Jim Townsend: Putin believes West is divided

AlArabiya English

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin sees the western world as divided and lacks unity, former US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO Jim Townsend says.

Transcript

00:00It looks like we could be looking at the dawn of a pretty turbulent chapter in relations

00:05between the United States and a number of allies, especially in Europe, especially when

00:10it comes to trade.

00:11And I'm just wondering whether, you know, given some of the global threats out there

00:16and threats that are common to the United States and its allies, Russia, China, North

00:20Korea, Iran, doesn't the West need to look more united at this particular point?

00:25Well, that unity is so important.

00:27And that unity is what will help make Putin go to a negotiating table.

00:32Right now, he feels that there is disunity with NATO.

00:36He feels that the U.S. is getting wobbly and might go in a whole different direction.

00:41So that emboldens him not to negotiate anything.

00:45He feels he's doing well.

00:47And what will make him sit down at the table and negotiate in earnest will be a feeling

00:53that maybe the West is more unified than he thought.

00:56Maybe the U.S. is actually going to be potentially helping Ukraine and not walking away.

01:02And that we're all in this for the long term.

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