“If Russia did not have nuclear weapons, NATO troops would be in Ukraine long ago”
Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer (62), one of NATO's senior military officers, made a remarkable statement Sunday at a defense summit in the Czech capital, Prague.
In his speech there, Bauer stressed that NATO must continue to invest in defense. “Defense is not a cost, it is an investment. If we don't invest in it, the Russians and the Chinese will slowly eat us,” he said. “Some people claim that there is not enough money, but that is not true. We have a lot of money, but we have to be prepared to spend it on our security and freedom.”
The NATO chief, of course, also shed his light on the war in Ukraine. “Are we going to fight in Ukraine? Anything is possible,” Bauer said, comparing the conflict to the situation in Afghanistan. NATO troops were active there for nearly two decades. “Fighting in Afghanistan is not the same as fighting the Russians in Ukraine. After all, the Taliban do not have nuclear weapons, the Russians do. I'm not saying it's impossible because of that, but we would be taking a risk as an alliance. There is a political debate raging around whether we are willing to take that risk.”
“I am absolutely certain that if the Russians did not have nuclear weapons, we would have been in Ukraine a long time ago to kick them out. We certainly would have done that,” Bauer concluded.
Russia has the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, followed by the United States. Together, Moscow and Washington hold about 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons.
(SR for Tagtik/Source: International Institute for Strategic Studies - Newsweek/Illustration picture: Unsplash)