NEWSLINK: “‘They Will Die in Tallinn’: Estonia Girds for War With Russia; The head of the tiny NATO member’s special forces details his country’s preparations for a conflict many here see as inevitable” – Politico/Molly K. McKew

Map of Baltics and Environs, Including Kaliningrad

“… The Kremlin invaded Georgia to prevent its accession to NATO. Russia used different means to accomplish the same goal with Ukraine, and then attempted to assassinate the prime minister of Montenegro in a last-ditch effort to forestall the same — all of which expose the Kremlin’s deep paranoia about its former vassals defending themselves from Russian belligerence. The Baltics, though, were part of the group that ‘got away’ when Russia was weakened and stumbling. This was in no small part because the Balts remained laser-focused on ensuring their escape from the Iron Curtain was permanent. And they see better than most that we are all locked in a deadly dance with Putin’s growing and irrational insecurity — between the knowledge that even a small Kremlin miscalculation involving a NATO ally could lead to total war, and the vital need to build capabilities that deter even the possibility that this miscalculation can occur. …”

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