NATO meeting what was accomplished, what failed?

0:00 Speaker 1 What is today with a report and what the heck is going on in Europe. We have Mario Economo, a former banker that worked in New York, London, Zurich and other large money center institutions. Tell us, Mario, so many things are happening in Europe. What are you focusing on?

0:23 Speaker 2 Yes, hi there, good morning. So let’s talk about the recent NATO conference in Vilnius and its impact with respect to Europe, and we’ll make some observations with respect to all the discussions and the agreements that were reached with respect to Sweden joining and Turkeia’s agreement to that. As we know, NATO had a very large meeting in Vilnius

0:45 this past week. A lot of things were discussed, but the most important development was that of Turkeia actually agreeing to allow Sweden into NATO. On the face of it, that seems straightforward. Everybody was very happy and high fiving each other on the success of that. The reality, however, is slightly different. Although President around agreed to allow Sweden

1:12 and Tonado, the reality is this is something that still needs to pass through his National Assembly and they are actually now going to be going off for their summer recess. And the discussion is that they will meet to discuss this and approve this in October of this year. Many people suspect President Arabon is doing this because he wants

1:33 to see what the US commitment with respect to supplying the F sixteens eighty refurbished sixteens and forty new state of the art machines to be delivered to Turkeia is going to be. I think he wants to make sure that when President Biden told him that the discussions are looking good with respect to supplying these F sixteens, that

1:55 the US will in fact follow through on this. One thing we can say coming out of this NATO conference, the biggest winner once again is in fact Turkia. The biggest loser once again is the European Union and the European countries. And why do I say that. I say that because President Arewan succeeded in doing two things. Apart

2:16 from his whole discussion with respect to the F sixteens, he succeeded in actually speaking to the US to convince the EU the discussion with respect to Turkia’s joining the European Union need to actually proceed once again. And although he realizes that most more likely than not, he will not become a full member of the EU. His goal

2:38 is to actually create a much stronger customs union for trade between Turkeia and the European Union. He wants visa free travel for his citizens into the European Union, meaning they can basically hop on a plane and go and visit Europe for a certain amount of time without having to actually secure a visa. And he did one other

2:57 thing which is very unusual and very unique. He actually succeeded in making Sweden essentially agree to change its constitution with respect to releasing or sending back to another country, in this case Turkia, people that Sweden believes lives are going to be threatened or endangered if they were to return to a certain country. So he was able to

3:21 pull this off. And it’s mind boggling how a European country would actually allow itself to be put into that type of a situation. And as a European I can tell you that because of this, unfortunately, many of the countries in Europe now are going to turn sharply to the right. Many of the far right wing parties are

3:43 going to actually gain tremendous track traction as a result of this, and the things that are going to happen and we’re going to see are going to be very different moving forward in Europe with respect to elections. For the US’s part, it needed to actually provide or have a discussion in terms of providing sixteens to Turkia, because

4:02 the US has to make sure that the wheat from the Ukraine continues to get out into the world. Without Turkia’s help on this, that becomes a real problem and the last thing the US wants to see as many countries around the globe suffering from famine as a result of wheat not making its way out. We also, the

4:20 US wants to make sure that Turkia continues to rely on the West, depend on the West for its military weapons acquisitions, and not actually fall back on Russia, which brings up another interesting point the fact that Russia also does need Turkia. And therefore, even though we recently saw the release of four POWs just prior to that NATO

4:43 summit of the Azova Battalion by Turkia back to the Ukraine, and although the Russians were very upset up until now, they’ve said nothing more than voicing concern over the fact that Turkia did not respect the agreement that had been signed.

4:59 So all in all, we see that turkeya has actually come out of this whole event with a very successful presence at the meeting. The US was able to secure what it wanted was, which was for Turkeia and President Erugon to actually allow Sweden in so that it could expand NATO. But the EU itself showed once again how

5:22 weak it is with respect being able to a negotiate with other countries bilateral agreements and be to actually demonstrate to the world that the EU is a very strong and wealthy group of nations, does not actually have a unified and independent, independent defense mechanism and therefore needs to rely on NATO. And thereby the.

5:45 Speaker 1 One question, now, what you said about the European Union. Does that mean that Turkish citizens and non citizens that have Turkish passports would be able to go into European Union without showing your passport or how does that work?

6:07 Speaker 2 Well? The idea is when a Turkish citizen wants to leave Turkey and go and visit a country in the European Union, he now needs to secure he or she needs the secure a visa. They need to go to the consulate of the country they intend to go visit and get a visa in order to enter that country,

6:23 and much the same way that used to be the case between the Europeans and the US. But then we had this agreement signed between many countries in the European Union in the US whereby Europeans are able to travel to America without a visa. They just need to complete an ESTA form online and therefore they’re allowed in. That’s

6:41 what he’s hoping to do, and he wants to secure It’s a very large and you.

6:46 Speaker 1 Think that and you think President Biden gained that commitment.

6:50 Speaker 2 I don’t. I’m not sure President Biden can give that commitment. The European Union has to give that commitment, do I think President Biden raised that issue with the Europeans and said that in the long run, it’s better for Turkey to be with us than against us, and therefore you need to consider this as an option. Yes, I believe

7:09 President Biden made a strong case to their European Union to consider that as an option. I understand.

7:18 Speaker 2 One last time. Yes, it’s important. Turkia plays a very critical role because there’s only two countries in the world, Turkia and China that are speaking to both Russia and the Ukraine. Every other country either speaks to the one or the other. That’s a world power. So it’s very important for the US to make sure that the dialogue

7:41 with Turkia continues, because even though there’s a reproach mode now between the US and China, the reality is Turkeia is also in there, and the US does have established relations with Turkia.

7:51 Speaker 1 Thank you, Mario Kunomu.