NATO is front of mine. He's going to be focusing
on the more than 30 world leaders that are coming
that are coming here for 75th anniversary of NATO continuing
to
show our the strength of our alliance.
I think it is, I think it is something that
the president's very much looking forward to.
And you'll certainly hear from the president on Thursday when
he gives his press conference,
his big boy press conferences.
Your colleague Justin has has stated many times,
what is this phrasing of this big boy press conference?
Joining me now is Fox News senior strategic analyst,
chairman of the Institute for the Study of War,
General Jack Keane. General, so it's a pleasure and an
honor to speak with you.
Thanks for being here. Nice to be
here. Delighted to be here,
Maria. So what's your take?
I mean, all of these leaders going to the White
House today,
How do you think our adversaries are viewing this current
conversation that's taking place about Joe Biden's mental capacity?
Well, first of all, I,
I think right from the beginning of the Biden administration,
I, I think our adversaries looked at
this presidency in terms of its leadership weak.
And, and for that matter,
it's the judgment that they're focusing on.
And what, what am I talking about?
Well, in the month of January that the president took
over,
he eased up on the Trump sanctions and reached out
to Iran to return to the nuclear deal.
And at the same time shut down to military shipments
going to
Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
In other words, by definition,
change the relationship in the Middle East to an appeasement
diplomacy relationship as opposed to confrontation.
60 days into the presidency in March of the same
year,
just 60 days in, Putin puts
70,000 troops on a Ukrainian border.
And Biden is asked, what are you going to do
about it?
And his answer is, well,
it depends on how much territory he takes.
I think the leaders are looking at these judgments that
are being made as weakness in terms of U.S.
policy and therefore gives them opportunity to take advantage of
the vulnerabilities.
And you add to that the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The decision is the issue.
Certainly how we left is also an issue.
But they look at the decision.
Six NATO countries wanted to stay for their own national
interest.
The entire military chain of command said,
let's stay. The CIA director was saying
if we pull out, ISIS is going to rise again
and so will al Qaeda.
And that has all obviously happened.
This is what the adversaries look at is the policies
and the judgments that are being made that give them
an advantage in terms of
the vulnerabilities the United States is exposing to them.
Yeah, these are all really valid points for sure,
General. And then we've got them actual
moving on, on, on that weakness,
right. I want to talk to you about what has
taken place in the last few days.
Israel launching airstrikes, sending ground troops back into Gaza City
yesterday,
a move the head of Hamas is warning could have,
quote, disastrous repercussions on ceasefire talks.
Hamas also accusing Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu of trying to
hinder negotiations after he announced 4 principles that he says
must be part of any hostage deal.
One of those principles being that any deal must allow
Israel to resume fighting.
You've got CIA director, CIA Director Burns and US Middle
East envoy Brett McGurk also meeting with senior Israeli and
Egyptian security officials in Cairo yesterday for ceasefire negotiations.
I don't know, General, how would you assess all of
this?
I feel like we take one step forward and two
steps back and and we're still in the same place
in terms of this war on Israel.
Yeah. I mean, I think we're the parties really disagree.
Hamas and Israel, the principal antagonist here
and simply this. Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire
and withdrawal of Israeli troops and obviously as part of
that hostage release,
prisoners released on the Palestinian side.
What Israel wants is certainly hostage release and is willing
to exchange prisoners,
but they want a temporary ceasefire with the ability to
return to operations to finish the job against Hamas and,
and, and put in place some kind of post governance
as well.
And that means that they would not immediately leave.
So that's that's where the tension points are and why
they're still disagreement
because they they fundamentally don't see the situation the same
way.
And I don't think we're in a position yet
for these negotiations to succeed.
All right, that's too bad.
Let me turn to China,
General. China and Belarus holding joint military exercises just miles
away from the border of Poland ahead of this NATO
summit.
The drills will last for 11 days and end on
July 19th,
we're told. The Baler Russian armed forces official said that
they're in response to the,
quote, West's aggressive foreign policy toward Belarus and Ukrainian provocation.
General. I mean, what provocation are they referring to and
how,
how nervous should we be that this is happening so
close to Poland?
Yeah. Well, what's happening here is NATO is building up
its forces in Eastern Europe and particularly in in Poland,
where we're putting in a major headquarters as well and
troop units.
And all of this is because of what it's because
of Russia's aggression in Ukraine and threatening Eastern Europe along
with that.
So NATO has taken some prudent measures,
but it it certainly provides testimony once again to the
relationship that China and Russia really have this strategic partnership.
China in a sense, is financing
Russia's war against Ukraine. And obviously here is the Chinese
coming all the way to deal with Belarus right on
the border of NATO,
to work at joint military exercises.
And what are they doing?
They're supporting Russia here is what this is really all
about.
And China is keeping Russia's defense industrial base alive and
functioning.
It is comprehensive support that's taken place here.
And I think this is the biggest issue that
NATO is facing is the collusion of Russia,
China, Iran, North Korea and their aggressiveness in the World
War in two theaters,
another theater obviously in the Pacific region.
President Xi is threatening it.
And how do they cope with all of this together?
That is why think of this.
Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan are invited to
the NATO summit.
And Japan, beyond the United States,
provides the second most amount of donor money to Ukraine.
Why are these countries so interested?
And they're interested because they see
if Russia succeeds in Ukraine,
Maria, China succeeds, and they believe they will be next.
That's why they're so interested in what is taking place
here,
dealing with NATO, Russia, what's happening in Ukraine.
The Middle East is tied to it because they're all
wrapped up in Middle East oil.
The Europeans as well as those in the Indo Pacific
region,
this is all linked together.
And the NATO summit is going to discuss that linkage.
And that's why those four Indo Pacific countries have such
vital interest in what is taking place here
in Washington, DC this week.
This is a really imperative point that you make,
General. I'm so happy you made it.
We so appreciate your time this morning,
Sir. Thank you. Thank
you. Yeah, great. Talking to Maria and to you always,
General Jackie.