FILE: Brussels, Belgium - April 6, 2022 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of flags of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), member states

Beijing, China - July 11, 2022 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Einar Tangen, political and economic affairs commentator (partially overlaid with shots 3-4/ending with shot 5):
"The United States has been complaining about Europe not for shouldering their burden in terms of security. And then all of sudden, you have this situation where American knew full well, we were well advised that even people in the administration have admitted that if you go into Ukraine, you're asking for war with Russia. So, the war with Russia, what has it yielded? It has yielded a renewed effort, a renewed commitment by Europe to put 2.5 percent from each of their countries and expanding it into this new NATO. This NATO is not only concerned about Russia that now they're reaching across into the Asia Pacific. So, in essence, what you have is the U.S. has been able to successfully transfer its role as policeman of the world to NATO, and in essence having Europe pay either half or two-thirds, depending on how you want to look at it, of the cost. This is a dream for the military industrial complex of the United States, also the war hawks."
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++

FILE: Brussels, Belgium - April 6, 2022 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
3. Various of "NATO Star" sculpture, flags

FILE: Washington D.C., USA - Date Unknown (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
4. Various of Capitol Hill
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++

FILE: Moscow, Russia - Dec 2015 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
5. Various of building of Russian Defense Ministry, Russian national flag on building

Moscow, Russia - July 11, 2022 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Sleboda, international affairs and security analyst (ending with shot 7):
"We have seen the occupation of the entirety of East Syria after the Jihadi Proxy War backed by NATO states failed to overthrow the government in Kiev. We continued to see problems in Iraq years after the U.S. occupation of the country, and then non-U.S. NATO states moving in to provide backup after the overthrow of the government there. We see the failed expeditionary 20-year occupation of Afghanistan destabilized. Destabilization, destabilization, destabilization across the entirety of the Middle East and the Mediterranean world. Of course, NATO is an aggressive threat. And now they're shifting their focus to the Pacific, putting China and the Chinese people directly in their targets, really just in pursuit of global hegemony. So, of course Russia sees a legitimate threat, and where they see a real strategic threat to their interests as they saw in Ukraine with the de facto NATO-ization and the U.S. and the UK building military bases in Ukraine, they will take action to defend themselves, and it must be said the people of east Ukraine that were suffering under a regime of bombings and attacks for eight years as well."

FILE: Avdiivka, Donetsk - May 15, 2022 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
7. Various of abandoned U.S.-supplied weapons

Severodonetsk, Luhansk - June 18, 2022 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
8. Various of attacks, buildings of Azot chemical plant with smoke rising
9. Aerial shot of damaged building

The expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) severely undermines world peace and the security mechanism, advancing U.S. world-domination ambitions, according to experts.

Finland and Sweden have had a long-standing principle of neutrality. For years, both Scandinavian countries have abstained from joining the NATO military alliance.

However, Sweden and Finland on last Tuesday signed accession protocols at NATO headquarters in Brussels - officially starting the process to become full members of the alliance.

Russia has no territorial disputes with the two Nordic countries, but the U.S. strongly backed their entry into NATO. The United States and its allies used the immediate aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine conflict to strong-arm other countries to follow their lead.

In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Einar Tangen, a political and economic affairs commentator, pointed out that NATO as a tool helps strengthen America's global influence and advances U.S. world-domination ambitions, and claimed that it has been able to successfully transfer its role as policeman of the world to NATO.

"The United States has been complaining about Europe not for shouldering their burden in terms of security. And then all of sudden, you have this situation where American knew full well, we were well advised that even people in the administration have admitted that if you go into Ukraine, you're asking for war with Russia. So, the war with Russia, what has it yielded? It has yielded a renewed effort, a renewed commitment by Europe to put 2.5 percent from each of their countries and expanding it into this new NATO. This NATO is not only concerned about Russia that now they're reaching across into the Asia Pacific. So, in essence, what you have is the U.S. has been able to successfully transfer its role as policeman of the world to NATO, and in essence having Europe pay either half or two-thirds, depending on how you want to look at it, of the cost. This is a dream for the military industrial complex of the United States, also the war hawks," he said.

Mark Sleboda, a Moscow-based international affairs and security analyst, said that NATO has been expanding its influence at the expense of other countries' security.

"We have seen the occupation of the entirety of East Syria after the Jihadi Proxy War backed by NATO states failed to overthrow the government in Kiev. We continued to see problems in Iraq years after the U.S. occupation of the country, and then non-U.S. NATO states moving in to provide backup after the overthrow of the government there. We see the failed expeditionary 20-year occupation of Afghanistan destabilized. Destabilization, destabilization, destabilization across the entirety of the Middle East and the Mediterranean world. Of course, NATO is an aggressive threat. And now they're shifting their focus to the Pacific, putting China and the Chinese people directly in their targets, really just in pursuit of global hegemony. So, of course Russia sees a legitimate threat, and where they see a real strategic threat to their interests as they saw in Ukraine with the de facto NATO-ization and the U.S. and the UK building military bases in Ukraine, they will take action to defend themselves, and it must be said the people of east Ukraine that were suffering under a regime of bombings and attacks for eight years as well," he said.