"Now, much has been written and said about the influence of ancient Greece on the ideas of the American Founders ....
Athens gave us (America) democracy. Plato and Aristotle gave us Western philosophy. Our ideas of law, of virtue, of citizenship, and republican government were shaped in the Greek city-states.
Even much of our political vocabulary – words like democracy, tyranny, the word “politics” itself – found its origins here." -- said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in his speech in Greece.
He also referred to the "fire of passion, strength, courage, pride" as the the heart of great civilization.
"And without it? Without it, nations lose their will to fight, the will to strive, the will to survive", he has said.
Analysts say Rubio used a 'dramatic backdrop' to sketch a post-MAGA(Make America Great Again) foreign policy.
Rubio depicted the West as a continuous inheritance dating from Ancient Greece to modern America, epitomizing “individuality and relentless ambition, daring exploration and invention”.
But he warned against any civilization being 'ashamed' of its achievements and embarrassed by its past. Rubio suggests the west and the US sometime lost its own confidence in own tradition and ideas.
But does he himself sound 'confused' on what really made the west great and an 'exception'?
We may simply observe that the western civilisation was not really based on military power. It was based on ideas. The west actually developed a new concept of democracy and with a unique set of ideas that ultimately questioned the idea of 'arbitrariness' of the power.
"The secretary of state’s speech in Greece on Wednesday will surely reignite speculation around his future presidential intentions. It implicitly positioned him as both the heir to and the modernizer of the “America First” movement — just weeks before the 2028 race roars into life after the midterm elections," says an article in CNN.
“We must rebuild our institutions and alliances” to face new great power rivalries and respond to a “new universe” of threats and attacks, Rubio said.
His comments also reinforced a message to decayed European militaries that the US now expects alliances to offer tangible military multipliers to Washington.
It was a hint that while nothing will be the same after Trump, a future Republican president might still value updated transatlantic ties.
Rubio seemed to enjoy retelling the story of a small band of Greek fighters, defending the Acropolis from Persian invaders. But that seemed theatrical during a week in which the war against Iran is not going well.
The price of oil remains sky-high. This is not a war that the speech’s heroes – Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne and Hernán Cortés – would rush to claim as a conqueror’s legacy, says a report in 'The Guardian'.
In effect, Rubio seemed to be pointing out a path that will be difficult and mostly uphill for the US’s allies.
Perhaps again and again, Rubio wandered back to a precarious theme, that history is decided by “great men” who defy adversity and conquer lesser peoples.
Rubio’s speech was not quite as dismissive of Europe as a previous one he gave, in February, warning of “civilizational erasure”.
At the foot of the Acropolis, he extended an olive branch, saying:
“We believe that Europe can awaken from its long slumber and rekindle the fire that was here millennia ago.”
But some of the remarks by Rubio make a lot of sense for deeper analyses:
"Today, too much of the West has forgotten this quality.
Over time, we in the West came to feel ashamed of the very things that made us exceptional.
We felt embarrassed that our achievements set us apart from the rest of the world. Our prosperity somehow became a source of guilt. We no longer believed we deserved and had earned our greatness.
The word “nationalism” became a dirty word.
And so we tore down our monuments; we condemned our own history. And in too many places, we taught our children to be ashamed of the countries they would inherit. In the process, we opened our borders and outsourced our industry, and allowed our militaries to wither and to decay. "
ends
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