Placed in a separate part of the journal. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Cotton 70 years after the creation of nato, the biggest external threats to the alliance are a revisionist adversaries, china and russia. Unfortunately, however, the alliance faces some internal threats, too. Among the allies themselves, who too often fail to take these adversaries seriously, instead striking dangerous deals with the very powers who threaten to destroy all of us. Consider the nord stream 2 pipeline project between germany and russia. Germany touts the pipelines commercial benefits, but russia sees is differently. A strategic tool to divide europe and, thus, strengthen its punitive claim to dominion over Eastern Europe. The nord stream 2 pipeline would effectively double the amount of natural gas russia would export to europe along a route that bypasses the alliances eastern frontier. This would deepen nato members reliance on russian gas while also enhances Vladimir Putins ability to