Former NATO chief: ‘There is nothing we cannot overcome as Americans’

Former NATO chief James Stavridis on Sunday encouraged Americans to remain optimistic about the state of global affairs, even in the face of “concerning situations” with Russia’s war in Ukraine and tense U.S. relations with China.

“There is nothing we cannot overcome as Americans,” Stavridis said on WABC 770 AM morning show “The Cats Roundtable.”

“We just have to pull together as Americans,” he told host John Catsimatidis. “We’ve got political divisions in the country. We need to pull together. If we do, we can overcome all of these challenges.”

More than a year in, the war in Ukraine continues to rage on. Russia recently launched its long-awaited counteroffensive in eastern Ukraine, sending in tens of thousands of new recruits.

The U.S. and its Western allies have continued to supply Kyiv with increasingly heavy weaponry to support the fight against Russia, most recently several American-made Abrams tanks and German-made Leopard 2 tanks.

U.S.-China relations — which were already tense over Beijing’s threatening stance toward Taiwan and expansion in the South China Sea — have deteriorated in recent weeks over a Chinese surveillance balloon in U.S. airspace and allegations that Beijing is considering providing Russia with lethal aid for its war in Ukraine.

“It’s perfectly understandable that people open up a newspaper, turn on the television, and they see very concerning situations,” Stavridis said. “The war in Ukraine; China on the march in the South China Sea, Iran and North Korea … It’s very concerning.”

He added that there will be a lot of these ups and downs and “tactical flashpoints.”

“But I think strategically the long throw of history is marching along towards a more integrated global economy, toward cooperation,” Stavridis said. 

“And certainly, we will see competition from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, but they don’t have the global economic throw weight to really disrupt the world,” he added.