There's a longer history involved. Once upon a time, "Captive Nations Week" was a major part of the Cold War, with particular emphasis on Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, press-ganged into the Soviet Union after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact went the way of all totalitarian deals. The third week of July is still, by an act of Congress, "Captive Nations Week," and former Soviet republics still figure in presidential proclamations.
The Baltic republics are the current political division of an area called Livonia on old maps, a coastal plain that has been contested for centuries, the local tribes' wishes notwithstanding, by Danes, Poles, Prussians, Russians, and Swedes. "Poland and the Baltic States have permanent interests that transcend Communism: before Stalin there was Alexander I, before Alexander I there was Peter the Great, before Peter the Great ... (where's the Russian history collection when I need it?)" That is, when they're not fighting the Prussians. "Poland's King Wladislaw Jagiello, in alliance with Lithuania's Grand Duke Witold, managed to out-maneuver and surround a better-equipped army of Teutonic Knights."
That was so sixteenth century, though. More recently, the Atlantic Alliance have been working with the Prussians to send the Tsar of All The Russias a message.
And now the Bundeswehr hold a military ceremony in Vilnius.
I don't know, are the Germans playing Preußens Gloria more frequently these days? In front of the French Embassy in Berlin, two years ago, might there be echoes of 1871 there? And now, deploying a Panzer brigade in Vilnius? Red State's Ward Clark worries, "Meanwhile, there may well be an old, old man in Vilnius, watching the German tanks roll in with some trepidation." Well, perhaps: that NATO exercise in 2016 (named ANACONDA) might have been a warning to the Tsar that closing off the Suwalki Corridor is feasible. Are there people thinking out loud that it might be time to make Kalininigrad Königsberg, the historic capital of East Prussia, again.
I don't know, are the Germans playing Preußens Gloria more frequently these days? In front of the French Embassy in Berlin, two years ago, might there be echoes of 1871 there? And now, deploying a Panzer brigade in Vilnius? Red State's Ward Clark worries, "Meanwhile, there may well be an old, old man in Vilnius, watching the German tanks roll in with some trepidation." Well, perhaps: that NATO exercise in 2016 (named ANACONDA) might have been a warning to the Tsar that closing off the Suwalki Corridor is feasible. Are there people thinking out loud that it might be time to make Kalininigrad Königsberg, the historic capital of East Prussia, again.
During the formal parade of German and Lithuanian troops before the two nations' political and military leaders, note the large WE STAND UNITED sign held by civilian spectators in the front row.
In Lithuania, Kaunas is the only city among the Hansa, although you will find others in Estonia and Latvia. Countries have permanent interests, and trade unites, nicht wahr?
In Lithuania, Kaunas is the only city among the Hansa, although you will find others in Estonia and Latvia. Countries have permanent interests, and trade unites, nicht wahr?
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