00:00I'll share with you what the president said to the Telegraph. In their story this morning, they say the president
00:05was asked if he would consider reconsider the U.S.'s membership of the alliance after the conflict. He said, quote,
00:10oh, yes, I would say it's beyond reconsideration. I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a
00:16paper tiger. And Putin knows that, too, by the way. Admiral, what's your reaction to that quote? And what's the
00:22future of this alliance?
00:25So thank you for having me. It's the first time I'm on U.S. TV on live. So I'm very
00:31happy to be able to share some comments with you. So you will clearly understand that we, Dimitri, are not
00:37maneuvering on the political level. So I will not comment this debate, which is a strong one, which is about
00:45the transatlantic links and how the things go on the political side.
00:50I think what we have in front of us is a world where the crisis is not anymore the good
00:56understanding of how the things are going. It's much more a question of shock. If I may have an image,
01:04a crisis is when the ties of your car are flat. A shock is when you hit a tree.
01:13We are in a world where hitting trees now. It's a new normal. And I think for an alliance, it's
01:19a strong, a strong challenge to be able to adapt at a very high speed to these shocks.
01:25Admiral, though, this goes beyond just politics. This is about operational issues for the alliance.
01:31When the U.K. only allows the U.S. to use bases for limited defensive action, when we see reports
01:36that Italy is denying a military aircraft permission to land in Sicily and you have the U.S. questioning whether
01:42they should even have bases in those places if they can't use them, the question still remains, what is the
01:48future of this alliance?
01:49From an operational standpoint, what is the future of this alliance?
01:54I think the strength of the alliance is to have having been able during more than 70, 80 years to
02:03discuss and to find a way together.
02:05It's the consensus. It's an alliance which is not driven by majority, but by consensus.
02:11And so that means that you have a unique place in the world where you have 32 nations that discuss
02:17at political level on a daily basis.
02:19And so I know that since this war is going on in Ukraine, there are very intensive discussions at NATO
02:27level.
02:28It's not only the nations themselves one by one with the U.S.
02:32It's it's all together in the in the NAC.
02:35It's the NATO North Atlantic Council where this discussion occur.
02:39And I think it's a strength for the West.
02:41It's something we need never to neglect is the fact that we are together.
02:45We are committed by bonds. And so we need to that there are always tensions.
02:52That is not the first time. But we need to do to solve this as a united alliance.
02:58Admiral, can the alliance exist, though, without the support of the United States?
03:05This is a great question.
03:06So, Mr. Trump, during the summit last summer, he achieved to to to to ask the allies to spend three
03:17point five percent of their GDP for their own defense.
03:20That comes by the fact that the U.S. have other priorities.
03:24They are not only focused on Europe and the crisis in Iran is a good demonstration of what they say.
03:30So it's a moment for Europe to stand up and to do largely more than they have been admitted to
03:36they did before.
03:38During the during the post-Cold war decades, the Europeans have been somehow the free riders of their own security.
03:46Today, there is a great change.
03:48And now we need to ramp up in all domains and to be able not to do without the U
03:54.S., but largely with a smaller force of the U.S., given the other commitment these U.S. forces have
04:02over the world.
04:03Admiral, is it ability or will to potentially help the United States when it comes to reopening the Strait of
04:08Hormuz?
04:08I was struck by the U.K. Defense Secretary Minister in an interview really struggling to answer basic questions even
04:16about how many frigates the U.S. has the U.K. has presently at the moment.
04:22So there is a we inherit 30 years of these investments in all domains in the industry, in the weapons
04:31stock buys, in the in the military, in the number of soldiers.
04:35So it's not by a flick of a switch that we change that.
04:39That means a strong, long lasting commitment from the Europeans to be able to ramp up.
04:45So we inherit a very bad situation.
04:47And I think it's time now to wake up.
04:49Given the fact that there is a lot of questions right now about the U.S. and the U.S.'s
04:54role with NATO, how likely is it that in five years NATO will still exist?
05:01It's a very political question.
05:03I think we inherit a system which is a good one.
05:10In fact, in other parts of the world, I think most of the allies we discuss with, and especially in
05:16the Pacific, they are saying we should have something that looks like NATO.
05:19So NATO is how it is.
05:21It's a big organization, but it's the one where we discuss on every day.
05:26You have more than 12,000 military that on a daily basis, they work on plans, they work on interoperability,
05:33they work on training, they work on concepts.
05:35So this is a goal in our hands.
05:38And so I think it's a moment where we need to have a cool hands and not saying, OK, because
05:43there is a crisis, we will kill the baby.
05:45I think it's a moment we have an heritage, we have something that works.
05:49I think it's a moment where all the stakeholders need to be responsible.
05:54They need to say, OK, what we inherit.
05:57And with this alliance, I think there is a lot to do still.
06:02And killing it will not make the world safer.
06:05There was some questions about the fact that missiles were lobbed at Turkey from Iran and that this potentially could
06:14engage NATO more directly in the conflict.
06:17What's your response to that?
06:19So some measures have been taken by Secure.
06:23It's the U.S. General Grangevich, which is in charge of that kind of answers.
06:28And so he has taken measures in order to be sure that the NATO AOR, so Area of Responsibility, is
06:37well protected against the will of Iran to spread the crisis outside of its borders.
06:43Admiral, before you go, can I get clarification on something?
06:45Can you confirm whether Iran did try to strike the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean?
06:52Because we're still trying to gauge what their range actually is.
06:55What do you know about that?
06:57So it looks like they have tried to send a three-stage ballistic missile, which is much more looking like
07:04a commercial rocket.
07:05I think it was a messaging.
07:08And they are trying to demonstrate their ability to expand and to spill the crisis outside the Middle East.
07:16It's their strategy.
07:18And so I think it's a moment where, back to the islands, it's a moment where I think we need
07:22to show that we are united.
07:24We are committed to defend one billion plus citizens over the world and not kill the baby at a moment
07:30of tension, which I fully understand.
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