James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, said the alliance is the “strongest” in its history following a recent summit in Washington, DC, in an interview that aired on Sunday.
“I would say this is the strongest NATO ever,” Stavridis told radio host John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable.”
“My evidence would be that it went from 12 nations when it was founded, to 32 nations today,” Stavridis added. “These 32 nations represent half of the world’s gross domestic product, we have 3 million young men and women, almost all volunteers, armed, we have 800 – you know, the admirals say this – 800 large warships at sea, we have 15,000 aircraft of combat. Huge, huge capacity.”
The NATO summit ended on Thursday, with President Biden stating at a press conference on the final day: “For those who thought NATO’s time had passed, they were in for a rude awakening when [Russian President] Putin invaded Ukraine.”
“Some of Europe’s oldest and deepest fears came back to life because, once again, a mad killer was on the march,” the president continued.
In his interview with Catsimatidis, Stavridis said that the current NATO is “confronting Vladimir Putin as he tries to conquer a country in Europe, the first time we have seen a massive invasion like that since World War II.”
“On the one hand, I am happy that NATO exists and that we are facing Putin,” continued Stavridis.
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