Transcription
Last week, world leaders gathered in Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference, a meeting that has increasingly become a barometer for the stability of the global world order. Over 115 countries were represented at this year's conference, including more than 60 heads of state, 30 defense ministers, and 40 international organizations. And the timing of this event could not be more critical.
As we've started 2026, we've seen the United States openly threaten to annex Greenland. We've seen the US government launch a military invasion into Venezuela, and we are now witnessing increased threats against Iran as Donald Trump contemplates yet another military strike. Trump wants you to believe that he stopped eight wars last year. But in reality, the US government has created more instability and chaos as Trump doubles down on one of the most aggressive foreign policies we've ever seen from any US president.
But interesting enough, it was the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who became the highlight of the conference, delivering a speech that received a standing ovation and left many people feeling optimistic about the future of the world. But what if I told you everything said during Rubio's speech was a complete facade. And while Rubio tried to convince the world the United States is winning, the exact opposite is happening. In today's video, I'm going to break down every important word Rubio said during his speech and explain why the West is collectively walking into the biggest trap that will completely shift the balance of global power. But first, let me lay down the framework for this video.
And just look at this tweet from US Senator Mark Kelly. "It took a world war and 8 decades to build the strongest alliance that this world had ever seen. It took less than a year to practically destroy it." When Secretary Rubio said the Old World Order was dead during his speech in Munich, he was right. It's dead because Donald Trump blew it up. He thinks this somehow benefits us. He is wrong. Our allies no longer trust us. It was obvious in the more than a dozen meetings I had with presidents, prime ministers, and defense and foreign ministers. China is now more popular in Denmark than the United States. In Poland, the US is 21% less popular than it used to be. This means these countries are looking elsewhere for trade and security that makes you poorer and less safe. I know there was a celebration at the end of the Munich Security Conference. Unfortunately, the Champagne Corks were popping in Beijing and Moscow.
Now, to understand exactly what Senator Kelly is referring to, just look at this graph from the Financial Times, which shows an unbelievable trend. From Great Britain to Denmark, France to Germany, Italy, and Spain, the United States reputation has plummeted to an all-time low across all of our European allies. And when America's reputation goes down, that usually means China's reputation is improving. And just listen to the comments from Finland's prime minister as he explains what happens next.
>> "I think what Europe will end up doing is hedging and de-risking a little bit. That's why you see a quick trade agreement finally with Mercur. to see a trade agreement with India. I don't exclude some kind of an investment agreement in the long run with China either. And I think you're going to start seeing this type of behavior coming from other countries as well. So instead of leaning in on tariffs and a multipolar world and retaliation, people are going to start saying, 'Okay, let let's go back to the rules that existed because they were much more stable.' And this, I think, pertains to both small countries and big countries."
Over the last few weeks, we've seen a record number of trade deals signed into power, and all of them are the result of countries realizing that tariffs, sanctions, and an aggressive foreign policy from the US government is not in the best interest of the world. Listen to that most important part of that clip again.
>> "I don't exclude some kind of investment agreement in the long run with China either."
Europe is now looking at a long-term investment agreement with China. And if you were following what happened during the first six weeks of 2026, you'll know that no less than six of America's closest allies, including France, Ireland, South Korea, Finland, Canada, and the UK, have all sent their respective leaders to Beijing to sign new trade deals with the Chinese government. The shift began a few weeks earlier in Davos, Switzerland, when Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced to the world the end of American hegemony and the existing world order. He argued that middle powers, countries like the UK and Canada, may not be superpowers, but they are still essential to the global economy, and they can no longer rely on old alliances alone. Instead, they must look elsewhere for new trade partnerships and long-term stability. Canada is now spearheading a new agreement between the European Union and a 12nation Indo-Pacific block to form one of the largest economic alliances in the world, designed specifically to work around Trump's tariffs. The partnership would represent more than 1.5 billion people across over 40 countries linking the supply chains of Canada, Singapore, Mexico, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Australia directly with the European Union. Trump campaigned on the promise of making America first. But his administration is quickly realizing that America first now means America alone.
And to show you exactly how we got here and what it means for the future of our world, let's examine Marco Rubio's speech. Now, don't get me wrong. Margot's speech was powerful and delivered with poise and passion that deeply resonated with Trump's fan base, who believes globalization has been a failure for the United States. Marco Rubio specifically targeted China in his speech and didn't hold back blaming the rise of China for the West decline.
>> "And it has cost us dearly. In this delusion, we embraced a dogmatic vision of free and unfettered trade. Even as some nations protected their economies and subsidized their cus companies to systematically undercut ours, shuttering our plants, resulting in large parts of our societies being de-industrialized, shipping millions of working and middle class jobs overseas, and handing control of our critical supply chains to both adversaries and rivals."
Rubio began his speech with the classic framing that China is responsible for the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States. He wants you to believe that the Chinese government gives unfair advantages to its companies like Huawei, who do receive government subsidies. But if you simply fact check this, you'll find that this is exactly what the US government also does. Fossil fuel firms in the United States receive over $31 billion in government funding every year. And America's most famous entrepreneur, Elon Musk, has received billions of dollars of funding, which has been crucial to Tesla's survival. Let's just stop for a second and ask a simple question. Whose decision was it to offshore American manufacturing to China? Did China make threats to American CEOs and force companies like Apple to manufacture their products in China? Or is there another reason?
Instead of listening to politicians like Rubio throw out baseless claims, let's go right to the top and listen to Apple CEO reveal the real reason that US companies go to China. "There's a confusion about China. Their popular conception is that companies come to China because of low labor cost. I'm not sure what part of China they go to, but the truth is China stopped being the low labor cost country many years ago. The reason is because of the skill, the quantity of skill in one location and the type of skill it is. Like the products we do require really advanced tooling and the the precision that you have to have in tooling and working with the materials that we do are state-of-the-art and the tooling skill is very deep here. You know, in in the US, you could have a meeting of tooling engineers and I'm not sure we could fill the room. In China, you could fill multiple football fields. It's that vocational vocational expertise is very [music] deep, very very deep here. It's amazing how many people fail to realize this point. China is not a cheap manufacturer." Since the turn of the century, wages in China have increased significantly as Chinese workers consistently earn more than many other developing countries throughout Asia.
But listen to what Rubio blames next in his speech. "We increasingly outsourced our sovereignty to international institutions while many nations invested in massive welfare states at the cost of maintaining the ability to defend themselves. This even as other countries have invested in the most rapid military buildup in all of human history and have not hesitated to use hard power to pursue their own interests."
Once again, this was clearly aimed at China. Rubio wants you to believe that China's military spending is a growing threat to global stability. Yet, just last month, Trump proposed raising US military spending to roughly $1.5 trillion by 2027, the largest increase in modern history. And then comes the claim that China is using hard power to pursue its interest. Really. Only a few weeks ago, the United States carried out a military operation in Venezuela after which Washington openly moved to control and manage the country's oil exports. In fact, US officials even confirmed that oil taken under the US oversight is now being sold directly to China, undermining the idea that the intervention was about preventing Chinese purchases altogether. So, the issue was never whether China could buy Venezuelan oil. The issue was who controls the revenue and the system around it. Once again, we just continue to see the double standards and complete hypocrisy from the White House.
But it doesn't stop there. "To appease a climate cult, we have imposed energy policies on ourselves that are impoverishing our people. Even as our competitors exploit oil and coal and natural gas and anything else, not just to power their economies, but to use as leverage against our own." Once again, Rubio makes a false claim that China is exploiting natural resources like oil to hurt the United States. But we just proved this theory completely false. It was the US, not China, who launched a military invasion in South America specifically for oil. And as far as climate change and the investment of renewable energy, Rubio might think this is a cult and not worthy of long-term investment, but there is no better example of success in renewable energy than China, who is now the undisputed world leader of renewable energy. From wind turbines to hydro dams to solar panels, China leads the world in every single category. And to understand why this matters, you simply need to examine the massive lead China has built over the US and every other nation in electricity production. In 2024, China produced more electricity than the US, Europe, and India combined. And if you ever wonder which nation will win the AI race, just look at which nation is best positioned to power their future.
But this is where Marco Rubio's speech takes a very revealing turn. As he begins inviting Europe to join the United States on what he frames as a shared historical path, Rubio opent reflects on a time when Western powers spread across the globe and then laments that after the end of World War II and for the first time since the age of Columbus, the West was forced to contract. Rubio even describes the collapse of European empires as a terminal decline brought about by communist revolutions and anti-colonial uprisings. But what he calls decline was for much of the world independence. Between 1945 and 1980, more than 80 countries, mostly across Africa and Asia, broke free from colonial rule and gained their independence. In 1945, nearly one-third of humanity still lived under the UK, French, or American empires. Yet within a single generation, those formal colonial systems had largely disappeared. For the global south, this wasn't collapse. It was liberation. Yet, in Rubio's mind, countries gaining their independence was a bad thing because it meant the West was losing its power and influence across the world.
And that leads us to the real message of this speech, a call for the West to revive its dominance. Rubio instructed his European counterparts to be proud of their heritage and defend their civilization. a message that doubles as both a cultural and immigration signal. Rubio then urged Europe to help renew the greatest civilization in human history. In other words, Rubio's speech had very little to do with security, which of course was the main theme of the Munich Security Conference. And it had everything to do with asking the Europeans to join the US on a new mission to reassert control over the global south. And that's why Rubio's speech is so provocative. It doesn't describe a cooperative future. It describes a return to hierarchy, a world where Western power once again directs the trajectory of the global south.
But the biggest mistake Rubio made with this speech is failing to realize that over 88% of the world's population now lives in the global south. And after Trump destroyed the world order, developing countries now have options. Just look at Latin America, for example, and how they have shifted away from the US and Europe over the past 25 years and strategically moved closer to China as their top trading partner. And if you're confused on why Latin American countries would shift closer to China, just look at the difference in foreign policy in both how the United States and China treat South Africa, the largest and most important economy in the continent. While Trump hit South Africa with 30% tariffs, the highest rate of any country in Africa, China responded by granting the country 100% zero tariff access to its market under a new partnership deal. This is how business between nations advance. This is how developing countries prosper and improve the lives of its citizens. More cooperation and more trade.
Once again, let's listen to the wise words of the Finnish president as he explains why the global south is in a powerful position to determine the future of our world.
>> "For demographic reasons, for economic reasons, for geopolitical reasons, it's going to be the global south that decides the next world order. And I think that there is this battle for hearts and minds right now. to a certain extent China is doing it, the US is doing it. So then for me as a European, my idea is that we need to drive a dignified foreign policy which means that reach out to the middle powers, do the trade deals with India, do the trade deals with Mercur, open up your markets and in that sense, you know, take a different type of approach because in my experience in diplomacy, you get more out of a system if you act in a dignified manner."
What a novel concept. If you treat others with respect and dignity, you will gain more in the long term. And I couldn't agree more with the Finnish president. Trump has threatened to annex Greenland. He has disrespected all Canadians by undermining their sovereignty and calling Canada the 51st state. Trump has acted with anything but dignity.
And if you want to understand why Rubio's speech was not received well by anyone outside of the US and Europe, I want you to listen to the words of economist Jackson Hinkle, who states, "What's most repulsive about Rubio's speech and the warm embrace it received from the European ruling class is that its only vision for Western civilization is a future of endless imperialist violence. They have nothing else to offer to their citizens or to the world. No vision for addressing social and ecological crises. No vision for improving people's lives, no vision for human progress, no other vision for greatness besides violence and plunder. It is in fact the anti-thesis of civilization, it is barbarism."
Everyone, we are entering one of the most unstable periods of time in geopolitics. And while Trump can try to convince his base that the MAGA movement is winning and an American first policy is the best for the future of our world, the simple truth is that the global south and developing countries around the world own the future. And if the United States will not pursue a policy of learning to work with other countries and building a better future for all mankind, it will soon be on the outside looking in.
Everyone, I want to thank you for making it to this point of the video, and I appreciate your amazing support as we continue to grow this channel. If you haven't already, click the links down below to subscribe to our free geopolitics newsletter.