MEETING of NATO heads of state in Brussels (White House photo).

President Joe Biden continued to push back Monday at what he considered to be provocative actions by Russia and China.

According to the Associated Press, in addressing a NATO summit in Brussels, the president said that at his planned meeting on Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin he would say that while there are areas in which the two nations can cooperate, “if he chooses not to cooperate and act in a way that he has in the past to cybersecurity and other activities, that we will respond, we will respond in kind.”

NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, formed after World War II by North American and Western European nations to defend against aggression by the now-defunct Soviet Union.

Earlier in the day, NAT0 leaders concurred with an earlier assessment by Biden that China represented a danger to “global order.” The statement complained of China’s “coercive policies” and allegations of the use of slave labor by ethnic minorities and disinformation.

Russia was also criticized for interference with elections, “malicious cyber activities” and tactics of “intimidation.”

UK’s “Freedom Day” delayed to July

Next Monday – June 21 – was supposed to be “Freedom Day” in Great Britain, but the lifting of all coronavirus restrictions in the land of tea and The Beatles will be delayed at least four weeks.

FLAG of Great Britain.

According to The Evening Standard, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday that the re-opening of his nation would be delayed because of concerns about the impact of the “highly transmissible” Delta variant.

“I think it is sensible to wait just a little longer,” he said. “As things stand, and on the evidence that I can see right now, I’m confident we will not need more than four weeks.”

The Delta variant of the virus is blamed for a 50 percent increase in hospital admissions in the past month, and an increase of 64 percent per week, he added.