The United States Secretary of State will address a crowd in Athens on Wednesday, calling for a “renewal of the Western spirit” to confront a new era of competition among great powers, the U.S. State Department announced on Tuesday. The speech will be delivered from the Acropolis, the “cradle of Western civilization,” and will trace a heritage that the Department says extends from Athens and Rome, through Christianity, to the founding of the United States. Under Secretary for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson said the Secretary would invoke the history of ancient Greece as “the first full expression” of the qualities that have come to define the West—curiosity, bravery, ambition, and a restless spirit of exploration and discovery. Johnson added that the address would emphasize the shared values that bind the United States and Europe. The Secretary’s visit is part of a European tour that began in Reykjavik, Iceland, and will conclude in Portugal on Thursday. In Reykjavik, he called for increased military cooperation in response to Arctic security threats and discussed economic and energy issues. In Athens, he will preside over the sixth U.S.–Greece Strategic Dialogue, which will focus on defense cooperation and energy security. The State Department’s statement follows a series of speeches by U.S. officials that have highlighted the need to reaffirm shared Western values. In February 2025, Vice President J.D. Vance delivered a similar message at the Munich Security Conference, warning of a perceived drift away from those principles. A year later, the same conference saw the Secretary explicitly affirm the existence of a shared Western civilization. The Secretary’s remarks are expected to underscore the importance of cooperation between the United States and its European allies amid rising geopolitical competition.
Article source: De Ultimo Minuto | Image credit: De Ultimo Minuto