A Nation Must Think Before it Acts
Baltic Sea
A nation must think before it acts.
Baltic Sea
Estonia’s Next President Must Give Top Priority To Foreign Affairs
On August 29, 2016, the Estonian parliament (Riigikogu) will vote on the country’s next president. This election comes at a time of considerable uncertainty surrounding the security situation in the Baltic Sea region. In the Estonian political system, the...
Read more »The Strategic Implications for the Baltic States of the NATO Warsaw Summit
On July 7-9 2016, heads of NATO member states met in Warsaw for their first summit since Wales in September 2014. The Wales summit saw NATO take steps to strengthen the alliance, particularly against the danger posed by Russia. ...
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NATO’s Moves to Deter Russia Won’t End Georgia’s Membership Limbo
The tenor of NATO’s summit in Warsaw late last week focused overwhelmingly on deterring Russia’s military adventurism. While it was a positive turn for members of the alliance’s eastern flank, such as Poland and the Baltic states, longstanding NATO...
Read more »Latvia’s Debate About Russian Propaganda
In the context of Russia’s aggression in Eastern Ukraine and tensions in Russia-EU relations, the so-called “information war” between Russia and the West has become a journalistic buzzword, a rhetorical tool in political debates, and a source of deep...
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The Baltic States in European Security: A Report of an FPRI Roundtable at the 25th Biennial Meeting of the American Association of Baltic Studies
On May 27-30, 2016, the American Association of Baltic Studies held its 25th biennial meeting at the University of Pennsylvania. FPRI was pleased to be a sponsor of the meeting, host of a roundtable discussion, and co-host of the...
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Friends, But Not Allies: Finland, Sweden, and NATO in the Baltic Sea
Could Sweden and Finland become NATO’s newest members? Russia’s aggressive behavior in the international arena and its enhanced military activity in the Nordic-Baltic region is causing Sweden and Finland to re-evaluate their security and defense policies, and to rethink...
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Lithuania Reinstates Conscription: Implications on Security, National Identity, and Gender Roles
In March 2015, the Lithuanian government reinstated conscription, which had previously been suspended in 2008. Each year between 3,000 and 3,500 men aged 19 to 26 years are to be enlisted in the military for nine months. Recently, the...
Read more »Blunting Moscow’s Sword of Damocles Policy in the Baltic Region
The Roman philosopher Cicero recounted how King Dionysius answered a courtier, Damocles, who thought that ruling a realm was merely pleasure and leisure. In response, King Dionysius offered Damocles to switch places. However, King Dionysius ordered that a...
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Lithuanian Security Culture: Contrasts and Contradictions
Although NATO and even Scandinavian partners have stepped up efforts to provide security to Eastern Europe over the past two years there is a continued emphasis on the need for NATO, and specifically the U.S., to do more in...
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Lost in Conflation: The Estonian City of Narva and Its Russian-Speakers
Media accounts suggest that the Baltic Sea region is reaching a boiling point. Russian military actions and irredentist aggression in Eastern Ukraine and Crimea have dramatically altered our understanding of the region. Journalists, security experts, and scholars alike are...
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