"It is not lost on anybody...that the traditional risks that we are facing coming from places like #Moscow & #Beijing have been augmented" @AsstSecPM R Clarke Cooper tells #EUDefense re #COVID19 - forcing US, EU allies to look to strengthen resilience, augment capabilities
"It's no surprise that the #Russia|ns would like to see less exercises, less coordination less integration & interoperability" w/US & EU, per @AsstSecPM
"Adversaries are looking to disrupt..." but he says there's also opportunity to shore up gaps, vulnerabilities
#COVID19 "is a new type of crisis because unlike previous great crises like 9-11, for the 1st time we face an invisible enemy" @eu_eeas Deputy Secretary General Charles Fries tells #EUDefense
"We have no vaccine & we have no treatment"
"It's a huge challenge. It's a huge strain on the US & on all Europe" per @eeas' Fries "We have to be prepared for a potential second wave"
"I would not say that #COVID19 itself is a game changer" per @eeas' Fries "It's more a great accelerator of pre-existing trends"
"It has accelerated geopolitical tensions, particularly between the US & #China"
"We have also seen the weakening of multilateralism, with for instance the weakening of the @UN Security Council" per @eeas' Fries
"The neighborhood of the EU is more & more unstable, ans also we have seen deepening inequalities"
"Our friends in the world & maybe even our adversaries are genuinely shocked by the shambolic policies that have aggravated the cost & the tragedy of the crisis in the #UnitedStates" per @KoriSchake
"They are also shocked by a global pandemic that the United States government has no international policy to manage" per @KoriSchake
re #COVID19
"That will damage the relationship" between US and EU, per @KoriSchake "The United State sis failing at being a good partner to our friends...and that's going to leave a mark"
"I don't think its unrecoverable" she adds, saying that US-EU will have to expand views of security
"We know there are some divergencies between the EU and the United States w/certain decisions being made over the last years" per @eeas' Fries, noting US withdrawal from #Paris climate change agreement & #jcpoa
"With such a crisis like #COVID which is a real stress test for all of us for the cohesion of the EU, for the cohesion of the US, for the cohesion of the transatlantic partnership, we managed to get out of this crisis by increasing our cooperation" per @eu_eeas' Fries
"We want to reduce our dependencies. We want to reduce our vulnerabilities in the health sector, in the economic & digital sectors...promote strategic stockpiles" per @eu_eeas' Fries
Interoperability "1 of the strengths of the transatlantic alliance" per @AsstSecPM
"We certainly don't want to duplicate efforts either" he adds "We don;t want to be in a situation where the creation of #EDF diverts the trajectory or attention when it comes to interoperability"
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