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Johnson and McCain harden resolve on #Ukraine, #Russia, and health-care reform

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US Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) said that the first priority for the United States in Ukraine is to provide defensive weapons such as javelin missiles and counter-battery radar. Speaking on the final day of  (25 March), McCain said US military advisors have proven effective, and “the Ukrainian military has improved dramatically in their capabilities, they just need the ability to fight”.
McCain spoke at a joint press conference during GMF’s Brussels Forum, an annual conference on transatlantic relations organized by The German Marshall Fund of the United States and attended by heads of state, officials from the EU institutions and member states, U.S. officials, congressional representatives, parliamentarians, and academics.Commenting about a meeting earlier this week with Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, who said it would be an absolute disaster if the United States were to block Montenegro’s accession to NATO, McCain expressed confidence in the vote and expected to exceed the 90 votes in favor of accession.

Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) also speaking at the press conference, said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s initial plans to not attend NATO’s upcoming ministerial meeting has been misunderstood and that it should not be seen as a lack of commitment to NATO.

“It was a scheduling conflict,” he said.

McCain continued that this is indicative of a personnel deficit in Washington. “The confusion over the NATO ministerial is unfortunately because [Tillerson] doesn’t have a team there at the State Department. I think it is incumbent for the president and the administration to get people nominated and confirmed.”

McCain also stressed the importance of cyber security and the havoc that Russia has caused in elections, not just in the United States but also in France.

“We know that Russia is interfering with the French elections," said McCain. “That is why we need to investigate the extent that they interfered in the U.S. election.”

He then stressed that, “we need to understand that if Russia had been able to successfully interfere with the outcome of the election, then they have fundamentally destroyed democracy because the most important part of democracy is free and fair elections.”

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McCain also went on to emphasize the need for a coherent cybersecurity strategy.  “Is a cyber-attack an act of war? What is the government’s role? What is the appropriate level of response?”

The Senators also discussed the recent missile tests and escalating rhetoric between out of North Korea.

“The North Korean effort at acquiring nuclear weapons to put on a missile that can reach the United States of America is maybe the most immediate crisis that we face and putting in THAAD in South Korea is a very good step,” said McCain.

The key to North Korean behavior, though, is China. “China can reign in North Korean behavior if they choose to, and it is very disappointing that China has not exercised discipline in North Korea, particularly when there is a potential for a serious confrontation,” said McCain.

McCain’s comment came shortly after remarks from the Japanese Ambassador to Belgium and NATO Masafumi Ishii, suggesting that North Korea’s neighbors may need more robust defense capabilities. “We have to become stronger just to make sure that deterrence works. This is not to cause conflict; this is to deter conflict. It is perfectly understandable for [South Korea] to gain these capabilities. We may have to think about it in Japan.”

McCain and Johnson also addressed yesterday’s decision by House Republican to withdraw the bill repealing and replacing Obamacare. “It hurts if […] you’re unable to achieve one of your legislative goals that you announce at the beginning of the administration, but it’s also recoverable,” said McCain, who suggested that part of the problem with the Affordable Care Act was the Democrat’s failure to cooperate with Republicans on the legislation in 2009.

“I don’t think outreach to the Democrats can do a bit of harm,” said McCain. Senator Johnson added, “Repeal and replace is a nice buzzword, it’s a nice slogan, but it doesn’t describe what we need to do moving forward. I’ve suggested what we ought to focus on is undoing the damage done by Obamacare and creating a system that actually works.”

In the last plenary session of GMF's Brussels Forum focused on "Transatlantic (In)Security," Deputy Secretary General for NATO Rose Gottemoeller said that NATO is looking for ways to help in Libya after their prime minister asked the Alliance to begin training there.

“I am very concerned about Russian forces seemingly gathering to influence the situation there,” said Gottemoeller. She went on to lament the lack of impunity Russia faces when it seemingly ignores international institutions like the United Nations.

“It seems to me looking from the outside that there was a decision made in the Kremlin to simply toss out that UN Security Council Resolution and proceed forward in a way that is unpredictable,” she said.

Watch the press conference with Senators Ron Johnson and John McCain

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