Foreign Affairs
Related: About this forumPutin's Appetite Will Only Grow.' Estonia's PM Says We're Not Doing Enough to Stop Russia
Kaja Kallas has clear memories of the Soviet occupation. She was a teenager when Estonia became independent, and she remembers growing up before that with empty shop shelves, a passport that would not allow her to travel to countries outside the Eastern bloc, and a chilling atmosphere that kept people from speaking freely outside their homes. She also remembers the stories about the harsher deprivationsdeportations, imprisonment that her parents and grandparents faced. So now that Kallas is Estonias Prime Minister, it makes sense that she has become one of the most vocal advocates for taking an unyielding stance against Putin.
If Putin wins, or if he even has the view that he has won this war, his appetite will only grow, Kallas, 44, said in late March, sitting in the elegant neoclassical buildingits salons lined with paintings of Estonian patriotsthat serves as the seat of government. And that means he will consider other countries. Thats why we have to do everything we can to stop him now.
Like other countries in the region, Estonia has had painful experiences with Russian oppression. Occupied by the Soviet Union in the 1940s, the countrys farms were forcibly collectivized and tens of thousands of its citizens deported to Siberia. It was not until 1991, when the USSR was collapsing, that the country regained its independence. Quickly reverting to democracy, Estonia joined the European Union in 2004, and put a forward-looking emphasis on digitalizationall of its public services and much of its business is conducted online. It has since become one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe. But it has never relinquished its mistrust of its powerful neighbor to the east, with whom it shares nearly 200 miles of border.
Although allies like Poland and Hungary were once in the Soviet sphere of influence, the Baltic states are the only NATO members that were formally incorporated into the USSR. Coupled with their tiny size and close proximity to Russia, that history has made some in the region feel especially vulnerablea sense that was heightened in 2007, when, in the midst of a disagreement with Russia about the relocation of a Soviet-era monument, Estonias parliament, banks, and other major institutions were the victim of a massive cyberattack whose sophistication suggested to some experts that it was state-sponsored. NATO responded by creating a cyber-defense center in the Estonian capital of Tallinn.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/putins-appetite-will-only-grow-estonias-prime-minister-says-were-not-doing-enough-to-stop-russia/ar-AAVJtRA
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)who has finger on the nuclear button?
Fiendish Thingy
(15,631 posts)Fear of Putin using nukes has kept NATO from supplying all needed arms and support to Ukraine.
If Putin moves on the Tiny Baltic states, that fear wont suddenly disappear because of a piece of paper with Article 5 written on it.
Putin (and more importantly his inner circle) should fear NATOs nukes, not the other way around.