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Swedish ambassador to US makes case for Swedish membership in NATO

Swedish ambassador to US makes case for Swedish membership in NATO

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Swedish Amb. to the U.S. Karin Olofsdotter explained her country’s case for NATO membership Saturday on “One Nation.”

OLOFSDOTTER: Threatening other nations is something that we shouldn’t do. And we have seen what has happened in the Ukraine, an illegal attack on a sovereign country, unprovoked. So this is, of course, deeply disturbing. And [Feb. 24] was a watershed moment in our history when it turned out that Russia, who is a huge power in our vicinity, actually acted on their threats. So we must take this very seriously. And that’s why we have the debate we have now, on if we should join NATO or not. 

We bring a lot. First of all, we have a military force to reckon with. We have been working together with the United States and NATO for over 30 years. We have decided to go for 2% military spending on our defense. We have a very large military industrial complex. We build our own fighter jets, our own submarines. As I said, we have been cooperating with the United States for a long time. We’ve been in all NATO operations for the last 30 years. So we have really shown our solidarity to the organization and to our region and to our friends. So I think we are a great contribution if we should join. We are also a very stable democracy, a fighter for human rights wherever we can. So, we bring a lot to the table. 

WATCH HER FULL INTERVIEW BELOW:

Darshan Shah
the authorDarshan Shah