The best thing that could happen is if all of the people in this area could kill Putin’s thugs either with a firearm or a knife, but any weapon would be fine. Eliminate Putin’s threats to them and evolve to a free, just, and independent country not dominated by a narcissistic dictator.
Putin will move into a place like Narva. The locals are ethnic Russian and won’t fight. His troops will take their insignia off and hide behind girls like they did in Crimea.
The problem I see is that it’s not clear if the Baltic governments will fight the Russians. You hear a lot of “we are a small country...” over there. Facing Russian aggressioin there is a strong probability Estonia would just invoke Article V and wait for help.
The Baltic peoples who took up arms against the Soviets the first time around were country folks. City folks for the most part were not armed partisans. Nowadays there just is not a large and able rural population in the Baltics. Also, some of the leaders of the Baltics are former commies with questionable ethics. That leads me to seriously doubt they will fight the Russian bear if it reappears.
I’m sure you’re right. I see it even among these so-called conservatives here. They’re fine with Putin as long as he feigns some claptrap about being Christian or an anti gay type of shibboleth. It’s enough to make you wonder if they’re just stupid, craven, or too partisan to see that there can be more than one enemy of freedom.
I have to admit I ADMIRE Putin. Say what you want but he is leading Russia to the benefit of Russia - imagine if we had a leader like that.
The one thing Russia may not have counted on is the Poles. I cannot imagine Poles standing idly by while they see their brethren in the Baltics being threatened. While for the most part they are taking a wait and see attitude toward Crimea, if it starts hitting close to home, it may be difficult for NATO to hold them back.
Ethnic Russians in the Baltics replaced millions of native Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians deported or killed by Stalin. The percentage of Russians is by far the lowest in Lithuania.
I think this is for two reasons. First, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact included Lithuania in the Nazi zone, but she was occupied by the Soviets. Second, the Lithuanian partisans (Forest Brothers) killed many Soviet emigres as they arrived to displace the natives. This was a disincentive to future migration.
The Baltic peoples who took up arms against the Soviets the first time around were country folks. City folks for the most part were not armed partisans. Nowadays there just is not a large and able rural population in the Baltics. Also, some of the leaders of the Baltics are former commies with questionable ethics. That leads me to seriously doubt they will fight the Russian bear if it reappears.
If their defense strategy is to fight the Russians to the last dead GI, I think we'd be better off having Estonia under the Russian flag.