Obama urges Europe to retrench amid Ukraine crisis

BRUSSELS (AP) — Calling it a global "moment of testing," President Barack Obama appealed to Europeans on Wednesday to recommit to the war-won ideals of freedom and human dignity, declaring that people voicing those values will ultimately triumph in Ukraine.

Painting a historical arc across the major global clashes of the last century and beyond, Obama said young people born today come into a world more devoid of conflict and replete with freedom than at any time in history — even if that providence isn't fully appreciated. He urged the 28-nation NATO alliance to make good on their commitments to the collective security that has fostered prosperity in the decades since the Cold War concluded.

"We must never forget that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom," Obama said, adding that the Ukraine crisis has neither easy answers nor a military solution. "But at this moment, we must meet the challenge to our ideals, to our very international order, with strength and conviction."
Drawing on modern struggles, like gay rights, as well as the ethnic cleansing and world wars of a bygone era, Obama sought to draw a connection between the U.S. experiment in democracy and the blood spilled by Europeans seeking to solidify their own right to self-determination.
"I come here today to say we must never take for granted the progress than has been won here in Europe and advanced around the world," Obama said.
Indeed, the Europe that Obama confronted on Wednesday was taking little for granted.