Posted on 07/01/2015 7:45:57 AM PDT by annalex
Estonia, Latvia and Lithunia were occupied by the Soviet Union for decades
Russia is examining the legality of the decision to recognise the independence of the Baltic republics in 1991 by the State Council of the USSR - according to Russia's state news service Interfax.
The decision to review recognition of the independence of EU-member Baltic nations follows the Russian Prosecutor General's Office ruling last year that Crimea was illegally handed to Ukraine in 1954; and is certain to alarm the small Baltic NATO-member nations of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
In recent months Nato has held as series of meetings about how to address the threat from Russia and reassure Baltic countries that NATO is prepared to defend them. In June Poland and Lithuania confirmed that discussions were underway for the US to base heavy military weapons in warehouses across the Baltic states.
Speaking during a trip to Lithuania in June Europe NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Phillip M. Breedlove said Russia's next steps were unpredictable and dangerous.
"We cannot fully be certain what Russia will do next, and we cannot fully grasp Putin's intent but what we can and are doing is learning from his actions. In addition what we see suggests growing Russian capabilities, significant military modernisation and ambitious strategic intent.""In the east, Russia is blatantly attempting to change the rules and principles that have been the foundation of European security for decades. This challenge that's posed by resurgent Russia is global, not regional, and is enduring, not temporary."
The US has led a series of major NATO military drills in eastern Europe over the course of 2015 involving thousands of British, American and other allied forces.
Also in June Pentagon officials revealed a plan to base hundreds of battle tanks, high-caliber weapons and as many as 5,000 troops in the region - as a reposte to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and threat to NATO member states in eastern Europe.
The move would be the first time Washington has stationed heavy military equipment in the newer NATO member states that were once under Moscow's control.
You mean this?
“Also in June Pentagon officials revealed a plan to base hundreds of battle tanks, high-caliber weapons and as many as 5,000 troops in the region - as a reposte to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and threat to NATO member states in eastern Europe.”
We can move men pretty quickly, but moving heavy equipment is much slower and complicated, so we preposition equipment and ammo and supplies.
We did it during the Cold war.
Putin needs to die.
Temporarily anyway
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was in August 1939, a few days before Germany invaded Poland, but provided for dividing up Eastern Europe between Hitler and Stalin. Stalin moved into the Baltic states in June 1940.
Yes, Obama will send them MREs and 450 advisors to train their armies.
So the Nazi military was helpless? 25+ million killed and you scoff. How do manage to post so much crap?
You expect Obama to be bound by some stupid treaty?
Where are the protests by The Left on this?
Oh, well, the Soviet Union may be rising again, but we have transgender restrooms and did away with the Confederate flag! (heavy sarcasm)
What, like the Russkies were heroic to fight the Nazis? They were waiting for the Nazis in the first place to win the war and had already made agreements with them to divide up Europe. Only when Hitler realized that the Russians were going to invade soon did he strike. They had something like 35,000 tanks, an unprecedented number, which were still all destroyed by the Germans. Similarly, the Russkies lost something like 20 or so million soldiers. This does not bode well for the quality of the Russkie soldier. Also consider how the Russkies raped millions in their war campaign, actually having been given orders to do so, along with all the other nasty stuff that Russian soldiers did. (Even evidence of Russian soldiers engaging in cannibalism!) That's why I always laugh when Putin and his ilk glorify themselves as supposedly single-handedly defeating the Nazis and honoring their "war heroes." Most of them were criminals.
Estonian military must do everything to prevent the appearance of "little green men" in the country, Joinfo.ua reports referring to the statement of Lieutenant General Riho Terras made in an interview with Financial Times.Terras said: "You should shoot the first one to appear."
"If somebody without any military insignia commits terrorist attacks in your country you should shoot him … you should not allow them to enter," he added.
Terras made it clear that if necessary, he expected the application of Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, providing for collective response of the Alliance to an attack on a member of the organization.
"But, even more importantly, we need to make sure that Mr [Vladimir] Putin believes in article five. And I think we should put a lot of emphasis on that," Gen Terras said. Previously, we reported that Estonia had suspended railway communication with Russia.
Estonia to shoot Russian ‘little green men’ before arrival of NATO
Naturally, the weapon stockpiles are the first target in any military invasion. But the likely scenario in the Balt republics is the Ukrainian one: a cowardly incursion of commando units without insignia, then arming local Russian ethnics and fomenting a popular uprising.
Indeed. I am amazed how little understanding of the realities of the Second World War and the occupation that followed exists among the Russians. The fantasy of Stalin liberating Central Europe (first with Hitler, then without) is rooted deeply there.
The American weakness under Obama is very much a part of the equation for the Soviets (or whatever their self-identification is these days). A sov simply cannot conceive of a country that is living through its institutions regardless of the whims of its feeble leader.
Yes. A considerable faction there, I am convinced, would think that (1) a military revanche with the Soviet Union rebuilt, perhaps with some ideological corrections here and there, -- is a desirable goal and even a duty; and (2) that the historic opportunity with a near idiot as a Commander in Chief, the military overextended in countries of little strategic importance, growing national debt, rising ISIS, and the population preoccupied with fine-tuning homosexual relations of its citizenry, -- may never repeat itself in their lifetimes.
That is not the only faction, but the issue is not their numbers but access to power.
Actually, I disagree. It is quite likely that someone in Putin’s entourage would shoot him.
No, that is laughable even for the sovs to say. Instead it would be described as a continuing, thankless struggle to defeat fascism.
He, actually, since 1861 and till 1917, had actual freedom given him by the Czar. Unlike the Communists that starved them and machine-gunned them if they rebelled.
23 August 1939.
Good point, though.
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