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Or visit weShareHealth.org and take a look for yourself. With me in the studio, if you're smart enough to be getting the stream, and I know you are on Fox Nation or if you're watching on the app. Moldova's Prime Minister, Fasil Tofan, is with us now. Mr. Prime Minister, great to see you.
Thank you for having me.
So first off, when you talk about Moldova, people notice on the map it's small on the map, but man, are you in the center of things? Russia, Ukraine are on your border, Germany on your border. Russia wants to dominate your country, been infiltrating your elections. Drones are on your border on a daily basis. The war is on your doorstep.
What are things like on a daily basis in Moldova these days?
So we're a country just under 3 million people and we are sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania. And of course, in that sense, we occupy a very strategic position to the southwestern frontier of Ukraine. We share about 800 miles with Ukraine, longer than any country in that part. And you're right.
So increasingly, we'll be having more drones crossing our territory, drones attacking Ukraine on the way to Romania often. And my interpretation of this is that Putin is trying NATO, probing NATO. How will NATO respond? Right. And for you, are you a member of NATO?
We are not a member of NATO. We are a neutral country, and we will stay that way. You want to stay that way, unlike Ukraine, who wants to join NATO? Exactly.
So, look, we made a deliberate choice. It's to be neutral, and we believe this gives us higher protection than joining at this point. But it hasn't stopped the Russians from trying to infiltrate your elections. Yeah, they do. You know, Russians are very sophisticated and trying to disrupt things, and they've thrown hundreds of millions of dollars at trying to get a puppet regime in Moldova.
Yeah, they have a candidate, they pick. them, they back them, and they hope to that candidate wins, but you win. That's exactly, I think, what happened. And I'm proud that even a small country like ours, of course, with fewer resources than Russia has, we managed in a Western democracy to still win these elections.
So I want you to hear what President Zelensky said at the UN this week. What is he doing now by drones attacking Moldova, Romania? Crossing borders of Poland, he will continue doing this. That's why, that's why the risk. Off offensive by drones, missiles or land.
Pressure is very high against other countries who are bordering Russia or Belarus.
So he's right, right? He says it's not just about Ukraine. People said, well, Zelensky wants it to be everybody's fight, but no, I think he's 100% right. Yeah. You understand what Putin is doing.
So he's testing, he's testing waters. He wants this war to spill over. He wants this to he uses this as an instrument of fear also among European citizens. And I think this is where it's very important to understand.
So Putin doesn't respond to weakness, he only responds to strength, and that's, I think, a clear signal to Europeans, to the US, you know, to be tough on these things. Mr. Prime Minister, I don't see any way to view this from the Russian perspective except to say a disaster. They thought this would be a matter of, you tell me, but you're there. It said they thought this would be a matter of weeks.
The U.S. thought it would be a matter of weeks. I talked to. Oh, our finest admirals and generals, and they say, listen, Ukraine has no chance. They're not going to be able to last.
And now we're four and a half years in. They've lost almost 1.4 million casualties. They've lost something like thirty four thou they lost over two hundred thousand over the last nine months. And they've lost 45% of their refinery capacity to a country they just wanted to absorb. Do you do they do they when they're candid Do they understand that this has been a disaster?
Do they see it differently? I think if they knew what they're getting themselves into, this war would have never started. And just to add to your embarrassing list, they also lost the entire black Sea fleet. You understand it was a country with a huge fleet without a navy. It's a country.
Ukraine without a navy. To a country without a navy indeed. For me it's also personal, Brian, because I um in my prior life, before becoming Prime Minister, I was a I was a private secretary guy in Ukraine actually.
So I was there on twenty fourth of february twenty twenty two when I stayed in Ukraine after the full scale invasion.
So for me, the best way to help Ukraine is actually to ensure that we have a prosperous, democratic, strong Moldova that is securing the southwestern flank for Ukraine. Is it Do the Russians have a Vladimir Putin problem, or is it the new mindset? I mean, this isn't Gorbachev, this isn't Yeltsin. Vladimir Putin wasn't Vladimir Putin. I thought this wasn't the guy in Maine fishing with George H.W.
Bush and George Bush. It seems to be a different guy. Are there people like him that will replace him when he is finally out of power?
Well, my reading of this is that when you cannot deliver to People, the fridge, if they say you deliver them the T V.
So, in this case, when I say the fridge, it's a metaphor for economic development.
So, the legitimacy of the Putin regime now is built on this creation of a foreign Enemy and the enemy is the Western world. And this is the last, last attempt to derive legitimacy because, because they cannot deliver in terms of you know, economic development in in terms of in terms of people having a full fridge, you know.
So they they have to they have to compensate it with this fear of NATO taking over and other nonsense.
So that's the ultimate ultimate attempt to build some legitimacy for that regime. That's why they're holding on this war so much. But it's almost gradual. In the beginning, they were part of the G twenty, right? They were part of the G8.
It was the G8. And they were part of it.
So, okay, countries are up, countries are down. Germany was their economy was much better a while ago. Maybe we're in a recession. But at one point they just said the West is a problem. Was it Vladimir Putin that said that, or was that the mindset of the Russian government?
And Vladimir Putin was just the voice of that? Yeah. I think i this is the the the mindset of the say clique of kleptocrats around putin because they want to hang to power They understand that they're they haven't much to offer to the Russian people. And then, you know, the best tool they can use, it's let's derive legitimacy from the US. Wouldn't Western investment help them?
Look, I think the the West has generally tried to engage with Russia.
So large corporations came in, European companies, US companies and yeah, I it ended bad for them. You you're seeing the their assets are being stripped on a daily basis. Most recently, large French companies have been nationalized in Russia.
So, what's it going to take for this war to end? And what do you think that what is wrong about America's approach to ending this war?
So, first of all, I think I'm glad to see an engaged President Trump who's trying to within very difficult circumstances to still push for peace. Nobody wants peace more than Ukraine and countries like Moldova that are direct sufferers from this war. What is important, though, is to have a just peace. What I'm afraid of, you know, to get a peace at any cost. And I think if we get a peace at any cost, you know, the abusers that are not uh stopped the toler tolerance of abuse is only is only delaying yet another abuse.
So it's very important that Ukraine and countries like Moldova get a just peace. In other words, it's got to include security guarantees. Absolutely. But maybe speaking of security, I want to take this opportunity to thank also the people of America, the current administration, for a direct contribution to security in that part of the world. For example, you may know US administration has helped us build a power line, a four hundred kilovolts line that is uniting us with Romania, and this is helping us also potentially export energy to Ukraine.
And this is actually our ambassador calls it the Trump Liberty Line.
So things like this, infrastructure projects like this is contributing to a stronger Moldova and by also a stronger Ukraine. I didn't know that. You know, there's a theory in some uh some in this country subscribed to it that when as NATO expanded close to Russia's border, they felt threatened, and this is a reaction to that threat. when NATO that's not how I view it, but how do you view it?
Well, I view it is that by trying to deter NATO, Putin has only encouraged the NATO expansion. Look at Sweden and Finland.
So actually the plan has hasn't worked for sure. Uh To me, NATO is a alliance, a defensive alliance. It's never been a threat to Russia. It was in it was to stop Russia from expanding and taking all of Europe. When you look at Georgia right now, it has been infiltrated and People say it's become virtually like Belarus, it's en route to becoming a vassal state of Russia.
Is that true?
Well it's difficult for me maybe to comment on everything in Georgia, but I can maybe link it to your last question. Every time the polls for the Kremlin administration sink, they start some small victorious war. They did it in 2008 in Russia. First, Georgia was first actually, as you name it.
So it was August 2008 in Georgia. It was a short war, boosted the legitimacy of the government. Exactly.
And then their polls start sliding again. They don't deliver on the economy. Then they start another war.
So Crimea was another one in 2014, March, which again led to a spike in poll numbers for Putin. And they thought in 2022 this is going to be yet another short victorious war. They were planning to take over Kiev in three days. But you see, it led to this bloodbath and the mess we are in now.
So the Prime Minister of Moldova is with us now talking about this.
So what should people know about what your country is up against on a daily basis? And how can we help? Look, so I I think um Moldova is um Just short of three million people countries, right? We have a small domestic market. And I think the only cards we can play is to be a very business-friendly country that is positioning itself as an exports hub, as a trade hub for the broader region.
That's why we're so welcoming to US investments, you know, that we would use Moldova as a platform for eventual reconstruction of Ukraine, as a platform for accessing EU markets. And the fact that we are an EU candidate and we became a EU candidate in 2022 and we plan to sign the accession treaty in 2028 also. You're going to join the EU in 2028? It will sign the treaty, then it has to be ratified by all the member states.
So hopefully by 2030, we'll be full members of the EU. And this positions us very well as a smaller market, very agile, fast market that is much more friendly regulation-wise, for example, to offer access to that market to US companies.
So I'm a person that came from the private sector. I'm new to government, like President Trump, maybe, so I'm very new to this. Two months in the Prime Minister role, and my plan is to focus on economy, business, investments first and foremost, less on politics. Understood. When we look at the elections in Germany, How do you read those elections?
Because it's said that extreme conservative government, Elon Musk, for example, backed it, has taken over, not taken over, has emerged as a factor, and Chancellor Murs is still in charge. How do you read that? Because they say that it has been said that they are more pro-Russian. Uh then the pre then merches. I I understand what's happening, look, and I cannot blame the people of Germany for making the choices they make.
So I think people have some fatigue with the war, they have some fatigue with inflation, with the high prices of air. You know, I think The concern for us in Moldova is that we'd like to see parties in all the European democracies that are favourable to EU enlargement, because we believe enlargement is making Europe more relevant, larger and with a larger domestic market.
So that's why whoever is in charge, we hope the enlargement project will continue.
So some in Europe are worried, I'm not, that Germany is starting to really build up their military again. The amount of investment is really noteworthy. Japan is too, by the way. Are you comfortable with that?
Well, look, I'll joke here. The joke goes that because the automotive sectors in both countries is under pressure given the competition from other markets, if they cannot build cars, they have to learn to build tanks.
So I think that's part of it. I think it's also an economic choice. But I thought I think jokes aside, I think this is also a reflection of the increased security threats from the Eastern neighboring Russia.
So we shouldn't be naive. We need to beef up our military spending in Europe as a whole. And I think Germany is doing right that. Prime Minister, can you stick around? Of course.
Great. We have a couple more minutes, and I know, do you have to go back to the United Nations? Are you guys done? I'll head back to the United Nations in need for more meetings.
Okay, yes, and post-2 o'clock, we know Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to be speaking.
So it was fun to see who's going to walk out. Back in a moment. How many years have we spent listening to politicians in Washington argue about how to make healthcare insurance more affordable? Obamacare was supposed to fix it. Then we needed bigger government subsidies to make Obamacare affordable.
Those subsidies expired, and guess what? People are paying more again at some point. Maybe the question isn't, how do we keep fixing the same system? Maybe the question is, what else is out there? That's why I want you to take a look at WeShare Health.
WeShare isn't health insurance. It's a nonprofit, Christian healthcare sharing organization. And their members pay up to 60% less than they would for Obamacare. You still get access to a nationwide PPO network and over a million physicians plus unlimited telehealth.
So stop waiting for Washington or the insurance companies to make healthcare affordable for you. Do your own research. See what your options are. Call 188-WESHARE for a free quote. That's 1-888-WESHARE.
Or visit weShareHealth.org and take a look for yourself. Fasil Tiufan is the Moldova Prime Minister, a former businessman.
Now he's into politics but never lost his business background. In layman's terms, could you tell me how Ukraine has become this Uh has has Revolutionize their war machine in real time and revolutionize war with the drone technology?
Now that's a fascinating topic. You see, it's also about the choice of the economic model.
So what Ukraine did is they De facto liberalized a lot of the drone production.
So people started building drones literally in garages. You have hundreds of drone producers in Ukraine.
So it was the choice of a free market, capitalistic model. And one of the reasons Russia has been lagging behind is because they went for this hierarchical state company model.
So they have this huge, huge state-owned company which is building military production. And of course, as you know, hierarchies are always losing to markets. And that's one of the reasons why Ukraine has been winning in innovating, faster innovating cycles. Are they winning now? I I Russia has been catching up to some extent, but I think Ukraine is still one step ahead when it comes to drone technology.
We are worried, as many people are, about their missiles. and they need patriots, but there's very few patriots around right now. There's got to be a deal maybe with South Korea, who's got some extra. North Korea is certainly helping Russia, and then South Korea helping out. Do you know where these Patriot batteries can come from?
Well, I very much hope that there will be also a deal where Ukraine would get a license to produce these paratroops. I know there have been discussions, and I think this can be win-win. That's money. Would it take a while for them to ramp up and be able to make their own?
Well, they've advanced quite a lot in terms of some local production. Also, in terms of say patriot alternatives, the Ukraine has been piloting already an own air defense system.
So in that sense, I think it's also actually for now still an opportunity for American production companies to supply some of those licenses. Right. So I guess Lakheed and Raytheon are reluctant to do it because it's so close to Russia they're worried about the technology getting into Russian hands. I understand the concern. Look, I can speak as somebody who's lived in Kiev throughout this war, and when a ballistic missile hits near your house and shakes it in the ground, like I would be enormously grateful if the country could get more Patriots.
Because Ukraine can shoot down the cruise missiles. Ukraine can shoot down the drones, but we cannot shoot down ballistic missiles, and that's why we need the Patriots. And just when we look at Europe, no longer does President Trump or any President have to convince NATO that the threat is real. They understand now. Right.
You said that Vladimir Putin would love to end the war? You think he understands that with the price he's paying? There was a thought that John Radcliffe, our CIA director, went there to convince him and let them know that they're losing, that he might not be getting the real story. What is the real story about Vladimir Putin? Do you think he is looking for an off ramp?
I know he should be. Look, uh, it's difficult to to know what's happening in, um, you know, in these dark rooms in in Kremlin. Like, my guess is that first The information is not coming to Putin. Again, he's a person who's not connected to technology. He's only reading the files he's getting.
And probably there's some. He's not connected to technology. He's not. You may know he's not using a phone. He's not accessing a computer.
He's very low tech.
So he's basically reading paper files. Again, I'm just basing it based on well-known information. And that means that the group of people around him can feed him the kind of information that supports them. And he may not know actually the real situation on the front line. I'm speculating here, but this could be one of the reasons why he's not understanding how bad things are for them.
And second, I think it's also they don't know how to get out of this mess by now.
So, if you could show them an off-ramp, perhaps. The other thing people have brought up is that they built up their economy around a war machine. When the war stops, then they'll have almost no industry. Yeah, you see, but in this case, you know, yes, you have some GDP growth, but this GDP growth is completely unproductive because it's building tanks, which are not creating value for the society. Exactly.
Vasile Tofan, great knowing you, Moldova's Prime Minister. Thanks so much, and stay safe. Thank you so much. Appreciate you and all your people.
