Fellow Baltic-Americans, prove we learned from our history. Vote for Biden. Vote against Trump.

Before coming home from Vilnius in May of 2016, my wife Kriste and I had one item we wanted to check off our lists, but we struggled to find it.

So we asked a stranger, “excuse me, do you know where Kiaule Ruke is?”

We get a blank stare. Maybe our Lithuanian isn’t very good.

“The mural with Trump and Putin kissing?”

Again, a blank stare. What the heck?! This felt like the biggest deal at the time!

No matter, the internet is faster and cheaper in Lithuania than in the US, so we do some digging online.

Google Maps takes us to the edge of the city, and there it is in all its splendor. We snap a picture.

The trip was worth it.

During the same trip, we have a conversation with one of my old friends who was living in Vilnius at the time. After he finished finding my moderate grasp of the Lithuanian language amusing, we got to politics.

“I hope you the United State elects Donald Trump as president.”

He’s good at pushing my buttons. I wait for him to continue, praying he redeems himself.

“In America, you don’t understand consequences. With Trump, you’ll understand that sometimes there are consequences to having bad leaders in office.”

Flash forward four years, and I had enough of learning about consequences when my friend was sprayed with mace by troops to clear a path for the President to take a photo op. My friend hid behind DC police, who were horrified at the site of this brazen act of violence from the White House.

I had enough of learning about consequences when a friend desperately reached out to me. Her friends were wrongfully arrested for protesting in DC and were being confined in overcrowded spaces. She asked anyone she knew in DC that maybe had connections to lawyers to help her friends.

There was no mistake, both actions within that crazy week were direct consequences of electing a president who took to violence to engage in a race war in his DC backyard.

I had enough of learning about consequences.

At least the doomsday scenario of Russia openly invading Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania never happened.

Analysis

Let’s face it though, the world is more complicated than traditional invasions. There’s a new world of “hybrid warfare”, which encompasses other means of exerting power like through hacking, spreading disinformation, and exerting influence through energy dominance.

Russia is really good at hybrid warfare.

So how has President Trump fared in combatting hybrid warfare?

Am I about to concede to my Republican friends that Trump was actually tough on Russia?

Or am I about to prove that Trump was a pure agent of Putin and always acted in Putin’s interest?

Let’s see how President Trump really fared in protecting the Baltics by combatting hybrid warfare.

Y’all, we’re about to get nerdy. Buckle up.

Big picture result: President Trump can take credit on certain major actions to improve the security of the Baltics, but also failed to act in times when he could have provided certainty to the future of Baltic security. A Joe Biden presidency would provide more assurance for security for the Baltic countries.

So you win some and you lose some. For this analysis, I’ll overview a comparison of NATO spending, the Three Seas Initiative (3SI), Foreign Military Financing (FMF), European Deterrence Initiative (EDI), Nord Stream 2 (NS2), spreading disinformation and sanctions.

Wins

NATO spending

You’ve probably heard this story before. President Trump asked for NATO countries to reach their 2% of GDP spending on the military, which NATO countries agreed they would do, or at least move towards it, by 2024.

It’s not 2024 yet, but according to the BBC in July, 2020, there are 9 countries that already meet the 2% threshold. This is an increase from 5 countries that met the threshold in 2016. The four additional countries are Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Romania.

Cool.

Three Seas Initiative

You know what, never mind. I wrote a whole analysis of the actions & things said by Trump and Biden on the technical alphabet soup mentioned earlier. If you want to see the nerdy analysis, reach out to me at vytas@baltivist.com.

As Baltic-Americans, there is one reason that stands alone for why we should vote for Biden/Harris over Trump.

President Trump embraces tyranny.

We’ve seen tyranny wear the mask of Communism and Nazism. We have to be able to see tyranny wear its mask in other forms – including when the President of the United States wears it.

We know tyranny. It’s filled with lies, propaganda, state violence, incompetence, support from supremacists, attacks on journalism, and attacks on freedom fighters.

As Baltic-Americans we must prove that we learned from tyranny and we must oppose it in all its forms.

Oppose tyranny. Oppose President Trump.

Vote.

Baltivist.com is the online-hub of grassroots Baltic-American activism. We are a bi-partisan coalition that works closely with JBANC, the Estonian American National Council, the American Latvian Association, and the Lithuanian-American Community to push for our shared priorities through Congress.

To be involved with this modern Baltic freedom movement, join at baltivist.com for only $25 a year.

Views expressed are solely the views expressed by authors and do not represent the views of the Baltic-American community as a whole.

Related Articles

Responses

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Receive points forPoints earnedHow often you can earn these points
Joining Baltivist.com10Once
Creating profile picture10Once
Creating cover photo10Once
Updating profile information10Once
Commenting on a blog post1Forever
Publishing a new blog post25Forever
Sending a friendship request1Forever
Accepting a friendship request3Forever
Getting a friendship request accepted2Forever
Writing a public message on a group or publicly1Forever
Replying to a public message1Forever
Favoriting an activity stream item1Forever
Receiving a favorite on an activity stream item2Forever
Creating a group15Forever
Joining a group1Forever
Get promoted to group moderator/administrator10Forever
Promoting another group member to moderator/administrator5Forever
Visiting the main issues page1Once per week
Reading any issues page3Once per month
Adding an issue25Forever
Reviewing the bill tracker3Once per week
Reviewing an active bill3Once per month
Reviewing an inactive bill3Once
Reviewing the Member of Congress Tracker3Once per week
Checking on a Representative3Once per month per Representative
Checking on a Senator3Once per month per Senator

This page is for Baltivist members only. To view this page and the rest of Baltivist.com, sign up below for *only* $25 a year. 

Baltivists (Baltic activists) are Lithuanian-Americans, Latvian-Americans, Estonian-Americans, and friends who want to ensure the continued freedom of the Baltic countries. We are bipartisan and understand that our strong relationship with members of BOTH major political parties is key to continued independence. In the spirit of being one community, users who knowingly share false information or are disrespectful to other users on Baltivist.com will be removed.

Please join our community and help us keep the Baltics free!

We understand that during these uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to connect with others while still social distancing. To help, Baltivist.com is free until July 1st with the following code:

UntilJuly1

For around $2 a month: ($25 a year)

Connect
Connect with other Baltivists WITHOUT selling your data (unlike other social media)
Create meaningful change
Advocate Congress with the expertise of DC advocacy professionals
Track members of Congress
See & share relevant Baltic activity for your Senators and Representative
Issue fact sheets
See what issues are currently affecting the Baltic countries in Congress
Advocacy Tips & Tricks
Read about how you can create change more effectively, and share your experiences with a dedicated community
Bill Tracker
Track bills in Congress related to Baltic issues with summaries, bill actions, and inside intelligence
Previous slide
Next slide

login

register