Russia may not stop with Ukraine - NATO looks to its weakest link

[highplainsdem]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-may-not-stop-with-ukraine-nato-looks-its-weakest-link-2022-03-21/


Please click the link to read the entire article, rather than just the snippets below.

ON BOARD THE SUPPLY SHIP ELBE, Latvia, March 21 (Reuters) - Hours after Russian missiles first struck Ukrainian cities on Feb. 24, German naval commander Terje Schmitt-Eliassen received notice to sail five warships under his command to the former Soviet Republic of Latvia to help protect the most vulnerable part of NATO's eastern flank.

-snip-

The three tiny countries, with a combined population of some six million people, have a single overland link to the alliance's main territory. A corridor of some 65 km (40 miles) is squeezed between the heavily armed Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the west and Belarus on the east.

-snip-

Mines – whether old and unexploded or freshly laid – can have an impact beyond destruction, Schmitt-Eliassen said. A mine sighting, or rumoured sighting, can close harbours for days while the area is swept. If that happens in the Baltic, there's a risk "the supermarket shelves will remain empty."

-snip-

"We all thought that there wouldn't be an enemy anymore," Admiral Rob Bauer, the chairman of NATO's military committee, told Reuters. "We now are confronted with a nation that is showing that it is aggressive, that it has forces that we thought were not going to be used anymore."

-snip-

This definitely backs up Zelensky's warning that the Baltic states will be Putin's next target.

[Lovie777]

1. That's why it has to stop at Ukraine . . . .

Putin will not stop and will kill countless opposition parties while destroying it's territory.

[sarcasmo]

3. Bingo, or all of Europe becomes scorched Earth.

[Ray Bruns]

4. Agreed. What is this "may not stop" BS.

Once Putin finishes in Ukraine, he'll head for the Baltic states.

[ck4829]

5. And the weakest links may not be countries but also factions inside those countries

Just remember, the Kremlin didn’t sanction any Republicans.

[gab13by13]

6. The key word in this article is "Putin."

Putin may not be in office.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

9. I would add just one word to your post,

The Vladimir Putin going out of business fire sale.

And, as you said, hopefully we will soon see.

[Irish_Dem]

7. Russia and China will continue to challenge Western world order.

Ukraine is just the beginning.

[uponit7771]

10. "may not" !?!? Come on NATO Putrid is as stupid as his concubine here in the US. Putrid just wears

... better fitted suits and doesn't drink with both hands.

Both are stupid bastards to the nth degree

[Wounded Bear]

11. The Baltic States are an obvious target for Russian expansion....

Conqueering them would give Russia it's link to Kaliningrad, plus several deepwater ports on the Baltic.

Like Ukraine, they were subjects of the old Russian Empire, and of the USSR, taken over by Stalin in 1940.

And they have a lot less area to defend, and a lot less population to overcome.