that if putin was willing to try to erase one neibor 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 only for their 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 opportunity when they were were there to defend them. sweden was there to defend them. and i think what this tells us even more profoundly is the 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, economically, diplomatically. it's standing in ukraine. -- its standing in ukraine has changed dramatically. whereas before 2014, the fir