NATO Begins Largest-Ever Air Force Drill: How will Russia Respond? | Van...

With Transcripts ......

let's shift our attention to Europe the

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sky is above the continent look like a

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war zone for the next two weeks 250

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military aircraft and 10 000 soldiers

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will dominate these Skies

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they're practicing how to respond to a

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Russian attack

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[Applause]

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[Music]

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so what really is happening in Europe

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NATO drills the largest ever the biggest

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air exercise in NATO's history

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Germany is playing host a total of 25

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countries are taking part this includes

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friends of NATO as well countries like

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Japan

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Japan is joined as an observer and

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Sweden which is still waiting to join

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the NATO

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and what are these troops preparing for

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a potential war with Russia or should I

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say another war with Russia considering

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they're already fighting one

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this exercise is quite deliberately

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taking place at a level that is not

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intended to contribute to escalation it

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is of course a massive presence it is

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also important to send a clear signal to

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Russia

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so NATO is sending a message to Russia

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although the exercise is not a new idea

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really it was first thought of in the

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year 2018. four years after Russia

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annexed Crimea these drills were meant

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to be a response took them four years to

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think of a response and in the end they

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chose to junk the plan then Russia

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invaded Ukraine and more than a year

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into the war NATO has finally come

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together to conduct an air drill full

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marks for promptness

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from my perspective we are sending a

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strong message here that we care about a

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security and that I think is something

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that is needed more than ever since

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Russia's invasion of Ukraine

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Germany is leading these drills but

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what's the point of this exercise Beyond

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making a point to Moscow

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testing and maintaining interoperability

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in simple English they're trying to see

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if they can fight as one force against

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Russia the focus of the drills is

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Eastern Europe in the next few days the

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warplanes will practice Maneuvers they

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will fly towards the east every day

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towards countries like Romania and

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Estonia they're close to Russia and the

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war in Ukraine and NATO is trying to

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show Moscow and perhaps itself how

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quickly it can deploy if the battle in

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Ukraine spills over

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the implications are clear they're

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preparing for a larger conflict Eastern

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Europe has been militarized the last

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pretenses of neutrality have been shed

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you see for decades Brussels has avoided

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a conflict

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and now they're actively gearing up for

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one

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Europe is spending big money on arms

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again I have some numbers Europe's arms

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and ports have increased by 47 percent

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in the recent past military spending is

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breaking records last year Europe spent

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13 percent more on its armies

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by December 2022 Europe's defense

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spending crossed 200 billion dollars for

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the first time ever

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a part of this is going towards buying

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arms for Ukraine but leading European

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nations which profess neutrality for the

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longest time are also arming themselves

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and guess who they're turning to for the

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weapons the United States of America it

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has got meaty orders from its European

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friends Germany is one of the biggest

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buyers it has ordered 35 F-35 aircraft

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the deal is worth over eight billion

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dollars then we have Poland ahead of

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Russia's Invasion Poland ordered 250 M1

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Abrams tanks how much did they did it

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cost them

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around 6 billion dollars the United

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Kingdom asked for a missile defense

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radar the price tag was 700 million

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around the same time Spain placed an

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order too they wanted Choppers from

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America so the trend is quite clear

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Europe feels threatened it is arming

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itself and playing war games

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a larger attack from Russia may become a

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self-fulfilling prophecy

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