IN 1997, when the world was a gentler place, NATO and Russia came to a far-reaching security agreement. As part of this, the Kremlin accepted the idea that several countries from the former Warsaw Pact would become full members of the alliance; in return, NATO agreed not to mass lots of troops, equipment and nuclear missiles on Russia’s border. Now Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has annexed Crimea and is threatening eastern Ukraine. This is particularly scary for the three Baltic states which became members of NATO in 2004: Estonia and Latvia both have Russian-speaking minorities of the sort Mr Putin “protected” in Crimea, while Lithuania stands between mother Russia and its Kaliningrad exclave. All three have been a target for Russian mischief, from cyberattacks to mock invasions.The Balts worry that the West will not protect them (see article). It is not hard to see why. Mr Putin has an inkling that NATO’s newer members are second-class citizens. There is some truth to this. For a long time before Russia’s annexation of...
from The Economist: Leaders http://ift.tt/P6C3Wj
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