge was preserved by the Muslim world and argued values like freedom "aren't a Western inheritance; they're a human inheritance."
- Allies are increasing defense spending by nearly 20 percent while navigating the balance between maintaining strong ties to the United States and developing independent strategic capabilities.
29 Articles
29 Articles
Victor Davis Hanson: Rubio’s Athens Speech Could Solve the West’s Identity Crisis
Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words” from Daily Signal senior contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to Victor Davis Hanson’s own YouTube channel to watch past episodes. Jack Fowler: Did you see [Marco] Rubio’s speech in front of the Parthenon, and what are your thoughts on it? Victor Davis Hanson:...
Marco Rubio Declares West Must Dominate World
Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. https://youtu.be/6iPKlFKY_F8?si=-4XgQUm2TySuteqF Praises colonialism, erases history. In a speech in Greece on “Western civilization”, Marco Rubio praised European colonialism, erased Native Americans, and declared the West must use force to “maintain its place at the head of the world.” The second-most powerful official in the US government, foreign-policy chief Marco Rubio, delivered a…
The US Secretary of State, who spoke before the Parthenon on 7 October, made nationalism the only horizon of the Old Continent. A speech damaged by Donald Trump's policy without a compass, between controversy and volte-face, notes Gilles Paris, editorialist at the "World", in his column.
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