A fascinating tale spun from the politics today positing an invasion of the Baltic States by the Russian Federation, made all the more plausible because of a Trump presidency in 2017. Interestingly, the author, Richard Shirreff, former deputy supreme allied commander Europe, begs the reader to imagine that a Trump presidency would embolden Putin to rectify perceived wrongs of an 1997 treaty agreement excluding the Baltics (any state bordering Russia) from NATO membership. Moreover, coupled with Mr. Trump's (candidate for US President) comments that America's commitment to NATO depends on whether the NATO member has paid membership dues (non of the Baltics have paid their NATO obligations) would invigorate the Russian military to invade the Baltics.
As I read the article online, grandpa1's recent scenario came to mind. See
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showp...41&postcount=1.
In The Atlantic piece, excellent background material for our game, I found the following foreboding:
"As Jeffrey Tayler warned in The Atlantic in 2002, “If NATO expands to include the Baltic states, it risks acquiring a flash point for tension with Russia that could compromise, if not destroy, the alliance.”
Uri Friedman, July 27 2016, "What if Russia Invaded the Baltics, and Donald Trump was President"
http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...ticle-comments.
Also, in the Evening Standard, we find this snippet from Shirreff's book, "2017 - War with Russia,"
"On a sunny day in May a team of American trainers are relaxing at a bar outside Donetsk, Ukraine. They are lured to dinner by a group of friendly locals, soon revealed to be an ill-disguised band of Russian Spetsnaz special forces. One of the Americans is shot as he escapes and the rest are soon on Moscow television denounced as US guerrillas bent on fomenting war on the Russian people. Within hours the Russian president is implementing his plan for a war to unite all Russians, or rather as many as possible, and humiliate their arch nemesis, the American dominated Nato alliance."
Fox, Robert 19 May 2016, "2017: War with Russia by General Sir Richard Shierrf - review"
http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/...-a3252576.html
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War with Russia - the Baltics this Time
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