“Long twilight sleep” – Rubio calls on Europe to awaken and warns of “decline”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Europe to awaken from its "long twilight sleep" during a visit to Greece. “We believe that Europe can awaken from its long slumber and rekindle the fire that was lit here thousands of years ago,” Rubio said Wednesday in a speech below the famous Acropolis in the Greek capital Athens. The West is at a crossroads between “national strength” and “decline”. Something is currently taking place in Europe “that we hope is the beginning of a generational change: steep increases in defense spending, a wealth of new partnerships and programs” and “expanded industrial production,” Rubio continued. The coming years are crucial. “The next decade will write the history of the next century,” he said. “The course we take will determine whether the West maintains its position at the top of the world or resigns itself to a future of decay, bondage and decline.”