Bangladesh, Feb. 18 -- Marco Rubios recent speech at the Munich Security Conference (telling Europeans that the US and Europe “belong together”) triggered immediate controversy, especially on social media platforms. While many commentators have been denouncing it, several European officials reportedly offered a standing ovation.

Social media commentators aside, Western specialists however did not pay much attention to the deeper implication of the US Secretary of States rhetoric: an enthusiastic defense of colonialism and an implicit call to recolonize the Global South. Albeit underreported, this may be the most consequential aspect of the address.

Rubios speech, delivered on February 14, framed world politics as a kind of c...