PrairiePundit

 Washington Examiner: P oland and Lithuania on Monday openly broke ranks with the Biden administration over Ukraine. It evinces their deep concern over the U.S. response to Russia's  threatened invasion of Ukraine . In a show of support for Ukraine, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and Polish President Andrzej Duda traveled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The three leaders " called  upon the international community to step up sanctions on the Russian Federation over its ongoing aggression against Ukraine." In a clear reference to Ukraine's want for more weapons, Zelensky requested "powerful preventative actions" from the West. ... Biden has a history of poor judgment on military matters as the Afghan fiasco proves. 

Washington Examiner: Chinese diplomats disrupted a pro-Hong Kong protest in Lithuania on the anniversary of a major anti-Soviet demonstration, according to the Baltic nation’s top diplomat, resulting in the arrest of two Chinese citizens. “The behavior of some diplomats crossed that line diplomats should have,” Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevičius told reporters in Vilnius. “Lithuania is a free country and one can express thoughts and opinions here but that should be done in accordance with the public order. It applies, first of all, to citizens, but the diplomatic corps must be neutral.” The foreign minister aired that public rebuke after summoning the Chinese ambassador to lodge a formal protest on Monday, warning the embassy not to “violate the democratic freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of Lithuania and disturb public order.” Chinese diplomats were filmed clashing with demonstrators on Aug. 23, when supporters of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong made a h...

Daily Mail: US sends elite commandos to the border of Russia to defend nervous Baltic states while NATO beefs up its defenses The Americans are eager to help the small armies of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia repel any possible threat from their neighbor to the east and reassure them of Washington's commitment to NATO. The three may be among the few NATO allies who are actually spending a greater percentage of the GDP on defense than NATO targets.  They are being trained to resist a Russian invasion with insurgency tactics.  Having been a part of the old Soviet Union they are familiar with Russian military operations and the weaknesses of some of their older equipment.

BBC: The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have been studying the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, writes Robert Beckhusen for Medium, and they think they've learned an important lesson The way to stop Russian tanks isn't with other tanks, he says, it's with anti-tank missiles. Lots of them. When it faced off against Russia, Georgia didn't have this capability - and it proved costly. Beckhuson quotes Frederic Labarre, who wrote a history of one of the key battles in the Russia-Georgia conflict for Small Wars Journal. "On the one hand, it is clear that cool-headed infantry is more than a match for armour, especially in an urban environment," Labarre says. "This lesson had been put to the test many times and many years before, by many countries. One wonders therefore why it wasn't applied by the Georgians." The Baltic states, according to Beckhusen, aren't interested in repeating these strategic errors. Over the past two years, they ha...

Guardian: Washington and its western allies have for the first time since the end of the cold war drawn up classified military plans to defend the most vulnerable parts of eastern Europe against Russian threats, according to confidential US diplomatic cables. The US state department ordered an information blackout when the decision was taken earlier this year. Since January the blueprint has been refined. Nine Nato divisions – US, British, German, and Polish – have been identified for combat operations in the event of armed aggression against Poland or the three Baltic states. North Polish and German ports have been listed for the receipt of naval assault forces and British and US warships. The first Nato exercises under the plan are to take place in the Baltic next year, according to informed sources. Following years of transatlantic dispute over the new policy, Nato leaders are understood to have quietly endorsed the strategy at a summit in Lisbon last month. Despite Presid...

BBC: A Lithuanian company plans to set up a holiday island in the Maldives run entirely by blondes - the latest project in a growing blonde movement in the Baltics. But how legitimate is this latest sign of Baltic blonde ambition? What do you call a blonde who runs a business? A dab hand at marketing, if she comes from Lithuania . Blondes in the Baltics have had enough of the jokes about being dumb. Now they want to show they are smarter than the gags make out, with a growing blonde business empire. The Lithuanian company Olialia, pronounced "ooh-la-la", is setting up a holiday resort in the Maldive islands. The firm plans to pull in the tourists by employing only blonde staff, and offering direct flights to the island crewed entirely by blondes, including the pilots. Olialia is run and staffed by blonde women, and already operates in 75 different business sectors, making products from computer software and food products to pop music. ... They certainly have an...