00:00The U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continually accuses NATO allies of freeloading.
00:06And I just wonder, on balance, just before we move on from the subject of money,
00:10do you agree or disagree with that notion?
00:12I'm really extremely annoyed by what I keep on hearing from this gentleman
00:18because clearly he is not up to par with the details of NATO's history.
00:23NATO allies have made many commitments in support of the United States,
00:30if I, for instance, recall the entire saga in Afghanistan.
00:35So, no, we have not just been freeloading.
00:38It's true that Europeans and Canadians have been pretty late in waking up to the fact that our main threat
00:45is Russia
00:46and they would need to redirect the capability development of their forces, the training of their forces.
00:53They needed to invest more into their defense budgets.
00:57They have been late in doing that.
00:58That's true.
00:59But I don't think it's very healthy.
01:01I mean, if an alliance which is based on a joint commitment keeps on entertaining this finger-pointing exercise,
01:08especially when it comes from a country who is not really any longer on the basis of the Washington Treaty
01:15and shares our democratic commitments.
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