Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told European leaders on Feb. 14 that Washington is not walking away from the transatlantic alliance—but called for a renewed partnership that aligns with President Donald Trump’s push for national revival, tougher border control, and a return to industrial and military strength.

Addressing the annual Munich Security Conference, Rubio sought to reassure governments unsettled by a year of tensions over trade, defense spending, and at times critical U.S. rhetoric toward NATO.

At the same time, he made clear that Washington’s commitment would be tied to what he called a broader civilizational renewal—one that calls on Europe to strengthen its own defenses and reassess policies on migration, climate, and economic globalization.

“Under President Trump, the United States of America will once again take on the task of renewal and restoration, driven by a vision of a future as proud, as sovereign, and as vital as our civilization’s past,” Rubiosaid.

“And while we are prepared, if necessary, to do this alone, it is our preference, and it is our hope to do this together with you, our friends here in Europe, for the United States and Europe—we belong together.”

Serving as both a warning and an invitation, Rubio’s remarks acknowledged “mistakes” made by both the United States and Europe in the decades following the Cold War, while highlighting a shared responsibility to correct course.

Rubio’s address included sharp criticism of the post–Cold War consensus, while also praising it for enabling the United States and its allies to resist the onslaught of Soviet communism and to emerge victorious and prosperous together.

“Even as World War II still burned fresh in the memory of Americans and Europeans alike, we found ourselves staring down the barrel of a new global catastrophe—one with the potential for a new kind of destruction more apocalyptic and final than anything before in the history of mankind,” he said.

With thousands of years of Western civilizational heritage hanging in the balance in the face of a threat from a nuclear-armed, expansionist “evil empire,” Rubio said that a unified resistance within the transatlantic alliance ultimately prevailed.

Source: ZeroHedge News