The Chhattisgarh

Tag: NATO summit

  • Video: When Biden mistakenly called Zelensky ‘President Putin’ at NATO summit |

    In a bid to reassure Democratic lawmakers, allies, and potential voters in this year’s election, President Joe Biden (81) held a news conference aimed at dispelling concerns about his health and vigor by his performance in the June 27 debate against Republican candidate Donald Trump.

    However, the address soon backfired on him as Biden made two notable flubs during his speech as he referred Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin” and then called Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump” when asked about her by a reporter, reported AP. But Biden gave a detailed response when asked about securing him the second term despite the growing demand from Democrats for him to step aside, he also briefed about his work to preserve NATO.

    One of President Joe Biden’s most notable errors during the press conference occurred early when he mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump,” explaining he chose her because he believed she could defeat Trump.

    This misstep followed a similar incident at the NATO summit, where Biden had already fumbled an important name, thereby lowering expectations for his press conference performance.

    As per AP, while introducing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Biden said, “Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin.” The blunder elicited immediate gasps from the audience as Biden quickly corrected himself while speaking to Zelenskyy by saying, “President Putin? You’re going to beat President Putin.”

    Biden just introduced Zelensky as “President Putin” before correcting himself.

    Wow! This is insanely insulting. pic.twitter.com/ANLx73kGZw — Ridvan Aydemir | Apostate Prophet (@ApostateProphet) July 11, 2024

    When a reporter mentioned his “Vice President Trump” slip and noted the Republican nominee’s campaign was already capitalizing on it, Biden responded defiantly, saying, “Listen to him,” before exiting the stage.

    Minutes later, Rep. Jim Himes, a House Democrat from Connecticut, issued a statement urging the president to withdraw from the race.

  • NATO Summit To Discuss With Indo-Pacific Partners Resilience, Cybersecurity: US Official |

    The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its Indo-Pacific partners, including South Korea, plan to discuss resilience, support for Ukraine, disinformation, cybersecurity and emerging technologies during their summit in Washington next week, a senior US administration official said.

    The NATO summit is set to take place in the US capital from Tuesday to Thursday. The leaders of the alliance’s four Indo-Pacific partners (IP4) – South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Japan have been invited to the summit that marks the 75th anniversary of NATO’s founding, reported Yonhap news agency.

    “We are bringing together some of our closest non-NATO partners to have a discussion around issues like resilience, cyber, disinformation, and technology,” the official said in a virtual briefing.

    He added, “This particular grouping of IP4 as we call them in NATO lingo — Australia, Japan, New Zealand and ROK (Republic of Korea) ,These are some of our closest partners that we work with in the region”.

    The NATO summit involving Indo-Pacific partners is set to take place on Thursday.

    The official did not elaborate on the issue of resilience. In a NATO context, resilience refers to the capacity to prepare for, resist, respond to and quickly recover from shocks and disruptions across the full spectrum of threats, according to an article on NATO’s Allied Command Transformation website.

    At the NATO gathering, there will be a “strong” demonstration of US and allies’ support for Ukraine, the official said, highlighting Washington’s plan to announce new steps to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses and military capabilities.

    “Together, the Washington summit will send a strong signal to Putin that if he thinks he can outlast the coalition of countries supporting Ukraine, he’s dead wrong,” he said.

    “We are also sending an important message to the rest of the world, including through our partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, as we stand together united and in support of democratic values,” he added.

    The summit comes amid growing concerns about Biden’s mental health and physical fitness, which was called into question again following a poor debate performance last week.

    Observers said that Biden is likely to capitalise on the summit to highlight that he is up for the job and capable of leading the nation for another four year term.

    “Foreign leaders have seen Joe Biden up close and personal for the last three years. They know who they are dealing with and they know how effective he’s been,” the official said.

    “What the president has done over the last three years is to reinvigorate the NATO alliance, including expanding it, making it more capable. He has stood up to President Putin’s unprecedented aggression against Ukraine by mobilising a coalition of a minimum of 50 allies and partners to provide capabilities to Ukraine.