Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley suggested in an interview that United States forces ‘’need to align’’ with non-European countries including Russia to enhance global security, a remark her campaign characterized as a gaffe but which comes amid the Biden administration’s approval for millions more in military aid to assist Ukraine in fending off Russia’s invasion.
Asked by WMUR-TV for a segment Wednesday on regions of the world to which she felt the U.S. could pay more attention, Haley- who served the Trump administration as United Nations ambassador, first said ‘’the Arab world,’’ saying the U.S. needs Arab countries “to kind of join with us’’ on opposing Iran.
‘’You see Saudi Arabia making deals with China, that’s not good for us. We need them to be with us, and then we need to align with others, Russia, Australia, Japan, Israel,’’ Haley added. ‘’We need to start focusing on the allies that we have besides the Europeans and make sure that we have more friends-one, for our needs, so that we’re not dependent on an enemy for energy or medicines or anything else, and then two, to make sure that we build those alliances so that the world is more safe.’’ On Saturday, Haley’s campaign said the candidate misspoke.
‘’This is completely ridiculous, she obviously misspoke,’’ spokesman Ken Farnaso told The Associated Press on Saturday. ‘’No one one has been tougher on Russia than Nikki Haley.’’ Asked to comment on the interview, Haley in a statement to AP called the country an ‘’enemy’’ and referred to President Vladimir Putin as a ‘’thug’’.
‘’I fought them at the U.N. and I will continue to fight them,’’ Haley said. ‘’They want to destroy us and our allies and they are not to be trusted.’’ During her tenure as U.N. ambassador during the Trump administration, Haley was critical of Russia, denouncing its invasion of Crimea, condemning the country for ‘’holding the hands’’ of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the countries sparred over sanctions. She also referred to Russian corruption as a ‘’virus’’ which is ‘’impeding our ability to achieve complete denuclearization in North Korea’’.
