In what has turned into one of the most important speeches of 2026 so far, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to Europe’s top brass earlier this month at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany. In his speech he narrativized the next chapter of America’s imperial agenda. The thesis of his speech relied heavily on a substantive misframing of “shared culture” he gaslit the audience into under the guise of a commonly misused trope: ‘Civilization.’ “We are a part of one civilization” Rubio told the European audience, “Western Civilization, forged by centuries of shared Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization which we have fallen heir.” Most people don’t know this, but the word ‘civilization’ was created in the 1700s. In her 2024 book ‘How the World Made the West,’ Josephine Quinn, Chairwoman of Ancient History at the University of Cambridge, outlined how the term ‘civilization’ is often used incorrectly in revisionist framings of history for the sake of justifying empire building/sustainment. The term is a vestige of a Renaissance era that saw Arabic culture rise to prominence and influence in Europe. Another phenomena that rose to prominence and influence in Europe in this period was the doctrine of race science that ushered in many new jargon terms and false theories like "civilization." From 2500 BC to 1500 AD there were many prominent city-states throughout the globe but not many prominent nation states. Some of the expansive city-states of the era, like Rome, were vast, but to think that every city within the roman empire shared the same culture is revisionist. Although regions had similar influences, they also had uniquely different influences infused from other regions outside “the west” too. This idea that the west was curated from within is a lie. Take Santa Claus for example, the origins of St Nick originate in modern day Turkey, but the modern perception most people think of when they think of Santa Claus speaks to how appropriations of perception can happen over time since most people don't equate Santa Claus with Persia. In his Munich speech, Marco Rubio utilized this 'appropriated Santa Claus' logic to justify how western "civilization" had been around for thousands of years and how America was now the standard bearer of its legacy. Europe’s role moving forward would be to prop up American imperial dominance not because it’s in Europe’s best interests, but because it's in the best interest of white nationalist dominion and empire over the world. Whether or not Europe allows itself to be pawned in this fashion is still unanswered. But if Rubio’s speech was any indication, it seems the time has come for Europe to make that decision.