Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Monday that he believes “U.S. weakness has shaken the world” and has created a power vacuum that has led to instability and crises such as the one in Ukraine.
Rumsfeld said under the Obama administration the U.S. has been perceived as a world power in decline, and wields far less influence than it used to. Consequently, the world as a whole has become less stable.
“We have created a leadership vacuum in the world, and it is being filled by the Putins of the world, by people without our values or our interest, and it’s to the detriment of the United States and our friends and allies around the world,” he said. “It is the United States that’s injected that instability into the world equation.”
Rumsfeld said the U.S. has to aim to create a coalition of nations that will put the maximum amount of pressure on Putin and Russia.
“So, the thing we have got to persuade other countries of is that we get peace through strength as Eisenhower said,” Rumsfeld said. “If we want peace, we have to be prepared for war and that it is U.S. weakness that has shaken the world.”