Q&A: Is Poland Putin's Next Target & Netanyahu Defies Trump

**James Rubin** (0:02)
This is a Global Production.

**Christiane Amanpour** (0:05)
Putin has got this syndrome. He's just doubling down. He thinks somehow he's going to win.

**James Rubin** (0:10)
Frankly, the NATO Secretary General has given, you know, what you might call chilling speeches about the fact that war is coming in Europe and that we need to be ready for it.

**Christiane Amanpour** (0:19)
And this is scary, scary stuff. For us in Europe, obviously for the people of Ukraine, and for the whole balance of power. I believe based on the evidence that Netanyahu wants no part of any withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, unless every Palestinian is expelled.
Hello everyone, it's Jamie and I with the Ex Files Q&A episode. So we always love to hear from you. We're always happy to have your questions. So let us get started. Hi Jamie.

**James Rubin** (0:53)
Hello Christiane.

**Christiane Amanpour** (0:54)
Who wants to take the first one?

**James Rubin** (0:55)
I'll start. Caroline on Instagram asks the following, what do you think about the recent US intelligence leak that suggests Putin is considering an attack on Poland or another NATO country and therefore NATO would be attacked? Do you think that threat is credible? And how much is Putin's thinking likely to be influenced by the fact that America's weapons stockpile is so diminished after the Iran War?
I think it's a very good question. We referred to it a bit in our main episode about the reduction in American weaponry and the reduction in available interceptors, patriots, particularly for Ukraine. Look, the question of what Putin will do to escalate, if he ever realizes that he's losing or he's not winning or whatever you want to call it, has been something that's troubled everyone for a long time. And there's no question that there has been a series of steps taken by Russia that fall into this gray area of what we call hybrid war, whether it's intervention through drone attacks, through calling on individuals to blow up factories or assassinate leaders of military firms or interfere with ships or planes to test NATO's solidarity.
That's been happening a lot, and there's every reason to believe that Putin wants to challenge NATO and would like nothing better than to see NATO break up. But so far, thankfully, under President Biden first, after the Ukraine war started, NATO has been remarkably coherent and remarkably together. Not only is it bigger, it is stronger, and it's spending more money, and it's doing more work. And frankly, the NATO Secretary General has given, you know, what you might call chilling speeches about the fact that war is coming in Europe and that we need to be ready for it, and we need to be able to stockpile food and medicine that we need to be prepared for, the kind of conflicts that Europe hasn't seen since the end of World War II.

**Christiane Amanpour** (3:00)
I keep thinking about Petr Pavel, who's the president of Czech Republic, Czechia, and he told me in an onstage conversation that we had for CNN a few months ago when I went to Prague, that what he feared the most was that Putin has invested everything in building his war machine, including people, people who he has to somehow keep occupied. And if this war ends, what is he going to do? So the kind of momentum logic means that you keep doubling down, whether you're losing or you're not losing, you have this system that is built just for war, you're going to have to keep at it. So Petr Pavel, the president said to me, what he was worried about is that Putin will try to do something in a NATO country that will humiliate or provoke other NATO leaders. If they do nothing, then they acquiesce. If they do something, well, will it be enough to cause them to do something? But just to keep the whole dangerous game still, you know, ongoing.
And I think that's a very scary thing. And you're right, you know, there have been bits of missile that have fallen in NATO countries. There have been Russian drones that have fallen in parts of Romania, et cetera, debris in Poland and elsewhere. The Baltic states are really afraid because they're super frontline states. So I do think this is a very, very worrying thing. But I think also the whole idea of what part of that question was about the lack of, you know, the weapons stockpile and all the rest of it.
And in the Telegraph this past week, I was sent a column, you know, basically talking about what is it? The, what was the famous Barbara Tuckman? Was it the Folly of War, the March of Folly?