Page 79 - North Atlantic and Nordic Defense

North European and North Atlantic Defense: The Challenges Return

This latter point is crucial to Balts as well who would not like to be viewed by the Russians as an armed camp
on their borders in times of crisis, and not only the Russians living in Russia, but those in the Baltic republics
themselves.

FIGURE 25 BALTIC STATES; DAILY TELEGRAPH
Credible defense starts with what NATO can ask of the Baltic states themselves.

In the 1980s, there was a movement in Western Europe which called for “defensive defense,” which clearly
applies to the Balts.

Greater cooperation among the three states, and shaping convergence of systems so that resupply can be
facilitated is a good baseline.

Add to that deployments of defensive missile systems designed for short to mid-range operations, and the
ground work would be created for a stronger DEFENSIVE capability which would slow any Russian advance
down and facilitate the kind of air and naval intervention by NATO which would mesh very nicely with the
defensive capabilities of the Baltic states.

In a piece by Thomas Theiner called “Peace is Over for the Baltic States,” he looks at what kinds of actions by
the Baltic states make sense in terms of collaborative defense within the bounds of realistic expectations.

The key is not simply to wait for NATO’s so-called “rapid reaction force” to show up in time to view the
Russian forces occupying the Baltic states.

Most importantly, the three Baltic nations need a modern medium range air-defense system and tanks.

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