Lithuania is Punching Above Its Weight. Will It Matter at Biden’s Summit for Democracy?

Lithuania shares a border with two hostile autocratic neighbors, Belarus and Russia. If that weren’t enough, the small Baltic democracy is taking on China, too. It’s a role model for confident, democratic leadership in the 21st century, and wants to play an important role at the Summit for Democracy in early December. But will the United States and other powerful democracies come together with tangible support, even as authoritarians and populists seem to be on the rise? Lithuanian Vice-Minister Mantas Adomėnas and U.S. Assistant Deputy Secretary of State Kara McDonald joined The Cable to discuss the challenges and hopes for the summit.

The Cable is a production of the Institute for Current World Affairs and the Transatlantic Democracy Working Group. 

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Guests

KARA MCDONALD: Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State

MANTAS ADOMĖNAS: Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Lithuania

Hosts

GREGORY FEIFER: Executive Director, Institute of Current World Affairs; journalist and author of Russians: The People Behind the Power

JONATHAN KATZ: Senior Fellow and Director of Democracy Initiatives, The German Marshall Fund of the United States; former Deputy Assistant Administrator, Europe and Eurasia Bureau, U.S. Agency for International Development

The Cable is produced by Glenn Kates. Alexandra Wasielak provided research. Audio mastering by Danil Komar.