Acknowledge that nato has serious splits in its unity. Rose gottemoeller welcome to conflicts and thank you great to be here your boss yan stoltenberg reminded the world recently that nato is mission was to provide credible to terence and defense the fact is that deterrence is no longer credible and hasnt been for a long time has it why do you say that we dont seem to think were not in the midst of war when i say that because just 5 months ago Americas National Defense Strategy commission painted a pretty dismal picture of the us his ability to protect both itself and its allies the security and well being of the us it said are at greater risk today than any time in decades americas superiority has a road into to dangerous to. And its ability to defend its allies its partners and its own vital interests is increasingly in doubt thats thats dismal isnt it there are many different fields of how deterrence and defense are conducted today and i think for nato the emphasis truly has to be on what we now call the hybrid challenges that are coming out us many of them associated with emergence of new technologies and accelerated by new technology lets look at Defense Commission fact those in its report and those other things that the u. S. Military could suffer and acceptably high casualties and the loss of major Capital Assets in its next conflict it might struggle to win a war against russia or china thats got thats not good news is it well what i have to tell you if you ask me the question about whether deterrence is working or not i have to say yes because we do in fact here at nato Work Together as 29. 00 nations with the United States to provide for the deterrence and defense of all 29. 00 allies and we do have challenges i dont want to sugarcoat the challenges that we face and particularly the challenges emanating from new technology but im not ready to cry that were in the midst of disaster this section pointed out that for the 1st time nato has combat ready battle groups in the eastern part of the alliance for battle groups in the Baltic States and poland plus a dish new forces a minute into a brigade the authority of the Rand Corporation doesnt think much of it says nato forces are not nearly sufficient to defend the contiguous line and delay a large scale conventional advance by a mechanized adversaries such as russia again hardly a vote of confidence in the motions that lead to is taken as the for battle groups in the Baltic States and in poland are not meant to hold the line for long they are precisely that they are going to be credible they are and they are credible as a deterrence and defense tripwire because they bring together forces from across the Alliance Units from every single nato ally. Practically are serving in those battle groups and some of that but you and all the russian knows russian know that if they step across the line they will face the entire Nato Alliance but that is why nowadays we are placing our emphasis on reinforcement and readiness and being able to rapidly move troops in behind those battleground isnt impressed by that either it says that given the current posture and capability including the european battalions and rotational us ahmed Brigade Combat Team russia still enjoys a substantial time distance advantage in the initial days and weeks of a conventional Ground Campaign in the Baltic States thats the reality of geo geography and the fact that russia does in fact sit as the great land power in eurasia thats a fact of history yeah but i do forces are not providing the tenets that you promised i dont know why you keep saying that tim is your myth sorry yes im going to work to give sorting some reports that have come about and im terribly amused by those ran reports you know i work for random in 1980 s. They said exactly the same thing during the cold war so the fact of the matter is everybody gave up theres just no no they dont make it up but they are repeating you know what is based on a reality of the geopolitics and the geography of eurasia what we can do is ensure that russia knows all 29. 00 allies are prepared to act and are prepared to reinforce and that has proven during the cold war an effective deterrent and i believe it proves an effective deterrent today the impression of an alliance that is no longer credible has been assisted if you like by years of war games played out on computers by the pen to good range of defense experts major consistently loses against what it considers to be its main adversary doesnt it well i think the best thing you can say about exercise of all kinds is that they are meant to stress test stress test. Until we understand where our weaknesses lie and what we have to do better i was present this fall when we had our big trident juncture exercise which was not a computer exercise it was a big combined arms exercise in norway and it showed that it had been a long time since the alliance had reinforced across the north atlantic there were problems that emerged in the get out of the board well we saw the end of the soviet union and everyone decided and it was a good thing the last tank of the United States left europe in 2013 we saw that as a good thing but then after 2014 and the aggression against crimea the seizure of crimea the destabilization of the donbass we had to think again about deterrence and defense must be urgency mustnt there because last month give you an example a Senior Research at the center for a new americas security david up monica you probably know i know he said other graphically that when the simulations were run against russia and china america get its backside gets its backside handed to it to put it slightly differently ive just adjusted it we usually fail he added to achieve our objective of preventing aggression by the adversary to think moscow hasnt noticed that as well well i do think its important as i said to train and exercise without taking our eye off the ball and when we learn that we have problems then we have to rectify them and that means a lot of hard work but were in the midst of it its extraordinary that you do have these problems because the Staggering Amount by which nato countries outspend russia on defense and still lose the war games its surprising isnt it really. When you think that the alliances combines economic strength in 2016 was about 31 times that of russians. What youre doing with the money if youre not getting value for money you know you im asking the question as to whether the problems you describe are actually the problems that you have id be very interested to see how the russian general staff trains in exercises im sure they also train to stress themselves until they fail and then they have to work on their problems so i think we have to consider what the challenges on both sides are and in the case of nato and its allies the United States and its allies i see capable forces that are adjusting to the modern warfare and are moving rather i would say flexible am with speed to do so im not always sure i see that in the Russian Armed forces. Despite a nato advantage of more than 3 quarters of a trillion dollars spent by the alliances combined military forces in a single year im talking about 2015 you would struggle to win a conflict with russia how is that possible when you outspend them to this enormous degree well again im not accepting the basis of your hypothesis im not sure that we would actually lose because again we have a great deal of flexibility and adaptability thats why nato has succeeded all these years we have been able to adapt to new challenges when they come out as you think is succeeding with 2008 the russians took a bite out of georgia after a Lightning Strike i know wasnt a nato member bowser nato partner in 2014 in crimea you mentioned they moved to seize that since 2014 Russian Forces either regular or contract troops have been operating with pretty near impunity in Eastern Ukraine 10000 people have died so theres gloat that its being keeping the peace isnt quite true is that i think it is important to point out the. That article 5 of the washington treaty applies to allies thats the famous all for 1. 00 and 1. 00 for all. Part of the washington treaty that is the core of our Defense Alliance where georges concern in 2008 that was an enormous wake up call and 2014 represented a sea change for the alliance not even to see it coming not only in terms of a wake up call in ukraine but also the fact that the rise of eisel the establishment of the caliphate in mosul that brought the fight against terrorism and violent extremism into sharper focus as well so we did have a wake up call in that period and i think it has led to huge change in the alliance not least of which was a huge change in our defense spending and a look at what we really need today to counter both of these kinds of challenges but despite the fact that you provide ukraine with what stoltenberg called Strong Political and practical support it makes no difference to what russias moves in the military field in the area has it its strengthened its naval forces its built up its tanks according to the chief of staff Ukraine General staff last year they built up tanks along the border theyre not being deterred by your strong support political or otherwise for ukraine other i think theyve taken notice we have put a quite a bit into training but i want to give credit to the Ukrainian Armed forces themselves they have been doing a lot to professionalize and develop their capability and capacity over the last 6 years that has really been impressive and so they working together with us and also with individual nato allies have been making a difference to hold the line but you continue to dangle nato membership is a carrot in front of them without giving them a time. Table for it without a timetable is meaningless as. Well lets have a moment to talk about that in 2008 at the bucharest summit 4 countries spoke about their aspirations and nato agreed that they would be in the line to have nato membership those countries included ukraine and georgia but we have been very clear that both of those countries are still on the path of reform we have to ensure that when countries are ready to enter nato store they are ready to contribute to security and defense in the alliance but also to come up to certain standards of democratic principle so what are you waiting for to moscows think of another bite out of Eastern Ukraine know what were waiting for is to see them come up to a certain level of readiness for nato membership. Nato allies have reiterated the decision we made some years ago that ukraine will become a member of nato thats the bucharest summit the 2nd that still stands at some point at some time its up to ukraine to decide who their security relationships will be with thats an important principle from our perspective i have to say though its also very important that all nato allies be ready to accept them and that means seeing a level of reform and development in their not only armed forces but also in their Democratic Practice lets talk about nato 70th birthday which is just come and gone and happy is the one down graded to foreign minister level instead of the usual heads of government. You disagree on many issues and you know secretary general hardly ideal in an alliance that claims its strength rests on unity is that the secretary general had a wonderful speech before a joint session of congress the 1st time any leader of an International Organization has had that honor it was a great day but we havent finished with our celebrations tim there will be a leaders meeting at the end of the year in london in december heads of state and government will celebrate nato 70th anniversary let me put it bluntly the problem is that many Member States dont trust donald trump do this his commitment to nato why should they i mean hes done everything he could to undermine just that hes 100 percent behind it you know i havent seen that clearly donald trump has shaken things up theres no question about it hes gotten off a bit more than that is not molly allies to sit up and take notice because he was very concerned about the lack of of fair burden sharing inside the alliance and he wanted allies to pay more in his inimitable way he got everybody to Pay Attention to the necessity of putting more money into their Defense Budgets that was one of the. It will come up with come into funding in a minute but i want to just say that 10 days ago it fell to William Burns former state Department Advisor to 5 u. S. President s and one of the most respected u. S. Diplomats over the last 30 years to point out the terms unilateralism is doing d. M. S. Putins work for him by widening the gap between the us and europe over Climate Change iran and nato thats a serious charge from a serious highly placed person of liberalism indeed yairi serious serious but whats your question why dont you take that seriously youre telling me everythings fine and telling you everythings 5 but i say elephant in every room listen to hes the one they talk about he keeps that cost in downtown article 5 nato whether its obsolete or not youve heard the statements and youve read the report courts well look in this headquarters we have important work to do every single day thats why trust is so important exactly trust is broken and that were in trouble and we are not in trouble we are working hard to do what we need to do in terms of running our operations in afghanistan and iraq in terms of continuing to run our operations in k. 4 in the western balkans in terms of providing for both deterrence and defense and fighting against terrorism in the saliva it so every day we keep our heads down and keep working yes of course there are differences among nato allies and as ive said mr trump has gotten everybody to sit up and take notice but this is more the true this is the more just this is more than just differences that lieut former u. S. Ambassador to nato said earlier this month this is unprecedented were at the 70th anniversary but its the 1st time allies have doubted the commitment of the american president nato allies he said see trump as the alliances most urgent and often most difficult problem well again high. He placed influential well informed indeed indeed doug lou does as well but i dont need to agree with all my friends and colleagues on the outside what i see as how nato is working day in day out to make a difference to our deterrence and defense and that includes fighting terrorism you seem to live in a parallel universe you know i dont i dont how do you say paralleled look over the house of representatives they have so little confidence in chumps intentions toward nato that last year they had to pass a law with bipartisan support stating that is u. S. Policy to remain a member of nato prohibiting funds to be used to withdraw from the alliance so little providence do they have in the president s commitment to nato her a i saw that as a great expression in washington of bipartisan support for nato and i saw it when we were there 10 days ago for the 70th anniversary nato is well supported across both sides of the aisle thats a great thing why why are you going to rise again not by the president well i dont know about that because you know actions speak louder than words since the president has come into office the United States is spending 40000000000. 00 more on the European Reassurance Initiative putting more cop capability and capacity into Eastern Europe to help in our deterrence and defense tests against russia so i see the reality and this is at the same time as Senior Administration officials told the New York Times of several occasions last year that the president had said privately he wanted to withdraw from nato a move lets face it that would destroy the alliance wouldnt it do you think reports like that shedding doubt on americas americas commitment to damage the alliance they do that corrosive. Well what i would say to you is that its perfectly natural for all kinds of issues to be discussed and debated in the white house as elsewhere. What we see is the reality and the practicality of u. S. Support a nato ally mccoist said europe can no longer rely on the United States and must take destiny into its own hands so theyre not convinced so that the whole idea is to spread confidence in nato and its some solidity its not happening is it well you know uncle or merkel on the other european leaders step up and provide more funding and more capability for the alliance thats all to a good thing the skirts of this debate about European Defense capability and european spending on their own defense her a i say thats a great idea it contributes to what nato needs to do it doesnt compete with that lets just talk about the funding issue because this round of defense spending is gone on and on Donald Trumps endlessly repeated complaint that his nato allies havent spent enough on defense and oh the u. S. A lot of money for the shortfall which of course is false isnt it because they dont do the u. S. Any money do they its clear that up now shall we were having a bit of truth about this as well from our perspective its really good that sense we face that watershed year of 2014 every single ally turned around and stop the cuts in defense spending they dont have the us and the money to lets look at exactly when we look at france was going to lets look at what the allies are doing which is spending in iran are they are straight. Well i have to tell you is the way we look at this question is each allies should be spending 2 percent of g. D. P. On defense and 20 percent of that amount on acquiring new capability and capacity what is refusal are so the question the feds investment pledge you never correct these false words to you there are forces which donald trump has put on the record which they really that west european. European allies over the us a lot of money for the shortfall the fact is they dont evolved out of the former u. S. Ambassador to nato said no one knows the u. S. Any money nor is the u. S. Spending more because allies are spending less u. S. Defense spending is a National Decision and is determined by u. S. National security and defense needs true or false well i think its true for every country across the alliance that they need to spend what it is in their interests to spend and that is on adequate sufficient capability and capacity they need to get rid of obsolescent equipment they need to modernize they need to pay to train our troops they need to do what is in their interest for their defense and thats the most important thing this is all true and its come pretty important thing and you would think that would be valued a little more in an alliance a military alliance which might take 29. 00 countries to war sometime particularly when the commander in chief of the Largest Force says many country is in nato oh a tremendous amount of money for many years back that simply is not true if we cant even acknowledge that then nato is seriously trouble isnt it i think we have perhaps different views of what the truth is the truth to me is when the allies are acquiring real capability and capacity to contribute to our mutual defense well on the subject of these contributions it was left to germanys defense minister those 11 the lion to rebuke trump i reminded him point in terms its not just about cash decency and dependability are also valuable contributions the clear implication being that germany hasnt seen enough of those contributions elsewhere in. Decency and dependability i would add on a state of sin since youre allowing so many false leads to stay on the record here lets not be silly please but let me say that in fact the defense investment pledges acknowledged to be made. Up of several different components cache yes indeed but also contributions and capabilities and those come in many many forms and in fact germany is a very good example of where they are putting new new facilities on the table we need to do a lot more on military mobility on our ability to reinforce and they are putting in place a new Mobility Command in ormonde germany great example of how they are contributing to the alliance yes so its not the one way street that donald trump likes to claim it is europe contributes enormously to americas own war fighting capabilities doesnt it providing bases transport systems that allow it to project force in other regions where it wouldnt be able to without those nato facilities but that again is never acknowledged as a you never stand up for your. What of course we stand up for europe because europe is always out trumps false words to stay on the record well i think we have been clear about is my amends are clear restaurant telly doesnt in telling it like it is. In the time we have left id like to talk to you about the values of this alliance intimately in natives relations with the middle eastern gulf countries and in conducting dialogues with them for many years nature is out for providing assistance as to participating countries in the areas of Security Institution building Civil Military relations this is a very warm nato embrace for several brutal and autocratic countries isnt it im talking about egypt or a new way with very questionable human rights records to discuss the clear evidence of human rights abuses in those countries are your dialogues human rights free. Well by no means because in fact when we work with all of those countries they have. The opportunity if somewhat to pick and choose what we talk about but we always bring our values to the table whether were talking about is i mean criticizing this building integrity fighting against corruption ensuring that everything they do in terms of women peace and security as on the highest standard we always bring our basic values to the table when we talk to any partner and when we work with any ally and does that mean criticizing their human rights records it means working with them effectively thats not the same thing is it i mean would you discuss with bahrain for instance there continue use of civilian and military courts to convict and imprison peaceful dissenters who are from the usa which is accused of maintaining a sustained assault on freedom of Expression Association i ask because theyre frequently here they frequently visit nato headquarters there wined and dined presumably but you dont ask any of these unpleasant questions while youre of vital to the organization that purports to have fairly yours. A lot about what takes place for me if im wrong for one thing im wrong that wining and dining is rather rare in how we interact with our partners but so my dad what in fact does happen is that we portray the core values around which this alliance is built everything we do with in a day in day out basis is meant to build build the recognition and the acceptance of those values in a kind of organic way so of course the discussion can take account of everything that is happening day in day out in those countries but it does focus on building integrity good to have you on the program i was crossing thank you very much. Thank. You. Sure of. What unites. What divides. The money and try to force. What binds the continent together. The tensors and stories aplenty. Spotlight on people. 30 minutes on d. F. W. Streets rising people fight for some little money a Settlement Movement when theres a flood the water comes up to our waist like a clothes fast and everyone but. Not a lack of water is equally dangerous. You cant see people not self so they can plant crops and find a new system. Floods and droughts will Climate Change become the main driver of mass migration you can the right any going to matter if you want and probably most of them to. A climate exodus starts september 5th on d w. Thank. You. This is g. W. News live from berlin a green light for italys new governing coalition Prime Minister to set the country gets a mandate to form a new government made up of the 5 Star Movement and the Democratic Party he says he hopes to lead the country out of its political instability a soon as possible but how stable his government meet also coming up anger across the u. K. As Prime Minister for Strong Defense department ahead of the break that test time for mainers and leaders who dont want to see and hold your breath that are outraged more than a 1000000 people have