Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy
March 24, 2022
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) joined Washington Post Live for an interview with Jonathan Capehart on President Biden’s trip to Brussels and Poland, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the U.S. response, as well as a nuclear agreement with Iran.
On President Biden’s comments about removing Russia from the G20, Murphy said: “I think in general Russia can’t remain as a member of the world community in good standing. Of course, that’s difficult to achieve in the G20 where you still have a number of nations there that have continued good relations, economic relations, security relations with Russia. But there have to be broader consequences to Vladimir Putin as he changes strategy in Ukraine. He has given up on the idea that he can take Kyiv or Kharkiv or Lviv by traditional military ground invasion. He is now going to target civilians as a mechanism of terrorism to try to drive Zelensky to the negotiating table.”
On four new NATO battle groups heading to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia, Murphy said: “I just don’t think we can rule out that he [Putin] is going to move troops into a NATO country. I don’t think we can rule out that he might use missile strikes against a NATO ally. And this has to be the moment where we beef up our capabilities on the eastern flank of NATO. That’s going to be expensive, but we have a sacred obligation to defend NATO like NATO defended us when we were attacked on September 11th. So I think this is a moment of great uncertainty. We do not know what Putin is going to do next. We can’t believe that he is a rational actor, and thus we’ve got to be ready for what we thought was unimaginable: a Russian attack on NATO soil.”
On Russia’s assumptions that they would quickly be able to conquer Ukraine, Murphy said: “I think it involves a constant underestimation amongst think tanks and military planners about the impact of psychology on warfare. I mean, we thought the United States was going to be able to come in, invade Iraq and Afghanistan and within weeks or months be able to control and pacify the country. We had no concept of the psychology in those nations, which ultimately led to long term resistance based upon territorial defense of people’s homes. The same is happening in Ukraine today, and it is just another sobering reminder of how difficult it is for foreign powers to move their armies into lands they don’t truly understand amidst hostile intent from local citizenry.”
On President Biden’s upcoming trip to Poland and the message he should send, Murphy said: “[O]ur commitment to NATO is total and absolute. If Putin lays one finger on a NATO country, the United States is going to respond and Putin needs to know that and the Polish people need to know that. Remember, there’s only one time in the history of NATO that Article 5 has been exercised. That’s the part of the NATO charter that says when one country is attacked, everyone rises to defend that nation. That was after September 11th. The Polish people sent troops to Afghanistan to defend the United States and so we want to make clear that we will do the same if Poland or any other NATO ally is attacked.”
On the Biden administration’s announcement to accept 100,000 Ukrainians, Murphy said: “Let’s take more. 100,000 is a good start, but, you know, this is a hinge moment in world history. As I mentioned before, we’ll be judged as to whether we were big enough, smart enough, strong enough, and generous enough to meet this moment…Let’s open our doors. I’m glad that President has made this big, early commitment to take in 100,000 Ukrainians, but our country is big enough to be able to do more.”
On securing a new Iran nuclear agreement with or without Russia, Murphy said: “I want a deal done with or without Russia because I’ve been in Intel briefings that are absolutely bone–chilling. One, because Iran is weeks away from having enough nuclear material to make a weapon and two, there’s no other available path to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon besides diplomacy…So I know the administration is looking at different options with Russia in, with Russia out, but the bottom line is no deal cannot be an option. Because no deal is Iran on the brink of having a nuclear weapon and a nuclear arms race being set off in the Middle East. Given everything that we’re dealing with in Ukraine right now, why on earth would we want that problem too?”
Click here to watch the full interview.
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