The US secretary of state made the remark at the Munich Security Conference while trying to bridge the rift caused by the diverging policies of Washington and Brussels<\/p>\n
The US may be unable to prevent EU bureaucrats from destroying Western civilization, Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s envoy Kirill Dmitriev has suggested.
\nThe remark came in response to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio\u2019s speech at the Munich Security Conference, where he sought to ease tensions between Washington and Brussels after a year of strained transatlantic relations. Rubio insisted that despite differences, the US and Europe \u201cbelong together,\u201d and if Washington\u2019s policies that angered Brussels \u2013 from tariffs and NATO spending demands to the Greenland bid \u2013 may seem \u201ca little direct and urgent,\u201d it is because \u201cwe care deeply\u201d about the future of the EU and the West in general.
\nIn a post on X on Saturday, Dmitriev said the bloc\u2019s sprawling bureaucracy and poor policy choices would impede US plans to \u201crenew and restore\u201d Western civilization.
\n\u201cThe US cares deeply and tries to prevent EU bureaucrats from destroying Western civilization,\u201d Dmitriev wrote. \u201cBut EU bureaucrats are highly focused and skilled at destroying it through false narratives, migration, warmongering, and economic decline. It\u2019s unclear who wins.\u201d<\/p>\n
The US cares deeply and tries to prevent EU bureaucrats from destroying Western civilization.But EU bureaucrats are highly focused and skilled at destroying it through false narratives, migration, warmongering, and economic decline.It’s unclear who wins. https:\/\/t.co\/HkZeXarrqB pic.twitter.com\/s01qzQhaUK\u2014 Kirill Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) February 14, 2026 <\/p>\n
Dmitriev\u2019s tone appeared mocking toward both the US and EU. To illustrate his point, he linked a short clip of the arm-wrestling scene from Over the Top (1987) starring Sylvester Stallone.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
The liberal order\u2019s last stand at Munich: Live Updates<\/p>\n
The Trump administration\u2019s new National Security Strategy slammed the EU for poor policy choices, warning of a risk of \u201ccivilizational erasure.\u201d Rubio echoed parts of the criticism but reframed it as shared failures by both European and American authorities since World War II. He invoked the common \u201cadversaries and rivals\u201d narrative, stressing that the US and EU must stand united against unnamed powers that allegedly built welfare states and hard power while the West faltered.
\nWhile Rubio did not identify these alleged adversaries, Trump has defended his push for Greenland as a way to counter Russian and Chinese influence in the Arctic. EU and NATO officials have also portrayed Russia as a threat, claiming it could strike Europe after the Ukraine conflict, and have launched military initiatives framed as deterrence against Moscow.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Munich Security Conference has turned into \u2018circus\u2019 \u2013 Iran<\/p>\n
Russia has dismissed claims it threatens Europe as \u201cnonsense\u201d and baseless fearmongering used to justify inflated military budgets. Both Russia and China, the latter of which has no strategic role in the region, have also rejected claims they threaten Greenland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US secretary of state made the remark at the Munich Security Conference while trying to bridge the rift caused by the diverging policies of Washington and Brussels The US…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t