Marco Rubio

And that is what we are defending, a great civilization that has every reason to be proud of its history.

The euphoria of this triumph.

led us to a dangerous delusion that we had entered, quote, the end of history, that every nation would now be a liberal democracy, that the ties formed by trade and by commerce alone

would now replace nationhood.

We are part of one civilization, Western civilization.

We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices our forefathers made together.

We are connected spiritually, and we are connected culturally.

We want Europe.

The fundamental question we must answer at the outset

is what exactly are we defending?

Because armies do not fight for abstractions.

Armies fight for a people.

Armies fight for a nation.

Armies fight for a way of life.

The United Nations still has tremendous potential to be a tool for good in the world.

But we cannot ignore that today on the most pressing matters before us, it has no answers and has played virtually no role

It could not solve the war in Gaza.

Instead, it was American leadership that freed captives from barbarians and brought about a fragile truce.

It has not solved the war in Ukraine.

It took American leadership in partnership with many of the countries here today just to bring the two sides to the table in search of a still elusive peace.