Much of the discussion about the US Secretary of State's speech at the Munich Security Conference has reinforced its own Eurocentric logic by obscuring the context. But it can only be understood within *its own* context.🧵
The fall of US imperialism portends the end of "western civilization" as Rubio called it. It is a phase of human history that began with chattel slavery & the colonization of the Americas. 2/n
But that phase of human history is coming to an end. Rubio's speech is thus a clarion call, a plea for white unity against the Global Majority, the masses of the world that have had enough. It is a reflection of Western weakness, not strength. 3/n
Notably, Rubio was not the main act. China's foreign minister Wang Yi was the keynote. Rubio spoke before Yi. Thus, Rubio's subordinate presence was itself a reflection of the decline. Link below. Videos of the Q&A are online. 4/n share.google/d1dPbZ5hDxQOxj…
Among other things, Rubio lamented the loss of "supply chain sovereignty," a concern that from their vantage point is correct. They no longer have access to the vital minerals and resources that have powered Western wars and economies alike. 5/n
The speech succinctly and accurately identified national liberation movements and socialism as *the* key threats to the western order. It correctly linked national liberation to wealth redistribution & nationalization of resources. 6/n
Rubio didn't mention China in the speech itself, but he reminded the audience what China represents, the unity of national liberation & socialism. 7/n
The imagery of the speech was powerful. It wasn't the diplospeak we are used to hearing at these events. It captured the ethos of the white west, from the missionaries and the beer and rodeos to the Beatles & Stones. 8/n
Rubio deployed whiteness in its various forms - civilizational, historical, racial, continental - to disrupt Europe's flirtations with China. 9/n
The speech may be enough to keep Europe away from China. But even that won't be enough to save US imperialism and its decadent "western civilization." In the end, that speech may go down in history as one of the last great speeches of the western world. /
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