picture and course not the 1st time that the french undermined nato under president general shall they go france to france out of nato kicked nato headquarters out of france an american bases out of france and this was very welcome in moscow at the time in the sixty's but well nato didn't disappear nato has been an internal different kind of stipes of crisis for a lot of time as the european union is i mean such an organization of so many states and there's over time internal tensions but it's not going away any time soon and that's maybe good for the see will be key in moscow to join even if nato is irrelevant even if as you said it should have died at the end of the cold war is not the reality that europe would form another kind of common defense mechanism. well i think yes i actually i think have asked some writer some good good questions but i think he's given the wrong answers i think he's asked a good question because as i said earlier he has identified the fact both he and the people who've responded to him that in reality nato is nothing but a vector or a vehicle for american power it's not in that sense an alliance it's

nato and the former u.s. ambassador to nato and russia and in moscow pavel felgenhauer defense and military analyst and columnist for no via guess at or a warm welcome to iran let's start with john then is nato dying. well i think. in many ways michael's remark that it was brain dead is not exactly hot news. nato has been braindead i would say since 1901 when the warsaw pact was dissolved it was of course created as we all know to supposedly face down the the soviet threat but when that threat disappeared logically nato should have been dissolved as well instead of which for reasons of institutional self-interest and above all for reasons of geopolitical self-interest and when i refer to that i'm talking about the united states of america in complicity of course with its european allies but we see from emmanuelle michael's remark and from the from the reactions to it that the truth is that nato is simply an instrument for my marital geopolitical i could jump in here and so is i'm the counter-argument that would be i'm sure by by nato and its supporters that hey we've seen russia make moves in crimea you know there are plenty of reasons why nato is still relevant and not you can't you can't s

i would encourage nato allies, within the nato framework, to create a commission like you have, create a national commission. i think natohould do exactly the same to take nato allies on in this very important discussion and that would also -- and finally i would to improve projects with a particular view on speeding up the process. one of the suggestions could be to give the military leaders authority to take decisions. of course, he would have to be accountable to the nato sites -- nato council. make immediateto decisions. authorityuld provide to take those decisions. it is good for commissioners to be on a listening tour so we can have recommendations. i think there is a question at the back. >> i think we touched briefly on gdp are. maybe we had conversations about europe. the first question is, if you have that third way, could that people too attract work on nato issues? does there need to be a third way? where we competing? why not work together to create a better framework? >> interest, that is all yours. that is all yours. >> i fully agree. losing ahat europe is lot of resources by attacking big american tech co

nato is the u.s. abandoning its nato allies. i wouldn't say that the u.s. is abandoning its nato allies now it has being criticized recently for abandoning its allies not its nato allies and that would be of course in direct reference to where the u.s. is treatment of its longstanding allies the kurds in syria now that's really where a lot of the criticism has actually. recently and also the fact that the u.s. under president trump has actually you know. he's been sort of hesitant in many ways to consult with his nato allies and that's also come under a lot of criticism particularly from you know the european members feeling that they should have really been you know warned about a lot of. topics the president has brought up or also the criticism that he's been gearing towards nato but in many ways what's been interesting is that president trump has actually increased the commitment to monetary and also troops tonight and i this is coming made all these you know these strong words that he's had to say about the alliance so it's it's been an interesting day today with pompei 0 and

is brain-dead and nato very much rececognizes nato's importance, very much on board as the largest member of nato. officials,u have the the envoys, all of it. and you have donalald trump himself. a lot of officials don't know what donald trtrump say the next day. it is still cohesive in doing more and investing more. the e great unknown is reaeally donald trump. radical on foreign policy in general and nato foreign policy of particular. and the u.s. election, what happens if he is reelected? i would not be able to do what he just did. i would be far less composed. >> we have to talk about the money. they said it just a few moments ago that the budgets are being readjusted. >> what he is talking about, it is the nato collective budget. it is separate from the national defense spending. it is over $1 trillion. is taking up some of the defense spending budget. budget is fore important things. joint security investments. some combined military operations within nato. they are looking at the national defense spending budget and donald trump has turned it into a massive headline. this has been an issue

said that nato was brain dead he had no no substance in the speech really about this but president putin gave him substance that by proposing to discuss by by hand by giving a hand to nato nato had said no we're not interested we can believe in it you can believe in it why don't you discuss it 1st so that's probably what michael is saying this week to worm to the nato general secretary against stoltenberg who's in paris for that precisely so nato would probably change this this course it's speech about. the russia and the threats that russia could represent ok many many you know that's an interesting point but i mean without you know the russian bogeyman then there's even more doubts about what nato is purposes because the in my mind nato is primary mission is to exist ok that's what they want they have 5000 bureaucrats working for nato in brussels. so existence is the mission ok but that's a dangerous mission because of what something that mark said earlier is that we have a large alliance like this with divergent views and interests and actually been going to happen in and then there's some people that want that to happen here go ahead the menu and paris yes i think that's

keep a fair dialogue with russia which right now nato doesn't look like nato wants to do that and this adds up to all the divisions between france and nato for instance just to remind here's a statement by emmanuel mccrone that caused outrage within the alliance a few weeks ago. we are currently experiencing is the brain death of nato nato and you would see if the guarantor of last resort functions and so. now this did not sit well with the blog at all a lot of nations criticized france criticized the french leader for saying stuff like this young stoltenberg has repeatedly retreated and he's done that today as well that europe cannot defend itself without nato that nato is crucial for you to european stability and angela merkel she just recently stressed that nato is as important if not more important than it used to be during the times of the cold war she had previously criticized mccrone for saying that nato is braindead as well. as say it's in our interests to preserve need to know more than during the cold war or at least as much as during the cold war. well there's plenty of other ideas that emanuel mccrone has which nato might hav

experiencing is the brain death of nato nato only works if the guarantor of last resort functions as and now since early november when that happened this jab is still hurting with the nato for instance secretary-general stoltenberg has felt the urge on tuesday to comment on those words and essentially he said that europe is defenseless without nato e.u. cannot defend europe well my friends words didn't sit well with other members of the block to for instance the us ambassador to nato she said that she strongly disagreed with them and she called the alliance essential i don't think europe would be se without a transatlantic don that we have the german foreign minister also talked about this and he said that nato had been europe's military insurance for the past 70 years and one polish member of the european parliament well he managed to find the only present russian trailed behind micron's words in fact he stopped very short of calling the french president a russian puppet i think is very sensitive to russian pressure in any case in france this is a long tradition and this is only the latest in a holes. loyalty troubles faced by nato lately for instance even the locomoti

nato leaders to mount a hasty defense today part of the berlin wall is displayed outside nato headquarters right now again stoltenberg is meant to be celebrating the end of verse 3 of the victory over communism but instead he's declaring that his alliance isn't dead. nato is strong. united states north america and europe we do more to get that done get done for decades. one of nato's most important members has spoiled the party in a historic week for the alliance emanuel macos at least a is calling into question some of nato's founding values in an interview with the economist magazine michael said the mutual defense pact was in danger of breaking down. what we are currently experiencing is the brain death of nato he said adding you have no coordination whatsoever of strategic decision making between the united states and its nato allies. it's the events of last month in syria that have not called worried 1st the alliances largest member the united states announced a troop pullout without consulting its allies then another alliance member turkey marched into the syrian northeast despite the vehement objections of berlin and paris they're worried it threatens european security. but does all this add up to a threat or just a blip in nato's history nato i

germany has defended to nato many many times in fact german leaders have called nato indispensable and we just saw there what i'm going to merkel have to say about nato so politically certainly germany is one of nato's main defend as another question terry would be whether germany could play a leading role militarily especially given the problems that the german military is facing problems that we've also reported here at length so you have to see this as a 2 side process on the 100 politically germany contraire leading role militarily that is another question altogether now the german defense minister is talking about germany shouldering more global responsibility when it comes to security but we're not hearing much from chancellor merkel herself how much support is there in germany tomas' for beefing know the military. it is a difficult question here in germany i would say most politicians do view positively the fact that germany could play a leading role internationally could play a bigger role internationally but the question is how whereas some politicians say they could be by beefing of defense spending for example by having that big a military

nato. nato allies have criticized the conduct in syria. also criticizing some of the conduct in syria. the so-called betrayal of the kurdish allies. the matter the fact is, that company company is like germany, france, britain. some of them been experts. they don't really do more than a slap on the hand of that president. they voiced a lot of criticism, but practically not much is being done. they do not have enough leverage. why is that? >> the gatekeeper of the terrace every time the europeans try to do something, he comes up and says i will let the refugees, meaning i will let them go to europe. he cannot control the europeans. almost 4 million refugees in turkey he has the gatekeeper. >> not all of them terrorists. >> refugees beyond the terrace. >> not like they really want to welcome these refugees. do you think turkey is still a partner to the values and principles that chase the natoalliance? >> i think we should separate. under him, we see a change. if we are late, we will list turkey as well. >> this is something i'm going to bring up i think and again the other panel. it is very easy to point your finger at the president and blame him for the shifts we are seeing in turkey. didn't really start with him? what other influences or, you know, attitudes that turkey received whether it is from the united states or the european union have drifted turkey in this way that we are seeing. drifting away from the west. >> the first thing we should do to look at ourselves as turks, what did we do wrong instead of blaming others. >> that is an amazing responsible approach. >> particularly in the history the vast europeans. coming from the empire of times. losing the war in the first world war. what are we doing to help. instead of looking and blaming others, i think that we should look at ourselves. why are we behind the wall. corruption to our country. why we cannot catch up

a big substantiali would encourage nato allies to actually within the nato framework to create a commission like you have created a national commission. he think nato should do exactly the same, to take nato allies on board in this very important discussion and that would also serve as a forum for exchange of data. and finally, i would take steps to improve the decision making process with a particular view on speeding up the process. one of the suggestions could be to give the military leaders sector authority to take decisions. of course, you would afterwards have to be accountable to the nato council, but in the future, you cannot discuss at length in brussels whether you're going to counter an artifical intelligence attack from an adversary. you have to make immediate decisions and we should provide authority to our military leaders to take those decisions decisions. >> this is why it's good for the commissioners to be on a listening tour for the last nine months, is we get these ideas about maybe nato has a commission so we could make recommendations, perhaps. i think i've got a question at the back and then there's one over here. >> thank you

nato. so today. nato members are wondering what is the use of nato and the european countries. we are very quiet very tightly to be in there at the command of the united states or america because nato is. really commanded by the united states of. america small town in bolivia who was brutally assaulted by protesters a made an arrest triggered by the country's political crisis is refusing to resign patricia archer has now left hospital images of the attack on her emerged on social media revealing the violence towards politicians of the party of ousted leader is just a quick warning you may find the following seeds upset. at the thought of after setting the town hall on fire and as mob paraded her bare foot and cut her hair in public spraying it read during a 4 hour ordeal she was made to sign a resignation letter told us she's still being treated for kidney damage sustained from the blows she received. what happened was disgusting i am now recovering from brean all damage that i suffered during the assault and i am still in pain the also cut off my hair. but they didn't change my

nato is not going to go away. we are deeply committed to nato, the american people are deeply, deeply committed to nato. but the president of the united states was bothered by the fact that not all nato members were keeping the commitments that they'd made in fiscal ways. as a result of that, he raised that and that really caused a lot of anxiety on the part of the europeans. that's one of the first things they would ask me about. you know, the interesting thing is i've been going over there for almost a dozen years, giving the same message. we'd talk and we'd have good points to talk about. look, you guys, ladies, have got to step up. you know, you committed to do this and particularly from a financial basis and you wouldn't do it. they would pat us on the head, don't worry we're committed, we're working on it, we'll get it done. president trump raised this question in a little different way than those of us who deal in diplomatic language raised it. all of a sudden they were very upset. most importantly, guess what? they're writing checks now. and so you got to give him credit for that. but they get co

nato leaders mounting a hasty defense today. >> part of the berlin wall is displayed outside of nato's headquarters. stoltenberg is celebrating the victory over communism but he is declaring that his alliance isn't dead. >> nato is strong and the united states are working together. >> one of nato's most important members has spoiled the party in historic week for the alliance. president macron is calling into question some of nato's founding values. in an interview, he said the mutual defense pact was in danger of breaking down. what we are currently experiencing is the brain death of nato he said adding you have no coordination whatsoever of strategic decision making between the united states and its nato allies.s. it's the e events of last monthn syria that h have macr worried. the alliance's largest member, united states, announced a troop pullout and tuturkey marched i the syrian northeast despite the objections of berlin and paris. they are worried that it threatens european security. but does all this add up to a threat? nato and germany insisted that the alliance is still alive e a well. >> even if we do have problems and do disagree,e, from the e gn perspective, nato is very much in our intererests, i

your head a lot that should nato be helping turkey in its fight against what it sees as terrorists in northern syria but the others within nato regard as allies i mean how does nato square that circle. well turkey has never asked for nato's help in syria but i think the answer you've just heard makes it absolutely clear that turkey does not regard russia as an enemy it's not conceivable to buy ed defense systems from someone whom you regard as an enemy turkey may condemn what it calls in my view wrongly russia russian aggression in ukraine but the facts of diplomacy are that turkey and russia work together on a number of issues including as it happens in syria so it's just not true to say that russia is an enemy of turkey it's not true families party to say that russia is considered an enemy by fronts president machen received president putin at the falls in a council as you have for the g. 7 summit and he said i'm sorry i didn't interrupt you could you let me finish and he said that he wanted to build together with russia. architecture of confidence in order to improve european security and to solve other world crises that's not the language that you use when yo

nato, is the rest of nato as concerned with this as the united needs is? >> it is not just the radars. turkey announced they may reconsider their natole five obligations. an attack on one is an attack on all. this is one indicator that turkey is moving away from the nato family and starting to look elsewhere. and that has europeans more concerned than anything else. kimmitt, why is president erdogan doing this. it is pretty clear why putin would want him to do this, giving advantage to russia, but why is president erdogan doing this? >> he has had some concerns for years and years about the european union failing to bring turkey into the eu. he also had some concerns about the united states allowing an enemy of turkey on its borders, and now it is working alongside of those tariffs. candidly, putin would like to get his claws into turkey and gain more influence. turkey is a very important ally for us and has been for years, has the largest army in europe. and there are a lot of reasons for us to want to stay close to turkey, but erred again is making it -- but president erdogan is making it very hard. automatedre could be -- automat

nato dissident out there for instance recently as you've already mentioned he said this and caused massive outrage within the alliance. what we are currently experiencing is the brain death of nato nato only works if the guarantor of last resort functions as. you know also trust me these comments about the need to being brain dead they didn't sit well with all the adults of the alliance i should say the man who's coming to paris himself today young stoltenberg the secretary general of the block he has repeatedly criticized this and has emphasized that he believes that nato is crucial to the european security other nations of also criticize the french leader under the european powerhouse another european powerhouse germany in the face of its chancellor angela merkel of also had a problem with mccrone being so vocal and being so well. just being so vocal about this thing. that i say it's an our interest to preserve need to know more than during the cold war or at least as much as during the cold war. and this is not the 1st time that the french president got on the wrong side of the block because apart from the idea of nato being brain brain dead he has other ideas too for instance he

nato when he started talking about nato. i doubt many people in the room if any who wouldn't agree with me that the nato is the strongest, most successful military alliance in the history of just the world. nato is not going away. we in the united states congress are deeply, deeply committed to nato. the american people are deeply, deeply committed to nato. but the president of the united states was bothered by the fact that not all nato members were keeping the commitments they made in fiscal ways. as a result of that he raised that. and that really caused a lot of anxiety on the part of the europeans. indeed that's one of the first things they would ask me about. but you know, the interesting thing is i've been going there a dozen years, giving the same message to them. we talk and have good points to talk about. but i'd say, look, you guys and lasered have to step up. you know, you committed to do this and particularly from a financial basis and do it and pat us on that the head appear don't worry we'll get it done. president trump raised this question in a little different way than those of hughes deal in diplomatic langu

nato acknowledges that its members have actual problems. if some countries object another country's security concerns are being addressed in there will be no unity within nato. are nato the galaxy's greatest military alliance since the big bang it isn't gentleman or since the moment of creation probably arguing about it is well. the manner of a small town in bolivia who was brutally assaulted by protesters amid unrest triggered by the country's political crisis is refusing to resign patricia she has now left hospital images of the attack on her on social media revealing the violence towards politicians of the party of ousted leader ever more as a quick warning you might find the following scenes upsetting. start in november offsetting a whole lot of fire to go out a small barefooted and cut her hair in public red during the whole ordeal she was made to kneel as a sign of resignation letter she told us she's still being treated for kidney damage sustained from the blows she received in the attack. what happened was disgusting i'm now recovering from brean all damage that i suffered during the assault and i'm still in pain the also cut off my hair. but they didn't chan

a nato member under any circumstances our reason is clear nato bombed pretty public a service not to be bombed using depleted uranium munitions. or throw that still is killing our children today. nato bombed serbia. nato was starting our nation huge material damage and killed many people. will be remarked if we decided to become a nato member but what we would give it a moral right to believe that it did the right thing for moral stand this way we would betray the memory of those who died as a result of. a new corporate bombing operation was called the angel of mercy can you imagine that we're not on or. another important point of course is the fact that serbia were and as the home country of my people has established a policy or military neutrality and republican is following that policy or. we do not want to line or even the balkans which is now formally border to be strengthened and kept in place we wanted to disappear. secondly the more if we made the decision it would have to spend twice as much money as we spend today in our armed forces. that would be a blow to our economy we're not in our state budget do not true that would mean no more than we have to buy military hardware

nato himself and have rejected the remarks. part of the berlin wall is displayed outside nato headquarters in brussels 30 years after it fell stoltenberg is meant to be celebrating the anniversary of the victory over communism but instead he's declaring his alliance isn't dead. nato is strong. united states north america and europe we do more together than the done for decades. one of nato's most important members has spoiled the party in a historic week for the alliance emanuel mccall is calling. to question some of nato's founding principles. in a magazine interview the french president said the mutual defense pact was in danger of breaking down. he said what we are currently experiencing is the brain death of nato and you have no coordination whatsoever of strategic decision making between the united states and its nato allies its last month's events in syria that have worried 1st the alliances largest member the united states announced a troop pullout without consulting its allies in another alliance member turkey marched into northern syria despite the fact he meant objections of berlin and paris they're worried it threatens european security. but does this all add up to a threat or just a blip in nato history nato and germany insisted in berlin that the all

nato allies. >> do you think the united states needs to re-think u.s. involvement in nato? >> yes. because it's costing us too much money. >> number one, natonumber two, the countries in nato are not paying their fair share. >> nato has not treated us fairly. >> reporter: trump, according to "the new york times" even considered pulling the u.s. out of nato several times, but tonight the white house seemed to reject macron's assessment. a senior administration official telling cnn the u.s. looks forward to working with its nato allies against current and future threats. still, analysts say macron's comments and trump's past disdain for nato hand another kgb colonel in moscow. >> president macron's comments were music to the kremlin's ears. >> for years, vladimir putin pounded home the message to his people that the u.s.-european alliance is an exist earn threat to russia. analysts say have putin practically dancing in the halls of the kremlin and he'll jump at the chance to exploit macron's temper tantrum. >> i am sure russia today and sputnik and all of the other russia propaganda outlets will use president macron's statements to the baltic

french because that would mean obviously losing our me losing our sovereignty so he is using this nato does nato thing which is right to have he has a hidden agenda if i could say which is to bind our army with the german army and this is something us the french have to look after because losing our army means losing our sovereignty means lose.