Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke on Wednesday from the Pnyx in Athens, with the Parthenon behind him, arguing that Western societies had let ambition and national confidence erode. He tied the address to the wars in Iran and Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio used a sunset speech in Athens on Wednesday to argue that the West should recover what he called the traits behind its rise, CBS News reported from the city. He spoke from the Pnyx, the hill where ancient Athenians met in assembly, with the Parthenon on the Acropolis behind him.
Rubio said Athens held the first full realization of traits he associated with the West, including fierce individuality, relentless ambition, and a yearning for discovery, adventure, risk and glory. He argued that modern Western societies had allowed those qualities to erode. Fox News quoted him saying borders had been opened, industry outsourced and militaries allowed to wither.
CBS framed the address against the US war with Iran and the war in Ukraine. The speech extended themes Rubio set out at the Munich Security Conference in February, when he warned of what he called civilizational erasure in Europe.
The New York Times headlined the remarks as a bleak warning for Europe. No new treaty or military commitment was announced in the CBS account used here. A separate wire brief said Rubio announced a security-cooperation memorandum with Greece; that agreement is not in the CBS speech report.
The address is a policy speech, not a change in the status of either war.
People Sentiments Neutral
- Rubio said Western societies had opened borders, outsourced industry and allowed militaries to decay.
- He said nationalism had become a dirty word and that monuments and history had been condemned.