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Top German official WARNS Putin is attacking NATO · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome back. Tonight, we hear from a top NATO official
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: about the alliance's relationship with the United States, its plan
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: to counter Russia, and the Iran conflict. Here is Brett
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Baer's conversation with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: We're in year five of the Russian war in Ukraine.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: The United States stands ready, willing, and able to help
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: bring peace in that conflict. We stand in complete solidarity
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: with Germany and Russia. all of our allies. We remain
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: committed to NATO's collective defense. But we also are pushing
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: our allies here in Brussels to increase their capabilities to
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: deter these types of threats. The U.S.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Ambassador to NATO there joining us now is German Defense
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: Minister Boris Pistorius. Thank you so much for being here.
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: It's my pleasure. Thank you for having me.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: You met with our Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: the Pentagon. You're heading to Texas to receive the first
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: of the F-35s that your country has purchased.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: Yes, indeed. And it is a For that, it's a
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: very fruitful trip for me here to the United States.
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: I'm very happy to be here again. And my discussions
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: with Pete were very fruitful and very We talked about
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: our defense industrial cooperation, signed a statement of intention for that,
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: because it's crucial for NATO allies in Europe and abroad
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: to increase our production capacities on both sides to be
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: more able to procure what is necessary to achieve deterrence
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: and defense in Europe and beyond.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: From your perspective, the unique perspective, because it's happening in
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: your backyard, how do you see the situation in Ukraine?
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: It's critical on the one side when it comes to
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: the attacks of Putin's armed forces on civilian infrastructure and
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: energy infrastructure every night and more and more every day.
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: And at the same time, the theater at the front
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: line is like frozen, like one kilometer in that direction
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: and one back. But at the same time, Russia has
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: casualties of about 1,100 a day, which is really brutal.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: But Putin doesn't care at all about that.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: You have seen Russia act in provocative ways in recent
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: days and weeks. You had NATO jets shoot down a
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: drone in Lithuanian airspace. Your country said Russia was behind
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: this airport drone attack. Russia hit a passenger train on
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: Ukraine's border with Poland, just missing a diplomatic train. Our
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: own former CIA director, David Petraeus, narrowly escaped. How do
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: you read that? Is that an attack on NATO?
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: It's an attack on NATO, not only an attack on
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: Germany or the Baltics or Poland or whatever. It is
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: an attack on NATO because what he wants to achieve is.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: Destroying our unity in NATO, pushing out of Europe the
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: American troops, and achieving that the NATO and European countries
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: divide themselves, or getting frozen by fear. The more he
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: gets under pressure by sanctions and what happens on the battlefield,
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: the more he becomes aggressive and tries to distract our
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: attention from Ukraine, from our support for Ukraine, which is crucial.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Is it working?
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: Of course, there are some people in Germany and in
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: Europe who get more afraid of getting pulled and sucked
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: into that war. But still, it is still a huge
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: majority supporting our support for Ukraine, which is necessary, especially
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: when it comes to air defense and other issues.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: You mentioned the loss of life, the casualties on the
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: battlefield for Russia. It's obviously being squeezed economically. Is Russia losing?
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: At least looting this war is closer than ever before,
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: I guess. But you never know what's happening in Russia.
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: Russia is a very specific country, a very specific government,
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: and a very specific president. I don't know what's going
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: to happen in the month to come, but everything is possible.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: One of the things that's changed is the U.S. force posture,
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: the president announcing this withdrawal of some troops from Germany, 5,000
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: troops in the next 6 to 12 months. That doesn't
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: sit well in your country, right?
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: Well, we are not that surprised. I always knew that
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: the attention of the United States will shift a little
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: bit more or much more to the Indo-Pacific, which we
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: understand and which we appreciate because it's for our security
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: and the freedom of navigation too. Withdrawing one thing means
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: we need the time and the production capacities either in
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: Europe or in the United States to fulfill, to replace
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: what has been withdrawn.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: How do you see the situation with Iran? And where
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: do you think it's going?
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  Speaker 4: Well, this is really something about the crystal ball. I
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: don't know. The Iranians are very, seems to be very
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: strong and very, very good in defense.
• 5:04
  Speaker 5: And still, we do.
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: Have an escalation around that in the Red Sea and
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: in the trade of Hormuz. The situation is unfortunately not
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: becoming more safe. And at the same time, we see
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: all the consequences for our oil economy. So we need
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: a solution, but nobody really knows, at least I do
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: and I don't, how this solution can look like.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: Is there going to be an oil and gas problem
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: in Europe in coming months?
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: Well, of course, we do see that at the gas stations.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: The prices are increasing incredibly.
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: We are approaching a € 2. 50 or more for gas. This
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: is incredible and really a challenge for the working people
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: in Germany as well as in the United States.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: There was a time when European leaders worried that President
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: Trump was going to pull out of NATO. Do you
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: worry about that anymore?
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: No, because things have changed a lot. I mean, there
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: was a time in which really Europeans did too little
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: for their own conventional deterrence and defense.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: Money-wise and support?
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: Money-wise and all of that. And we woke up now.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: We woke up and we realized that we need.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: To do more.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: Do you credit President Trump for some of that?
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Well, of course.
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: The Hague summit was crucial, but not only because of
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: Donald Trump, because of your president, because we acknowledged our
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: own responsibility for our own conventional deterrence and defense, and
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: we rely, of course, very much on the nuclear deterrence
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: the United States are providing.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: Last thing. The AI threat. President Xi is coming here
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: next week. There's a lot of thought about, talks about
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: artificial intelligence. How concerned is Germany about that?
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: In the same way like the Americans. I mean, this
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: is a technology which can really be of very much
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: benefit for all of us, and at the same time,
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: it can be a horrible threat for everybody of us,
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: every one of us. So, therefore, we need to find
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: solutions with everybody, like President Xi and the United States
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: and other countries and Europe, to regulate that in a
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: very reasonable and responsible manner, and at the same time,
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: not limiting too much, because we need that technology, I think,
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: very much in the future.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: It's a dangerous world.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: It's a dangerous world. And therefore, I repeat, trust and
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: reliability are the currency which really counts.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: Minister, we appreciate your time.
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: Thank you very much.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: Thank you.