Munich’s Security Conference was held in mid-February as usual. This year, it attracted particular interest, because last year US Vice President JD Vance more or less ended the transatlantic alliance with a vicious attack against Europe, claiming that Europe undermined freedom of speech, allowed excessive migration and did not talk to rightwing extremist organizations such as Alternative for Germany. Vance even refused to meet Germany’s Chancellor and instead met with the leader of Alternative for Germany, who was then supported by Elon Musk.
The underlying message was that the Trump regime opposed the European Union as such and preferred rightwing nationalists.
Wisely, the US kept the three top toxic foreign policymakers out of Munich this year: Trump, JD Vance and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Instead, the US sent the smooth Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio, who arrived with a comparatively moderate delegation.
Unlike Trump, Vance and Hegseth, Rubio behaved graciously in public, not insulting his hosts. Rubio delivered an excellent speech with lines such as “For the United States and Europe, we belong together.” He continued “we will always be a child of Europe.” Rubio went on a flattering tour about what the US has received from England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain and Holland.
He also depicted a bright future: “America is charting the path for a new century of prosperity, and that once again we want to do it together with you, our cherished allies and oldest friends.” His strongest line, contradicting the current Trump policy, was: “We want Europe to be strong.” Rubio’s long speech was greeted with standing ovations by the European political elite.
As a speech, it was great, but as people have scrutinized its actual content, the consensus verdict is that Rubio repeated the Vance-Trump line in polite terms. He expressed the MAGA line in softer language: “We are part of one civilization – Western civilization… forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry…” This is a soft wording for Christian white supremacism. Trump has normalized white supremacy in the US. There is no reason for Europe to abandon its great tolerance and do the same.
Rubio’s parents immigrated from Cuba, but he is all MAGA against immigration: “in pursuit of a world without borders, we opened our doors to an unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the cohesion of our societies, the continuity of our culture, and the future of our people.” He continued: “Mass migration is not, was not, and isn’t some fringe concern of little consequence. It was and continues to be a crisis that is transforming and destabilizing societies across the West.”
What is most striking about the Rubio speech is what was not there. Not a word against Russia or for Ukraine at a security conference in Europe!
If Rubio is so upset about his parents’ emigration to the US, why not return to Cuba? Why is the US, the biggest immigration country in the world, preaching to anybody about the dangers of immigration?
Rubio complained about EU concerns about climate change (that Trump is too dumb to realize) or free trade, which is vital for European welfare, which Trump sabotages. In no way does he mention the US tariff war against the rest of the world, including Europe and Ukraine, but not Russia or Belarus…
Elegantly, Rubio poses the fundamental question: “What exactly are we defending?” But he avoids providing any answer. He claims to aspire to a continued transatlantic alliance but does not say for what purpose. Europe and Canada support Ukraine against Russia, while the US only wants peace in Ukraine on conditions benefitting Putin. Rubio offers no purpose for NATO, presumably because Trump does not support NATO, and certainly not Ukraine. Rubio tells it all by not even mentioning Russia.
In hindsight, what is most striking about the Rubio speech is what was not there. Not a word against Russia or for Ukraine at a security conference in Europe! Rubio left NATO without purpose other than supporting the US wherever. Nothing about US commitment to NATO and its Article 5, which means that NATO and Article 5 are dead. While this speech was not blatantly anti-European, it maintained the old Trump anti-EU policy.
What Rubio says, does not seem to matter much. Those are only words. He is only one of Trump’s obedient servants. What matters is his schedule. The EU has one foreign representative, highly vocal former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. The weak Rubio has refused to meet her on numerous occasions, although she is his EU opposite number, so also in Munich, but he is happy to frequently meet Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, clarifying his position.
In Munich, after a brief meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky and G7 leaders, Rubio went to Slovakia to the allegedly corrupt Prime Minister Robert Fico and the even more corrupt Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whom Trump loves, because he has debased Hungary to the most corrupt country within the EU with even less press freedom than the US.
The EU has been told to wake up far too often. Now it had better happen. Kaja Kallas should take diplomatic initiative and tell the Ukrainians to discuss with her rather than hostile Americans. The EU had better start complaining about US violations of the freedom of the media, the miserable rule of law in the US, the masking of ICE agents, the anti-European policies of the US, the outrageous corruption of the Trump, Kushner and Witkoff families, the destabilizing fiscal policies of the US, and the wild proliferation of assault rifles in the US.
It’s the current US leadership that needs to become civilized.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.