At the 2026 Munich Security Conference, Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, framed global politics as a defining choice. Echoing the broader posture of Donald Trump’s administration, Rubio described five centuries of Western expansion followed by post-1945 contraction, calling for civilisational confidence, stronger alliances, and a rejection of what he characterised as paralysing guilt about the past.
Global strategy, however, is never neutral. When major powers speak of revitalisation and decline, capital flows shift, t
