Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said in an interview on Monday that the U.S. should be willing to use military force to protect NATO allies from an invasion from Russia.
The likely Republican presidential candidate, speaking during an interview with radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, said it was imperative that the U.S. uphold Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that renders a military attack on one NATO ally an attack on all members. Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, who has used force to annex portions of former Soviet republics Georgia and Ukraine, has signaled he could move next on the three Baltic NATO allies that were ruled by Moscow through the Cold War.
Asked by Hewitt if the U.S. should “lean forward on Article 5 with the Baltic states,” Bush responded: “Yeah, absolutely. And [President Obama] has done a small amount of that, but I think there needs to be clarity in Moscow that we’re serious about protecting the one alliance that has created enormous amounts of security and peace in the post-World War II time.”
Pressed on whether he was advocating U.S. military action to repel Russia from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Bush said:
“What I’m saying is that if we’re not serious about Article 5, then we ought to have shut down NATO. And I think shutting down NATO would be a disaster. The Baltic states are counting on the United States to be a leader in this regard, and it’s not just the Baltics. It’s also Poland, it’s Eastern Europe, it’s a lot of countries. The Baltics are the most vulnerable, because they, as you point out, there’s high percentages anywhere, what, 25 percent to 40 percent of the population are Russian speaking. But sure, the new threats aren’t necessarily invasions. It can be creating a cyberattack and then creating, taking off the emblems and coming in and destabilizing countries as has just occurred in Europe.”
Hewitt, a Washington Examiner columnist who has been selected to question the GOP presidential candidates at an upcoming primary debate, opened his line of questioning on Russia by asked Bush about the best way to deal with Putin. Notably, Bush raised the Article 5 issue on his own, without Hewitt specifically prompting him.
Hewitt: You know, Gov. Bush, I have a piece in the Washington Examiner today about who’s winning the Putin primary, and that’s the person that Vladimir Putin would least like to see become president. And I point out you’ve got foreign policy experience and old hands around you. How would you go about dealing with Putin? Your brother told me on this show he misjudged him at the beginning. He looked into his eyes, that whole mistake that he made in assessing him. How do you assess Putin? How would you deal with him?
Bush: I think he’s a ruthless pragmatist. I think he tries to undermine or underwrite the risk on every action he takes. And if the risk is low relative to the advantage that he seeks, he’ll continue to do it. and so a weak America, an America that is, that’s not clear about what our intentions are, will we support Article 5 in NATO? Will we forward lean troops? Will we provide defensive weapons to Ukraine? Will we announce in advance that there are additional sanctions that our country and the countries of Europe will impose on Russia if they take certain actions is a far better strategy than trash talking the guy and doing nothing.
