A White House visit by the leaders of Finland and Sweden threatened to be overshadowed Thursday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's renewed threat to reject the Nordic countries' applications to join NATO.
Why it matters: President Biden celebrated the "historic" applications — spurred by Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine — as "a victory for democracy in action." But all 30 NATO allies must agree to the enlargement of the alliance, giving Erdoğan significant leverage to extract concessions before lifting his objection.
