04:10The 50% tariff
07:43I think America is refocusing some of its energies and resources on dealing with Asia.
07:53Which is, we have a competitor in China that really requires that we refocus how we allocate our resources.
08:01And there's certainly nothing wrong with asking Europe to step up and take care of itself.
08:06But look, America came to the defense of Europe twice in the last century.
08:09We defended Europe throughout the Cold War.
08:12And actually have defended them since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.
08:16So we still have massive numbers of troops here and massive numbers of military armaments and supplies.
08:22There's nothing wrong with the United States cutting back on that and Europe taking a more assertive role in its
08:27own defense.
08:28I think that's something we want.
08:29And I believe it's something that the Europeans now realize and that the Europeans want.
08:34I think that some of the fears from the European capitals is that it's happening at a time when the
08:38United States, particularly President Trump, is extremely disappointed.
08:41He's made that very clear to Mark Rutte and so on, and to the Europeans themselves,
08:45about their lack of support in the aftermath of the U.S. and Israeli strikes on the Iran in relation
08:51to the strait from us.
08:52Has that situation subsided for Donald Trump?
08:56I don't know that it subsided.
08:58I mean, I know he's very disappointed.
08:59We have a situation where the president, at great political risk, I mean, nobody, you know, his party was not,
09:07the MAGA movement is not supportive of foreign wars.
09:11Democrats were going to oppose him no matter what he did.
09:14So without really any political advantage, he assessed the situation, saw the development of the missiles and the drones in
09:22Iran,
09:24and they're continuing to try and get access to a nuclear weapon.
09:27And they're having that visible nuclear material where they could create 10 or 11 bombs.
09:32And said, rather than passing the, kicking the can down the road or passing the buck, whichever metaphor you want
09:38to use,
09:38he decided that it was important that he act, despite the fact that it wouldn't be to his political advantage,
09:43because it was the right thing to do.
09:45We have bases in Europe that we have funded and supported for decades.
09:51We have countries that we've rescued in war, and we've been a very reliable ally to.
09:56When they won't even let us fly over their country or use our bases in their countries,
10:01you're going to find the United States, and particularly President Trump, will be very upset.
10:06And I don't know when that subsides.
10:08Yeah.
10:08But hopefully it will over time, but I don't know if it has yet.
10:12Do you think that this sort of reaction then at NATO is part of that, saying,
10:15look, you didn't come to our aid, so therefore we won't be there for you in times of need,
10:19and that's why we're removing capabilities?
10:21No, I don't think anybody said that.
10:23What I've heard Secretary Rubio say is, look, we're supportive of NATO,
10:26but the reason that we have an alliance is so that we defend each other and work together.
10:30And if that's not how the alliance is going to work, then we need to reassess it.
10:34Nobody, I don't think anybody said we're pulling out of NATO, we're going to pull out of NATO.
10:38What about the Europeans' perspective when they say NATO is a defensive organization,
10:43this was an offensive war outside the territory of NATO,
10:47so therefore the obligation wasn't for us, particularly when we weren't consulted?
10:51I think that's a little too technical and a little too ignoring of reality.
10:55The Iranians have been at war with at least the United States and Israel for 47 years.
11:00I mean, they've been killing people.
11:02They've got these groups like Hamas and Hezbollah that go out and attack the U.S. forces and Israeli forces.
11:10They've now bombed Cyprus.
11:12They tried to bomb.
11:13They sent a missile down to the island off of India's Diego.
11:18I can't remember what the name of it is, but the island that the British control off the coast of
11:21India.
11:22Diego Garcia.
11:22Diego Garcia.
11:24So I think that may be a technical explanation that tries to get them off the hook for something they
11:30maybe should have done.
11:31Nobody was asking them to send troops.
11:33All we wanted to do was fly over the countries we defended and use the air bases or the military
11:40bases that we maintain in those countries.
11:42So if you're not willing to do that, what are you willing to do?
11:45So it was a big mistake for a small ask.
11:47Is that what you're saying?
11:48I would say that was a very good summary.
11:51Ambassador Andrew Pudser, thank you very much for joining us on 12 Minutes at Euro News.
11:55Thank you.
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