NATO-Generalsekretär Jens Stoltenberg
© Reuters"The threat from Russia is this big!"
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the Baltic countries are not subject to the threat of military attack. It follows from this statement that the calls of the heads of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to increase the presence of the North Atlantic alliance in their countries are unjustified, and the already existing NATO armed forces need to be withdrawn from the Baltics as unneeded.

"NATO sees concerns about terrorism and cyberattacks, but nothing points to the possibility of a conventional military attack on any of the NATO countries, including the Baltic countries," said Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance Jens Stoltenberg during his official visit to Denmark.

"We are alarmed by the actions of Russia and its possible intentions, but at the same time it is important that we do not overdramatize the situation," said Stoltenberg. A very characteristic statement.


Comment: What else can one respond with but "D'uh!"


On the one hand, the NATO secretary general can not abandon thinking in the shibboleth of the "Russian threat" altogether, because if there is no military threat from Russia, then why is his organization necessary at all? Therefore, there is an amazing concept of "possible intentions." Truly a new word in international relations: to develop a military strategy, pursue a policy of military deterrence in response to intentions that we do not know about, but which we assume, and within our narrow circle, we guess and fantasize about them.

But more important is that "on the other hand." A military attack on the Baltic countries is not foreseen, and there is no need to dramatize the situation.

These words of the NATO leader are directly addressed to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, who have "dramatized the situation" for years, declaring the impending Russian aggression and seeking to increase NATO's military presence on the Russian borders in the Baltic Sea region as much as possible.

In recent years, the countries of the Alliance have transferred heavy military equipment, aviation, military special forces to the Baltic states. At the Warsaw summit of NATO it was decided to quarter a NATO battalion in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on a rotating basis.

But this hardly seemed enough for the Baltic politicians. The Baltic countries sought that, for the sake of their protection, the allies in the North Atlantic Alliance should proceed to a direct break of the Russia-NATO Founding Act and place permanent land bases at Russian borders. Since the autumn of last year, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite has been seeking American air defense complexes in the Baltic States.

"Without US air defense systems, we will not have full protection," Grybauskaite said after meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence at the Munich conference in January this year. "We are trying to acquire some means of defense on our own, but direct participation by the United States is necessary."

However, direct involvement of the US is not foreseen. The new American administration is not going to ensure the security of the European allies at its own expense US President Donald Trump once again made this clear at a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who flew to Washington to save the Euro-Atlantic world from turmoil and division. The conversation between the American and the German leader, apparently did not work: Trump after the negotiations refused to shake Frau Chancellor's hand, and Merkel's composure after the conversation with the American leader was held in a tight and tense manner.

The result of the visit of the German Chancellor to Donald Trump was a diplomatic squabble between Berlin and Washington. The US president, as soon as the Chancellor of Germany went back across the ocean, wrote in "Twitter" that the meeting with Merkel had been great, but Berlin "owed huge sums of money to NATO and the United States." We have to pay for "the powerful and very expensive defense that we give Germany," Trump said.