nonfiction authors and influential interviewers on the afterwords podcast and on listen to interviews with nonfiction authors an others making things happen. features authors on a variety of topics.p find all our podcasts by downloading the free c-span now app or wherever you get your c-span.org/podcasts. >> swede■i season now officially the newest member of nato. second retear of state antony blinken congratulated sweden's prime minister after assessing the documents. the swedish flag will be raised on march 11.quarters in brussels

>> distinguished guests, the secretary of state of the united states, acomp nid by the prime minister of sweden and the minister of foreign affairs of [applause] >> good morning, everyone. thank you for being here today. prime minister cristerson, accompanied by forch minister gilstrom, will foz sit the documents recognizing the united states of america as dpoz

tear -- dopositary of the treaty. [laughter]]k1 >> thank you. [applause]8 >> good things come to those who wait. no better example. but with receipt of this instrument of accession, let me be the very first to welcome sweden as a party to the washington treaty and the 32 p

member of the north -- and he 32nd member of the north atlantic treaty organization. [applause] prime minister, to friend the foreign minister, a personal note of thanks. for your extraordinary leadership.n, and your resilience. this has been a little bit of a road but i think we've known■ from day one that we would be here today. and now we are. this is a historic moment for sweden. it's historic for our alliance. it's historic for the transatlantic relationship. now stronger ande, our defensive larger than it's ever been. but, i think if you step back

and think of where we were three ordained and in fact none of this was foreseeable. sweden had a 200-year-old policy of nonalig■ent. and before putin's re-invasion of ukraine in february of 2022, if you looked at the polling, less than onewedes supported joining nato. this was part and parcel of sweden's history. and then everything changed. after the invaition, three quarters of the swedish people made clear their desire to join. swedes realized something very profound. that if putin was willing to try to erase one neighbor from the map, then he might well not stop there. and if he was allowed to proceed

with impunity, not only would his aggression potentially continue but would-be aggressors everywhere would get the message that it was open season. and so, the swedish people stood up, stood up not own country, but stood up to the common responsibility that we share to try to make sure that the very foundations of the international system that we all rely on, to have peace, to have security, to have%q opportunity, when they were challenged, we were there to defend them. sweden was there to defend them. and i think what this tells us e reaffirmation of sweden's democratic character. change driven by its people. by its citizens. there's also no clearer example than today of the strategic

debacle that putin's invasion of ukraine has become for russia. we see a russia that is now weaker militarily, eco diplomatically. it's standing in ukraine. -- its standing in ukraine has changed dramatically. whereas before 2014, the first invasion, people were open to positive relations with russia. now virtually the entire society, and not just today, probably for generations, is turned against russia because of its aggression. and fundamentallyou i said, botr and stronger than it's ever been. and we see again and again and again and everything putin sought to prevent, he's actually precipitated by his actions, by his aggression. and there's no clearer exampleta member of the -- a member of this alliance. but even once that decision was was easy.

none of this was obvious. it's taken two years, nearly two years tireless diplomacy.b together with the extraordinary secretary general of nato, stultenberg, to achieve ratification by every nato member. and again, the determination of sweden's leadership, the extraordinary diplomacy it exerted, making sure that every question was answered, every challenge was met, every obstacle was that's what brought us to today. now, some doubted we'd get here but we are here. this is built on a partnership between sweden and nato that goes back many, many years. sweden has long been an active partner with nato ally, training

together. and fundamentally, the reason this is such a strong, powerful fit is because sweden embodied and promotes the core values that are at the heart of nato. democracy. liberty, the rul and it also brings unique capabilities to this enterprise. unique capabilities in the arctic, the baltic sea, andhie l contribute more than 2% of its g.d.p., to defense and continue to show the way for all nato members. back to 1949, at the sthiefng nato treaty, president truman said this, and i quote.it aggression against our own peoples, we have no purpose of aggression against other peoples. we hope to create aggression anr of aggression. a bulwark which will permit to get on with the real business of government society. the business of achieving a

fuller and happier life for all of our citizens. that is fundamentally what this intervise -- enterprise is all about. what nato is all about. it's making sure that together we are creating an environment in which our people are safe, secure, an meet their full potential. today, we have fort fid the shield. fortified the shield against aggression. we more people under its protection so that together, we can focus on the real work of delivering our people. with that, mr. prime minister, the floor is yours. [applause] >> thank you so much, antony, tu so much. today is a truly historic day. sweden is now a member of nato.

we are indeed grateful for the overwhelming, bipartisan congressional support for sweden's accession and for the strong leadership from the u.s. administration leading the way on ratification and security assurances. i would personally like to thank both president biden and you, secretary blinken, for your invaluable efforts and personal commitments during the accession process. i would also like to thank all nato allies who have supported our accession and welcoming sweden as the 3nd member of the alliance. we are humble. but we are also proud. will livh expectations from all nato allies. unity and solidarity will be sweden's guiding light as a nato member. we will shed burdens, re--

responsibilities and risks with other allies. today is, as second retear blinken freedom today. sweden has made free democratic sovereign and united choice to join support in our parliament and among our people. that is the strength, both of sweden if and for the alliance. and as a strong democracy, sweden will stand for the values in washington treaty, blocks fr5 years ago. freedom, democracy, individual liberty, and the rule law. sweden is, as was mentioned, now lead #-g00 years of neutrality in militaryalign -- is now leaving 200 years neutrality and military nonalignment b natural.

membership means we are coming home to the alliance for peace and coming home to alie for free dm to which many belong. also home to our neighbors security cooperation. home to the circle of countries where we, for generations, have belonged. we will defend freedom together with the countries closest to us both in terms of values. the security situation in our region has not been this serious since the second world war. russia will stay a serious threat to the euro-atlanticture. it was in this light that sweden applied to join the nato defense alliance. to gain security, but also to s. we have unique capabilities to contribute, on land, in the air, at

our support of ukraine is a fundamental part of that. ukraine is fighting bravely for its freedom. but they are also defending european freedom. at the same time we are strengthening our defensend the defense budget right now. from this year onwards, sweden meets nato standard of 2% of g.d.p. to defense en this is important for nato security, obviously, and to burden sharing. we are increasing the numbers of conscripts, strengthening civil defense, and reintroducing civilian service in sweden. we have been prepared for this task for quite a while. and i'm very pleased to take this very final step. nato, it'n the the end of something, it's the beginning of something new. i look forward to making the world safer and freer, together

with the united states and all other nato allies. and allow me finally a very short summary in swedish. [speaking swedish]

[speaking swedish] thank you all so much. >> thank you, distinguished guests. please remain in your seats as the delegations depart and quietly exit to your right. thank you. 20

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