US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a message of unity to Europeans, saying that Washington does not intend to leave the transatlantic alliance, but that European leaders have made a series of policy mistakes and must change course.
As reported by Reuters, his message of unity at the annual Munich Security Conference was relatively well received among the assembled European diplomats and security officials.
While Rubio occasionally poked fun at European policymakers, his address contrasted sharply with Vice President J.D. Vance's speech at the same venue a year earlier, when he argued that the greatest danger to the continent came from censorship and the decline of democracy - not from external threats like Russia.
"At a time when headlines announce the end of the transatlantic era, let it be known and clear to all that this is neither our goal nor our desire, because for us Americans, our home may be in the Western Hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe," Rubio told the crowd.
The speech, however, was remarkably lacking in concrete details. Rubio did not mention Russia, the continent's main geopolitical counterweight, or even mention NATO, Europe's main security alliance, during his half-hour address, Reuters reported.
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