Wondering is america still a reliable partner. John or bernhardt as welcome to conflict thanking show republican senator bob corker the head of the Foreign Relations committee of the u. S. Senate said President Donald Trump threatens other nations in such a way it could lead to with the World War Three you agree. Well course as a soldier my job is to make sure that our soldiers are as well prepared as they can be for whatever contingency. Should arise our focus is on deterrence. Working as part of the alliance most successful alliance in the world in the history of the world so but senator bob corker said if we want to speak more about this vote that the president of the United States is today more a danger then to hell for peace i mean again i dont know trump threatens other nations in such a way it could lead to a third World War Two you agree with that i think that the president has done everything that the Previous Administration said it was going to do the president and this administration has lived up to every commitment as far as the Alliance Goes and thats what im focused on Rotational Forces preposition equipment and henceforward presence thats all part of deterrence and i think strong deterrence Strong Alliance that reduces the chance of a war quite often present trump uses twitter in an interview with german effort said newspaper you said quote dont judge by what the president tweets about what else i would say as our secretary defense of said watch what we do and again but again we can watch what the American Army is doing but the tweets of the president s are more than only having a nice time there is a content in the tweets well i actually dont know how to tweet and i dont have a twitter account so i would be the expert on do you want me read to believe that as an answer and to say fair enough. You dont know where the president is tweeting i dont i dont follow i dont follow twitter so why did you say dont judge us by what the president tweets the Health Concern to Say Something like that because i think its important to watch what the United States does when the United States are serious about something we put soldiers on it we put money on it thats exactly whats happening here in your general present tweets a lot including Foreign Policy and also the military issues well i get my orders from the military chain of command of course the president is their commander in chief but thats not how we issue orders over i dont speak about when orders i speak about his opinions about. All of the things he is in communication with the word and the things are also connected to your job or my experience over the last several months is that all of our allies have taken a look as theyve made in the judgment to a new administration they see what were doing and so i hear i hear almost zero concern from any of our allies any more about you know as United States committed in europe because they see what we are doing and again thats thats the manifestation of u. S. Policy is what were doing and thats what im concerned about this is an understanding which is one possibility to see the word the other one is still that hes the commander in chief hes also then your commander in chief and again. Hes called kim your mom on the north Korean Leader a quote little rocket man and he said he was short and fat do you think this is a leg which the president has to judge it speak about other leaders in the world will show course you know its not my place to criticize any elected survey. An official to comment on how they do things what i care about is our president s commitment to the alliance and making sure that our soldiers have everything they need to do their job and thats what im focused on senator corker when even so far as to say that while the white house was an Adult Day Care Center how appropriate is it for the president of the United States and i have to ask it the last time but they have to do it ok to communicate like this i mean you are a general you have soldiers imagine you communicate like that you are a role model the President Trump is a role model also for your soldiers do you think that his language is responsible i can tell you that every soldier takes an oath to the constitution in United States and in that oath it says obey the orders of the president of the United States who is our commander in chief i also say that im very glad that i am here and one feels germany at a Training Area and not. Involved in the other types of. That sort of news i would like to move on to russia is russia currently a Security Threat for the u. S. Sure it is. Russia is the only other nation that possesses the ability not necessarily the will but the ability to destroy the United States or all the other members of the alliance. And their behavior of the last three years since they invaded ukraine has gotten has raised the concern of everybody including all members of the alliance all members of the European Union. And its its the kind of thing that i think nobody wants that conflict is not inevitable we all want russia to be a part of the responsible community of responsible they ask me. Not with their current that theyre not on the right path not right now we what we would like to see them back on the path of responsible behavior as a great power and its a great nation great people great history so many places where we could cooperate with them but they dont cooperate with you anymore well theyve not lived up to any agreement that theyve signed including minsk and other treaties unless you really put pressure on them to do that thats a good point because shortly after President Trump took off as you said the russians only respect strength what exactly do you mean by this the russians i believe will use every means at their disposal to achieve whatever their strategic objectives are. What they are concerned about of what they fear is a unified alliance and a unified European Union that sticks together we had this throughout the cold war where you had hundreds of thousands of allied soldiers soviet troops. Across the energy border from each other do you need more soldiers in this area and when we had that. Cold war days we still were able to play hockey we still had trade you still had cultural exchanges you still had cooperation in different areas thats History Today do you need more soldiers we need the same effect oh its a hard do you want to work out that so one thing is continue to improve our cooperation with allies and i see germany in particular as being a leader increasing its military capability providing leadership in the alliance as well as in the European Union these are all things that this is not the compensation for these times you were just describing that sounds good and its certainly something very. Constructive but it is not the compensation for sure it is germany so important not just in europe but in the world for so many from so many perspectives economics military germany has a sort of a has earned a moral authority thats respected around the world so german german leadership is a very important part of this deterrence the fact that germany was the leader along with france and crafting the minsk agreement the fact that germany is helping to keep the European Union sanctions in place against russia until they live up to. But this is this is a very important form of like the question are you satisfied with the strength of your current military assets i have never met any military commander that is satisfied with what he has after saying this lets continue are you satisfied on north so let me say it this way. I am confident that the department of defense and the alliance are both doing everything that they can to ensure we have what we need. To have or havent to undo. Several years of decisions that were made. Made on the best judgments at the time when we thought russia was going to be our partner. The last American Tank left germany three years ago we had no tanks here because nobody could even invision why you would need them here anymore our Aviation Brigade significantly reduced and by the way all of our allies have done the same thing now with russias aggressive behavior everybody realizes that russia only respects strength so you have to bring back we quit killing are we quick enough is it the reaction to it the situation and you said yourself the russians are changing the security environment what is the necessary respond to that so are we doing enough i was very happy with the outcome of the defense minister also this past week in brussels where everybody from secretary general stoltenberg general scupper adi our defense minister secretary mabus addressing the things that need to be done to continue to improve the deterrent capability make sure that the alliance is adapted to the new security environment so actually i am im extremely optimistic by that i also see improved cooperation or expanding cooperation between nato and the European Union this freedom of movement or i would say military mobility across borders is a Perfect Place for cooperation between the e. U. And nato so im much more optimistic about the thats what you could about realities two thousand and seven russia aggressed georgia two thousand and fourteen only three years ago russia occupied crimea and you have criticized moscow for having troops supporting separatists in Eastern Ukraine as well as for its an accession of crimea but your commander in chief hasnt been as clear. So my commander scott brown has been very concerned then chief the president on the trunk as being as clear. I thought it was very clear when he stood there more saw that by the uprising the moral and said we are committed to article five of the alliance he pointed to american soldiers that were standing there next to him and said this is our commitment pointed to these young men and women as a manifestation of the commitment the United States to security and stability in europe dont criticize russia as you are doing you. Dont know trump has stepped back from delivering military aid to the ukraine but we have not stepped back from delivering military we have two hundred fifty american soldiers that are in ukraine right now helping to train ukrainian troops hundreds of millions of dollars of supplies and equipment have been provided we just delivered just delivered a large number of frontline ambulances for the ukrainian army. So the decision on any additional aid of course thats a thats a decision that level but i think the right people are working on it and were not alone we have canadians what is resides by the people who are working on the mall so journals capriati is given the best professional military advice based on his assessment of the situation hes given me the chance to speak to him. And i think thats thats where its best left is between John Scott Broady general its president from too soft on russia. Im not going to comment on on the president s we speak about military actions. Is he too soft on russia from your point of view as a general so i would say. Watch what we do the president has authorized the deployment of rotational our Brigade Combat Team rotational Aviation Brigade prepositioned equipment with the support of the congress an increase an increase of a billion dollars of what we call European Deterrence Initiative money from the Previous Administration to now an increase of a billion dollars so more exercises more capability more available funding. Thats thats what i look at and to me that is a powerful strong manifestation of commitment so this is not a black and white math problem this is about deterrence everybody you heard Prime Minister may she spoke last night everybody would like to have cooperation with russia as a responsible member of the International Committee that needs to accept the an exception of crimea because as long russia is doing that. I dont imagine that the american president who ever would have better relationship with putin thats probably the way its going to be were the u. S. Position is is not to accept the next ation of crimea but then help me a little bit and i want to understand the white house has also the late implementing sanctions against russia if this strip to cheek mistake and you mentioned the europeans on doing it i think this is so important that the European Union continues those sanctions would it help that also the United States will follow the europeans about sanctions against russia i think the cohesion of the alliance. Is the most important factor of deterrence and thats what i saw coming out of the defense minister was last week our great secretary defense and journals cooperating and the other leaders of the alliance so unified to me thats what is most important and so im very satisfied with so let lets speak about these things a little bit more concretely there are no signs that russia is leaving crimea what steps do you suggest to force them out so i think i might disagree with you you know russia has come up publicly and said hey we think maybe there ought to be a peacekeeping force here that whatever that peacekeeping force looks like or whatever the fact that theyre asking for that i think indicates that you know they dont want to see this last forever. I think that the. They were surprised i think by how well the ukrainians of fault i think the russians were surprised at how the entire west has. Stuck together on this since like three years after be an exception sanctions as we discussed a lot of movements as you just mentioned the fact is nothing changed nobody it seems like that has a policy to make this happen so how long how long do you think we were weve been in germany i mean since the end of World War Two and the division of german east and west we start with germany with the germans with west germany for decades now i dont know that that means its going to be decades before ukraine is is reunited that crimea is returned but i think the the west has shown that we are willing to do what it takes to protect sovereignty and to protect democracy and. People in ukraine they saw how much better life was in poland when poland joined the e. U. And joined the Alliance People in ukraine wanted to make what that same choice ukraines the only country in the world where people have died with the e. U. Flag and there he answer is russia is in the ukraine the answer is russia is occupying crimea thats the answer from the russian side rather was in east germany also and theyre gone so you compare this sure sure. Im actually optimistic if we can all stick together. You know time is not in russias favor you said that russia could conquer the Baltic States vote quicker then we could get there to defend them quote hand if this is true it means that these states are not sufficiently protected by the United States or the nato so i think that was about two and a half years ago when i said that but. I would not say the same thing today in the main reason i would say that is the Alliance Rapid deployment of enhanced for presence better words in less than a year from the warsaw summit in july last year less than a year germany led a battle group german led bellaver deploys lithuania canada back on the continent of europe for the first time in years in the lab the u. K. And stony and of course United States and poland with spain italy france all these countries together that that significantly changes the military calculus number one number two all three of those countries and poland are doing exactly what they said they would do under article three of the washington treaty which says every nation is responsible for its own defense so each nation of those each of the baltic countries and poland have taken significant steps not just increase spending but to improve their own defense so i would not say thirty six hours a day so no thirty six zero so fifty hours one hundred i was odd the real russians also today quick i would say first of all that the russians would think much harder about ever go on attacking with those countries because of the unity of the alliance in the increased capability but also what i saw again coming out of the defense minister was last week and from ambassador adamic in the European DefenseAgency Recognition that weve all got to be able to move more quickly so im actually more optimistic now than ive been in one year does it mean if you say i am a little bit more optimistic who is winning the time war russia or nato no we absolutely will theres no doubt about it. The Rand Corporation described nato assets in the baltics as being so mismatched with russia us that it was quote inviting a devastating war rather than deterring it do you. I think that the near unilateral disarmament and reduction in capability that we all went through a few years ago. That invited that invited attack so thats why we are all. Working as hard as we can to reach rebuild reestablish capability good im not never good enough this is deterrence is all in them in the mind of the potential better than ever serious. When the Alliance Sticks together we are absolutely present traum says a pope or a line is that one of the reasons why nato is not Strong Enough is that European Defense spending is too low the nato is goal is a two percent of g. D. P. But most nato countries are not before yet it resets to stop the decrees and so most nations poland romania baltic countries are all either already at two percent or increasing and i would also say that again german leadership germany is at least the army which is you know with what im most familiar. The army is led by general your former is got exactly the right focus on retooling the Division Headquarters that they have to be operationally capable a good modernization effort so but they are far away from these two percent and germany just said that the goal will be fulfilled in twenty twenty four seven years later well thats what the nations all agreed to it wales they gave us if you believe in their absolute. Says theyre going to do something theyll do it in the leadership of a doctor from the line and they have been as counsellor and. I have huge confidence in our lives. One of the reasons why president s trump said nato is obsolete is that what were talking about many politicians in europe that president mccall force have called particularly after this remark for united u. P. A. In defense cooperation some even say the u. P. A. Needs its own army do you think that the European Army would complete compete with nato for resources so nato is the best organization for collective security but what weve always needed and wanted is of course a strong european pillar inside the alliance and i think what i have read about this European Defense identity actually will do a lot. To help improve efficiency in growing capabilities of our european allies. I dont think that i dont think that the vision is a separate force that competes with nato but instead a more efficient and effective european contribution to collective security which would also allow europe to to do things perhaps in africa or whatever that are important is them is this a good idea to have u. P. A. Nami i think nato is the right answer. So the European Army is the wrong and. Nato is the right answer for collective security but it needs a stronger european pillar and so i mean nato i think outside nato i dont think it has to be either or i mean each of us does things bilaterally multilateral with other countries so its not an either or im satisfied that theres enough that the smart leadership in europe will figure out how to get the best efficiency from the billions of euros that are being spent which is what foreign minister gabriele talked about without without pulling apart what makes nato so good is europe today more secure or less secure than ten years ago there are there seems like there are more threats now than there were ten years ago the. Islamic extremism obviously is a is a real concern and. But i see the nations working harder together to to close those sort of gets intelligence sharing is as good as ive ever seen it but we dont get to we dont get to choose our threats of course islamic extremism the russias aggression there are other threats that are out there so seems like more threats. That we have to be prepared for. To be prepared also for war in europe its not any of this possible well think about deterrence deterrence is all about demonstrating capability and demonstrating a will. But war is not inevitable it doesnt have to happen. Thank you very much for being on conflict is a pleasure thank you i think i learned some stuff today thank you thank you. Whether its trying. This brand of gong to be colorful. I realize that many people need they need to have courage colors that once theyve they see a bad. Story of a unique brand and it secret. To success or romance thirty minutes w. Being. 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