Russia is Top of Mind at NATO summit
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 10 July 2024
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
Seventy-five years later the member states of that organization have come together in Washington to celebrate NATO and plan for its future.
As they did in 1949, the NATO allies believe Russia presents the largest security threat to their world order. The immediate threat is Russia's war with Ukraine, but the allies also worry about the future of America's leadership.
Eight diplomats from the nations closest to Russia weigh in on the threat the country poses to them and the world order.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good evening. Welcome. This week at the White House, President Joe Biden noted some history. |
| 0:10.0 | In 1949, the leaders of countries, including President Truman, came together in this very room. |
| 0:18.0 | History was watching. |
| 0:19.7 | This was four years after World War II, and those 12 leaders from Europe and North America |
| 0:25.2 | created an agreement largely to deter Soviet expansion. |
| 0:28.6 | The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the single greatest most effective defensive alliance in the history of the world. |
| 0:37.0 | Known by its acronym NATO that makes NATO 75 years old this year. |
| 0:42.0 | It is now 32 members strong and as heads of state |
| 0:46.4 | and diplomats from those countries gather here in Washington this week for a |
| 0:49.8 | NATO summit. History is circling back. |
| 0:53.0 | Russia always knows where its missiles hit, always. |
| 0:59.0 | Ukrainian President Valodemir Zelensky is also in Washington this week. Hours after Biden spoke, he gave a |
| 1:06.8 | speech where he decried a recent Russian airstrike that hit a children's hospital, killing |
| 1:11.6 | 43 people and wounding nearly 200. |
| 1:15.0 | Ukraine is not yet a NATO country, but over two years into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, |
| 1:21.0 | NATO allies generally believe, like they did in 1949, that Russia |
| 1:26.6 | is a security threat to their world order. |
| 1:29.6 | The problem is Russia. |
| 1:31.5 | The policy of Russia is war. It's not going to go away for the next few years. |
| 1:36.8 | Latvia happens to share a border with Russia and its foreign minister, Biba Braje, also came to town. |
| 1:43.1 | We need the US to be with us on that. |
| 1:46.4 | She and other foreign ministers need the wealthiest |
... |
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