Incoming senate amy wall3/2/2024 ![]() For the first time ever in its history, the Congress invited a NATO secretary general to address a joint session of Congress. That was designed to send a signal that Congress cares about the NATO alliance. A couple of examples, in 2018 the Senate reconstituted what’s known as the Senate NATO Observer Group, of which I’m a member. And Congress has played an important role in pushing back on the assaults we’ve seen on the NATO alliance. In fact, the strategy references alliances and partnerships 30 times within that document.Īnd while President Trump has disparaged the NATO alliance, and sometimes questioned its mission, the National Defense Strategy outlined by Secretary Mattis enjoys widespread bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. And it emphasizes the need to bolster our alliances and partnerships to counter Russia. That was formulated by former Secretary of Defense Mattis. The current National Defense Strategy rightly describes Russia as a, quote, “revisionist power” that seeks to, quote, “shatter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and change European and Middle East security and economic structures to its favor.” That’s from the National Defense Strategy. So, let me cover those three areas, beginning with shoring up the NATO alliance and strengthening our partners. Third, as we confront malign conduct, we should also seek areas of mutually beneficial cooperation, especially regarding nuclear arms control. Second, we need to work with our allies and partners to use our economic and political leverage to confront malign Russian conduct. First, we need to put our own house in order by shoring up the NATO alliance and strengthening our other partners to deter Russian aggression. So, let me outline what I think our strategy toward Russia should be. However, the bad news is that pushback, that bipartisan pushback, has weakened in recent months. The good news is that at least in the early part of this administration the Congress, on a bipartisan basis, pushed back against President Trump and some of his moves on this area. special forces base in the Syrian border town of Kobane is one that neither our friends or adversaries will soon forget. The imagine of a Russian flag flying over a former U.S. forces from northeast Syria and betray our Syrian Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS has further solidified Putin’s role as the kingmaker in that area. ![]() At the Helsinki summit, he publicly sided Putin against our own intelligence agencies regarding Russian interference in the 2016 elections.įor two years now, he has refused to apply the full array of sanctions mandated by the CAATSA law that was passed with a big bipartisan majority in 2017. He had repeatedly deferred to President Putin. Unfortunately, in my view, President Trump has not meaningfully challenged Russia’s malign conduct. So, the challenge facing the United States and President Trump when he took office in January 2017 was to define and implement a comprehensive American strategy to confront all aspects of this threat – military, political, economic, cyber, and others. And for the first time in decades, has positioned Russia as an important player in the Middle East and North Africa.Īt the same time, under President Putin Russia has weaponized new technologies to interfere in democratic elections in the United States and in Western Europe. Vladimir Putin has also leveraged Russia’s trade and energy ties with countries like Turkey to effectively exploit cracks within the NATO alliance. Its aggressive use of military power, including the annexation of Crimea and the incursion into Ukraine has challenged the post-Cold War status quo in Europe. ![]() Today Russia once again represents one of the most serious threats to U.S. In fact, it often returns again in a different shape. Some even heralded the moment as, quote, “the end of history.” But as we know, history did not end. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the victory of Western liberal democratic ideals seemed to be total. That meeting took place just months before historic elections that brought an end to the Communist rule in Poland and paved the way for the end of the Berlin Wall and the dismantlement of the Iron Curtain. And in that capacity, I traveled to Poland with former Senator Paul Simon, senator from Illinois, where we met with Lech Wałęsa, who was then the leader of the Solidarity Movement. But before that, I served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff. Thirty years ago, long before I ever thought of running for elected office myself, back when I ran in 1990 for the Maryland House of Delegates. And I want to thank CSIS and the Center for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding for inviting me to speak with you today about U.S. More importantly, thank you for your leadership here at CSIS. Senator Chris Van Hollen: Well, thank you, Heather, for that very warm introduction.
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