Closing NATO's Baltic gap
Wesley Clark (Author), Jüri Luik (Author), Egon Ramms (Author), Richard Shirreff (Author), International Centre for Defence and Security (Tallinn) (Publisher)
Under the present regime in the Kremlin, Russia poses a serious threat to NATO, particularly to its eastern-flank Allies. This report raises the crucial issue of political guidance and responsibility. The authors oppose vehemently any approach in which the military is not provided with enough political support, guidance and resources to implement the demanding task of strengthening deterrence on the eastern flank of the Alliance. They considered it important to remind that deterrence has two key pillars, the political and the military, which must complement each other. Political deterrence messages will lack credibility without military capabilities and an effective defence strategy; military deterrence will not work without the political will to use those capabilities. The authors are concerned that many gaps, strategic, political, military and even psychological, are present in NATO's deterrence posture in the Baltic area and need to be urgently addressed in Warsaw and beyond
eBook, English, 2016
International Centre for Defence and Security, Tallinn, Estonia, 2016