I have worked with Rumen Radev, at this very historical moment for Bulgaria and Europe, there must be a politician and statesman with character and backbone in power. As a military man, he has the upbringing to protect the national interest and responsibility, his own will and integrity. This was stated by the former Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister, as well as the leader of VMRO Krasimir Karakachanov in “In Focus“ when asked why VMRO decided to support “Progressive Bulgaria“ in the upcoming elections.
Karakachanov explained that in recent years there have been no governments that would protect Bulgarian interests, at the expense of representation before its foreign policy partners. “We cannot support the governments of the “assembly blocks“, which flattered our partners. Borisov is more cautious, Radev - more predictable and with a sense of defending national interest. In some regions there are our representatives on the lists of his project. At this moment, the selection of personnel is very important, because the formation will have the most deputies and will be in the executive branch“, explained Karakachanov.
“The union between the US and Europe does not exist anywhere else, except on paper. The economic collapse in the world is a fact, it has also led to a crisis in America. The conflict in the Middle East in its current phase has only two outcomes - a land operation, which I believe will be carried out to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, or the use of nuclear weapons. Israel has one, but then things will become much more serious“, said the former Minister of Defense.
He believes that a US ground operation is a very difficult undertaking, since the country has too few armed forces in the region. “They have 50,000 military personnel in the Middle East, but not all of them are infantrymen. The majority of them are not even infantrymen. From other regions of the world, about 15,000 infantrymen will be deployed from other regions of the world. For comparison, the US participated in the Iraq war with over half a million soldiers. Iran has a population of nearly 90 million and since the beginning of the conflict there have been 1 million volunteers“, commented Karakachanov.
According to him, the position of VMRO for 35 years has been that Bulgaria should definitely be in NATO, and at that time his party argued with the BSP on the issue. Paradoxically, it was during the socialists' rule that we entered the Alliance exactly 22 years ago. “NATO has become an instrument of only one country - the USA. With his unsuccessful moves, Trump is forcing European countries to think about building their own defense. Structures like the UN and the Alliance no longer have such great importance, their resolutions are not respected. After 1991, the USA does whatever it wants, no one respects the League of Nations“, the former defense minister pointed out.
In his words, time will tell whether the EU will survive as a structure after all the turbulence caused by clashes of ideologies. “During his first term, Trump did not wage a single war, which is why conservatives voted for him. In the 1990s, the USA became a superpower and gained the self-confidence that they can do whatever they want. "They fought to consolidate their hegemony while China was not yet so strong and Russia was ruled by Yeltsin. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, things have changed," he stressed.