Rubio not fulfilling diplomatic role, Guardian analysis argues

Israel rejects Gaza proposals as Russia-NATO tensions rise

Simon Tisdall, a Guardian foreign affairs columnist, argued in an August 16 analysis that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is failing to fulfill his diplomatic duties as multiple global crises intensify.

Tisdall wrote that Israel flatly rejected Trump’s latest Gaza peace proposals this week, days after Trump congratulated himself on a “historic breakthrough.” Russia’s attacks on NATO allies are growing increasingly brazen, threatening wider escalation, Tisdall wrote. The Ukraine war, which Trump vowed to end, is now well into its fifth year with civilians on both sides caught in the fighting.

In Iran, Tisdall wrote, Trump’s military campaign “conclusively failed,” with energy and food prices still rising.

“Rarely has the need for effective, professional diplomacy been more pressing,” Tisdall wrote.

Tisdall characterized Rubio’s approach to diplomacy as fundamentally different from recent predecessors such as Hillary Clinton and Antony Blinken. Rather than engaging in peace processes, Rubio “projects brute US power to impose take-it-or-leave-it ‘solutions’ that advance US interests, as defined by Trump,” Tisdall wrote. Tisdall called this “a modern form of imperialism” in which target countries face a choice between becoming client states or being crushed.

At the Munich Security Conference in February, Rubio outlined what Tisdall described as a “hawkishly retro doctrine of US primacy.” Rubio said he lamented the decline of “the great western empires … accelerated by godless communist revolutions and anti-colonial uprisings” and warned that Europe faced “civilisational erasure.” The US, Rubio said, did not want allies “shackled by guilt and shame” about their imperial past, but rather allies “who are proud of their culture and heritage … and who, together with us, are willing and able to defend it.” Tisdall wrote that Trump has attacked eight countries in the past year.

Rubio has avoided direct involvement in the most significant negotiations, Tisdall wrote. The White House has outsourced Ukraine and Palestine talks to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and Steve Witkoff, while Vice President JD Vance has taken the lead on Iran negotiations. Rubio, whom Tisdall described as also serving as Trump’s national security adviser, has taken an “arm’s length approach” that “smacks of calculation,” Tisdall wrote.

Rubio’s political trajectory represents a sharp reversal from his Senate positions, according to Tisdall. As a senator, Rubio was a China hawk; in office, he has followed Trump’s line on Beijing. He previously castigated Russia but has become, in Tisdall’s characterization, an appeaser. He championed overseas assistance but has gutted USAID and seeks to dismantle the International Criminal Court. He criticized Obama’s Iran nuclear deal but now backs an accord offering additional concessions to Tehran.

Tisdall cited Rubio’s biographer, Manuel Roig-Franzia, who wrote that Rubio’s political flexibility “is rooted in a childhood need to belong, to be on the winning side, no matter the price.” Tisdall noted that Rubio once converted to Mormonism before reverting to Catholicism. The political dynamic is further shaped by the shift from their 2016 rivalry, when Trump mocked Rubio as “little Marco” and a “loser” and Rubio called Trump a “conman.”

Tisdall wrote that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “weaker than at any time since 2022” and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is “short of missile interceptors, soldiers and political support.” A ceasefire deal freezing the conflict is achievable, Tisdall wrote, because the US is “the only country … that can meaningfully squeeze both sides.” In Israel, Tisdall wrote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces defeat in October’s elections, creating what Tisdall described as a rare opportunity for renewed peace efforts.

The Vatican accused the administration of waging an “immoral, unjust war,” according to Tisdall, and Rubio traveled to Rome to address the criticism.

Tisdall wrote that Rubio’s failure to engage in peacemaking “marks him out as the most dangerous man in the US administration after Trump himself,” arguing that Rubio enables and facilitates Trump’s worst instincts while providing “pseudo-intellectual respectability to far-right fantasies about unfettered US supremacy.” Tisdall wrote that Rubio stands a fair chance of becoming Trump’s chosen successor and heir to the MAGA brand.