“… We must take our own side in this fight. We must be vigilant. We must persevere. And, through it all, we must never, never cease to believe in the moral superiority of our own values – that we stand for truth against falsehood, freedom against tyrany, right against injustice, hope against despair … and that even though we will inevitably take losses and suffer stebacks, through it all, so long as people of goodwill and courage refuse to lose faith in the West, it will endure”.
This fragment of Senator McCain’s speech at the 2017 Munich Security Conference epitomizes his deepest values and beliefs, determining his exemplary moral compass. Through out his entire public life and service, he acted as having been born to serve his country and defend its values, the values of what we can still call “the West”. He was the ultimate incarnation “of people of goodwill and courage”. He always took this side in the permanent struggle for truth, freedom, right and hope, crossing party lines and conventional ideologies, making many friends but also powerful enemies.. He was many times incovenient, irritant, sarcastic and persistant, as only people of deep conscience and moral rectitude can be.
John McCain leaves a huge vacuum, almost impossible to be filled. His departure weekens the ranks of the ones who still believe that there is a West worth defending and that the unravelling of the liberal world order – the “decadence” of our moral and political superiority – is not inevitable. It weakens the resolve for transatlanticism in America and deprives European nations of a formidable ally in the quest of defending the indispensible link between America and Europe and among democracies worldwide.
Read here The interview with former minister Yossi Beilin
I had the privilege to meet and learn from John McCain in my days as ambassador in Washington, foreign minister and president of the Romanian Senate. He was a strong proponent of the enlargement of NATO and was an engine of the renewed determination to resist and fight back against Russian aggression in our neighborhood. I had the pleasure to welcome him and late Senator Fred Thomson to Romania, drink some palinca, enjoy the beauty of the Carpathian Mountains and the admire the combat skills of our alpine troops. His memory in my country will last forever.
Read here: The G7 „no”, America first „yes”: Trump in spray of codes and habits
These are only a few reasons why we feel so intensely this loss – not only of an American hero, but also of an European one, of a huge voice for principled leadership and morality in public life. We are saddened by his loss but we also know that his work, heroism, personal example and beliefs will endure. This “moral struggle”, this “proud, unapologetic believer in the West” that “we must always, always stand up for it” – is in fact the true Political Testament of this Great Man. Fromhis death bed, he wrote a memorable and emotional farewall letter to his fellow Arizonans and Americans. But in times of great unravelling and peril, where the very foundation of the liberal world order is under assault both from our own complacency, sheer cowardice or the malice and ill intentions of our adversaries and enemies, illusions that we will prevail without fighting for our values must be abandoned, John McCain will continue to lead us from above and well beyond his beloved America in this epical fight for the survival of our civilization and way of life. May God rest his soul!
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