Saber Rattling

The USS Ross, an Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer enters the Black Sea.  Washington Times

This will be joined by the French Commandant Birot, the Canadian HMCS Toronto, and the Spanish Almirante Juan de Borbon.  RT

NATO plans to go ahead with the Rapid Trident exercise in western Ukraine as Russia plans to go ahead with a strategic nuclear exercise in Altai.

Meanwhile France suspends delivery of the Vladivostok, a Mistrel Class Helicopter Carrier.

Simon Ghesquiere/Marine Nationale

 

A Reasonable Response

Marmelad

NordNordWest

Welcome to Königsberg

Now known as Kaliningrad, the Kaliningrad Oblast is an exclave of Russia completely surrounded by the EU states of Lithuania and Poland on the Baltic Sea. See the little red spot on the far left of the first map, that's Kaliningrad.  The formerly Prussian and German city of Königsberg was a gift to Stalin at the end of WWII.  It is home to the HQ of the Russian Baltic Fleet, in Kaliningrad and Baltiysk (Formerly the German City of Pillau), is the only Russian Navy port on the Baltic that is ice-free year round.

Are your Economic Sanctions Being Laughed At?

Close the land borders between Lithuania, Poland, and Kaliningrad.  No rail, no road, no gas pipelines, no electricity... nothing crosses those borders.  Let the Russian government feel the pain of resupplying their Baltic fleet entirely by sea or air. It doesn't require military force, it doesn't directly impact the Russian people themselves, and it can be accomplished in its entirety by two EU and NATO members.

Just A Thought

Would We Honor Our Commitments?

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

Estonia

24.8% Russian, but Harju County is 36% Russian and Ida-Viru is 70% Russian.

Latvia

26.9% Russian, but Daugavpils is 54%, Rēzekne 46.5, and even Riga, Latvia's capital is 40% Russian.

Russification

Russification is a form of cultural assimilation process during which non-Russian communities, voluntarily or not, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian one.   One example of 19th century Russification was the replacement of the Ukrainian, Polish, Lithuanian, and Belarusian languages by Russian in those areas.  This was a common practice during the Soviet Era, with mass deportations, reeducation, and forced schooling in Russian. It also explains large Russian populations in places like Kazakhstan.

So the question is...

When Putin moves again to "protect" the next group of Russian speakers, and he will move again, what are we going to do?  Are we going to war for Estonia or Latvia?