We will show that we stand up for each other, Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (AP) said when she visited the Norwegian soldiers in the NATO country Lithuania.
The Norwegian force in the country was expanded in February, just a few days after Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine. Huitfeldt reassured everyone present that there was no imminent danger of war in Lithuania.
“There is no immediate threat… But it is important for us to show that NATO solidarity applies in full,” she told NTB in the camp where the Norwegian soldiers are stationed.
Many of the soldiers there are young, and some have just completed their first service. In Lithuania, they will serve as a deterrent to a Russian attack on NATO countries.
“We will show that we have a credible deterrent and that we stand up for each other,” Huitfeldt emphasized.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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When we did the Kiev coup in 2014, I am the first person I know of to get on my (WaPo, etc.) forums and more directly to SecDef Chuck Hagel and urge we immediately get U.S. Army NATO nuclear tripwire detachments into the Baltics, and a day or two later, troops of U.S. Cavalry were on their way … by air, not horse.
Not long after, the Russians came across Estonia’s border to grab operative Eston Kohver, but they returned him – minus his pistol and cash – and Estonia then built a border fence to prevent such casual tourism.
As long as there are (small, defensive) U.S. Army detachments in the Baltics, the bottomline deterrent is there.
It is wonderful that Norway wants to show Scandinavian deterrent solidarity like this, but we should never *mass* offensive weapons like too many tanks and attack helicopters in the Baltics, or that offensive threat could start something very dangerous.