Gen. Jack Keane: Russia believes we are weak, we have to play hardball
Fox News Senior Strategic Analyst Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.) reacts to U.S.-Russia prisoner swap as freed Americans return home.
Fox News senior strategic analyst Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.) joined "Fox & Friends" to react to the prisoner swap between the United States and Russia and urged American leaders to play "hardball" with Russia. Keane said whoever assumes the presidency next year will have to deal with a new "reality."
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GEN. JACK KEANE: Certainly we feel good about getting our people back, for sure, and credit the administration for their work in a complicated deal to get them back. But look, this model isn't working and we've got to recognize there's a new chapter being written right in front of us that even the previous administration was not dealing with. Whoever takes power here next year is going to deal with this reality. China, Russia, North Korea and Iran are all working together, undermining the United States. And they started a war in Europe and also in the Middle East. And they're threatening a war in the Indo-Pacific region. We could find ourselves at war in more than one place. And they're undermining the United States because they believe we're weak. They believe that we're not going to confront them. And this is just another tool in their elements of national power that they're using against us.
Vladimir Putin greets FSB assassin Vadim Krasikov, as part of a major prisoner swap with the U.S. and other Western countries. (East2West)
They used misinformation to undermine the United States people's confidence in their government. This is a political weapon, taking hostages. They're not capturing spies and government officials here. They're taking Americans right off the street and they're doing it because it's a weapon that they can use to undermine Americans' confidence in their government. Because we look impotent when we have innocent civilians now being held hostage and we're sitting on our hands, not being able to do anything about it. This model we're using doesn't work. We have got to play hardball with them. They're playing hardball with us. We've got to step up our game immediately and start taking things away from them that they value.
President Biden called the prisoner swap deal with Russia Thursday that secured the release of The Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and others a "feat of diplomacy."
"Moments ago, the families and I were able to speak to them on the telephone from the Oval Office. They're out of Russia. Earlier today, they were flown to Turkey, and soon they'll be wheels up on their way home to see their families," Biden said during an address from the White House. "This is an incredible relief for all the family members gathered here. It's a relief to the friends and colleagues all across the country who've been praying for this day for a long time."
"The deal that made this possible was a feat of diplomacy and friendship. Multiple countries helped get this done," Biden added. "They joined a difficult, complex negotiation at my request. And I personally thank them all again."
"All told, Russia has released 16 prisoners. Eight Russians who were being held in the West will be sent home as well. The 16 prisoners from Russia that Russia has released include four Americans, five Germans, seven Russian citizens who were political prisoners in their own country," Biden continued.
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Fox News' Greg Norman contributed to this report.
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