“We want allies who are proud of their culture … and able to defend it,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a meeting of European politicians, generals, media, and influencers in Germany on Valentine’s Day. Rubio’s eloquent speech got a standing ovation from the Europeans because it was a strong, diplomatic rebuke of the reckless European left-wing parties that dominate European politics. The left-wing parties hate the European citizen-led nations and are deliberately dissolving them in an acidic sea of resentful migrants, civic chaos, welfare spending, and low-tech poverty.
Rubio urged Europe’s elites to adopt a low-migration, high-tech policy that protects citizens’ valuable culture, promotes productivity and innovation, and expands wealth-creating trade with developing countries in Asia and Africa. Rubio pointed out that mass migration strips any defense capability from governments or the 27-nation European Union government: “Armies do not fight for abstractions [such as diversity or human rights]. Armies fight for a people; armies fight for a nation. Armies fight for a way of life. And that is what we are defending: a great civilization that has every reason to be proud of its history, confident of its future, and aims to always be the master of its own economic and political destiny”.
Mass migration “is transforming and destabilizing societies all across the West,” Rubio said, adding that European elites are betraying European citizens: “Controlling who and how many people enter our countries, this is not an expression of xenophobia. It is not hate. It is a fundamental act of national sovereignty. And the failure to do so is not just an abdication of one of our most basic duties owed to our people. It is an urgent threat to the fabric of our societies and the survival of our civilization itself”.
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said the United States remains firmly committed to the NATO alliance, but warned European nations must dramatically increase defense investment to meet growing security threats. Whitaker rejected claims the U.S. is preparing to pull back from Europe. “Americans are not leaving Europe or the alliance,” he said.
Whitaker said the U.S. wants Europe to assume a greater role in conventional military readiness. “We need Europe, which are very rich countries, very successful countries, to sort of take over the conventional defense,” he said. “That frees up the United States to take care of these other challenges and threats with our allies in those regions.” Whitaker argued NATO allies must improve both military spending and coordination.
Whitaker again emphasized the Trump administration’s message that Washington is committed, but expects Europe to contribute more. “The United States is not abandoning Europe, we’re not leaving,” Whitaker said. “We’re just saying that together we are stronger, and we expect our European allies to match, and we expect you to be ready, we expect you to be more lethal than you have been and we expect you to be a lot more capable.”