What we care about
We believe in the secured continued peace and freedom of our beloved nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
As a community, it’s imperative we follow issues that may be threats to peace, build and maintain strong relationships in Congress, and act when we need to. Baltivist.com is one of the legs to a sound Baltic-activist (Baltivist) infrastructure.
Baltivist.com is an online infrastructure designed to host community-based advocacy, which is a strategy to influence policy-makers. Community-based advocacy expands upon traditional advocacy, which has been about making phone calls and writing emails to lawmakers. In addition to traditional advocacy, community-based advocacy enables activists to share intelligence, meet with legislators & staff, and watch their activism make a tangible difference.
Support us. Join us. Protect the Baltics.
We believe that a strong backing in Congress means a secure future for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Due to the activism of Baltic-Americans, we have a House Baltic Caucus and a Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus. If you would like to support the Baltics today, send a message to your Representative and two Senators asking them to join their respective Caucus or thanking them for being part of their respective Caucus. Click here to see if they have already joined a Baltic Caucus.
Please feel free to use the template below to use as a sample script for an email or phone call to message your Representative and Senators.
Baltic Caucus logo from 2020
Click here to see the latest list of members of the Baltic Caucuses.
Sample email to send to your Representative (if possible, ask for a reply):
Representative,
As one of your constituents of [Lithuanian/Latvian/Estonian] descent, issues affecting the Baltic nations are incredibly important for me. I know that support from Congress is essential to the continued freedom of our strong allies of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Each of the nations are on the frontlines of democracy and have been great allies for the United States.
Would you please join the House Baltic Caucus to show your support for our strong allies? You may contact Representatives Gallego (D-AZ) or Bacon (R-NE) to join the House Baltic Caucus.
Sample email to send to your Senators (if possible, ask for a reply)
Senator,
As one of your constituents of [Lithuanian/Latvian/Estonian] descent, issues affecting the Baltic nations are incredibly important for me. I know that support from Congress is essential to the continued freedom of our strong allies of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Each of the nations are on the frontlines of democracy and have been great allies for the United States.
Would you please join the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus to show your support for our strong allies? You may contact Senator Durbin (D-IL) or Grassley (R-IA) to join the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus.
In January 2022, it is possible tha Putin may invade Ukraine. This is a developing issue we are monitoring closely.
Supporting Ukraine includes fighting for issues aligned with support for the Baltics including fighting the Kremlin’s disinformation, cyber, and traditional wars.
We believe in the freedom of our Belarusian sisters and brothers from the brutal Lukashenka dictatorship.
Thousands of people have been imprisoned for fabricated reasons, held in inhumane conditions, and punished for speaking out. We stand with our friends from the Belarusian-American Association (BAZA) in calling for the freedom of Belarus.
To secure freedom, the US needs to continue imposing sanctions against top Lukashenka regime officials and help create an environment for a peaceful transition of power to a free Belarus.
Learn more:
Front Lines of Belarusian Protests (10/5/2021)
The Difficult Question Facing the Belarusian Freedom Movement (10/12/2021)
How a community got DC to pay attention to Belarus amidst a pandemic and an election (11/23/2020)
Forgive me Belarus, I’m now ready to call for your freedom (8/19/2020)
The Baltics are important providers of valuable capabilities with respective NATO Centers of Excellence: cyber (Estonia), strategic communications (Latvia), and energy security (Lithuania).
Each country also has important relationships with their respective partner states and their National Guards: Maryland (Estonia), Michigan (Latvia), and Pennsylvania (Lithuania). These ties, and their people-to-people components, should be supported.
We support:
- Continued strong funding for the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI) and Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for the Baltic countries.
- Having U.S. troops permanently deployed in the Baltic countries, in coordination with Enhanced Forward Presence (EFP) deployments currently underway in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Learn More: (Thank you to Baltivist Rasa McKean for sharing this CEPA Report)
Fake news is dangerous. It’s even more dangerous when in the hands of an enemy state.
Funding for programs to help fight against the Kremlin’s propaganda and disinformation campaigns needs to be increased. Levels allocated for the Global Engagement Center and other programs are insufficient when scaled against the massive amounts that the Kremlin puts into discrediting the United States, its allies, and Western values.
The Baltics have been on the front lines fighting disinformation. A group of Lithuanian “elves” fight Russian “trolls” in the information space.
The late Senator John McCain called Russia “A Gas Station Run by a Mafia That Is Masquerading as a Country.” Russia is at risk of gaining stronger energy dominance over Europe, which would increase its power of the Baltics and the rest of the Europe.
Also, we need to discourage the construction of the Astravets Nuclear Power Plant in Belarus, as it poses a dangerous threat to Lithuania and its neighbors.
The Nord Stream 2 project will entrench Russian dominance of the European gas market, and it destroys the concept of diversifying supplies. This increases European dependence on Russian gas for the long term, significantly strengthening Russia’s political hand in Europe. (Financial Times: Nord Stream 2: A Test of German Power). This makes U.S. allies in Central and Eastern Europe significantly more vulnerable to Russian political control and military might, potentially for decades.
The pipeline will also provide new funding for Putin’s regime, which will spend the proceeds on propaganda, repression, new wars, and annexations. (The Guardian: The pipeline feeding billions to Putin … evading sanctions on the way). It would also lead to potential loss for Ukraine of some $2 billion per year of Russian gas transit fees, undermining its war-torn economy and investment by the U.S. and EU in reforms there. (Reuters: Up against Germany, EU bid for gas talks with Moscow falters)
Here at home, American liquefied natural gas producers will lose a significant potential business opportunity.
Learn more:
Video by Senator Ted Cruz explaining Nord Stream 2, produced November, 2019.
The Three Seas Initiative is a multi-billion dollar infrastructure development program for the region stretching between the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas. The program has a special focus on infrastructure, energy and digital interconnectivity.
The improvement of the infrastructure connections of the 12 states is an essential condition for building an area of stability and prosperity, which in turn can greatly contribute to wider EU stability and prosperity. Setting a new dynamic of cooperation among the countries lying at the Eastern border of the EU on the North – South Axis will advance economic growth and help to bridge the East – West economic gap, within the EU.
Baltivist Blog Posts
Call your Member of Congress to Support the 3 Seas Initiative
Learn more:
Congressional Research Service Report on the 3 Seas Initiative
We believe that Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian Jewish culture and history are part of our shared Baltic culture and history. We believe in cultural integration and historical education on this subject.
This issue is not political, and is cultural instead.
Here are some ideas we support:
- Inviting Jewish groups to song and dance festivals
- Incorporating school curricula to include Jewish history and culture
- Attending and sharing events
- Creating positions among the governing bodies of our respective cultural groups to focus on Jewish culture and history
- Encouraging visitors to the Baltics, especially students on internships, to visit Jewish cultural and historical sites
- Broadening the recognition of the Holocaust in the Baltics
- Encouraging others to share ideas
Blog posts:
Think you know the issues? Click "Next" to test your knowledge.
Results
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#1. What military alliance are Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania a part of?
In 2004, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joined NATO. NATO has an article that states that provides that an attack against one member nation is an attack against all. The only time a NATO country has been attacked and called for other nations to support was the US after September 11th, 2001.
All three Baltic nations, despite only joining after September 11th, responded by sending troops to fight the War on Terror.
#2. All NATO countries are asked to spend 2% of GDP on military spending. Which of the following countries meet this? (Mark all that apply)
Select all that apply:
All three Baltic nations meet the NATO 2% threshold. All NATO nations are asked to spend 2% of their GDP’s on the military by 2024. The countries that currently spend 2% are:
Greece, UK, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, USA.
#3. What is the name of the group that is actively fighting online disinformation spread by Russian government "trolls"
Lithuanian Nykstukai, translated as “Elves”, coordinate with NATO to combat Russian disinformation – otherwise known as fake news.
#4. What is the name of the pipeline Russia is trying to build that would increase their control of energy over Europe?
Nord Stream 2 is a trap. It would reduce energy costs in Europe, but would increase the power of Russia, which gains a lot of political power from energy. We are strongly opposed to the construction of this pipeline.
The Baltic community and other allies have successfully advocated for 2 bills to sanction companies that would construct the pipeline, despite multimillion dollar lobbying efforts by Russian gas giants.
#5. Who chairs the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus? (Mark all that apply)
Select all that apply:
Both Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) co-chair the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus. They’ve both done an incredible job to rally other Senators behind the Baltic cause when we need help.
Senator Dick Durbin is Lithuanian-American himself!
#6. Who chairs the House Baltic Caucus? (Mark all that apply)
Select all that apply:
The House Baltic Caucus has over 70 members. It was originally founded by Representative John Shimkus (R-IL) an American of Lithuanian descent who was convinced by a member of the Baltic American Freedom League to start the Caucus.
The House Baltic Caucus has been instrumental to get Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to join NATO, among many other successes.
Both Representative Gallego of Arizona and Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska joined as co-chairs in 2021. Fun fact about Rep. Don Bacon, he represents Omaha, Nebraska, which is the home to some of the best Napoleonas cake made by the Lithuanian Bakery.
#7. What is the name of the Central/East European infrastructure development program backed by Congress?
The Three Seas Initiative is named for the region that borders the Baltic, Black, and Adriatic Seas. The goal of the 3 Seas Initiative is to spur infrastructure development. The Baltic community and its allies has been advocating successfully to get the United States to help invest over $1 billion to the Three Seas Initiative.
#8. Which hero with Baltic roots has a statue in front of the White House?
Tadeusz Kosziuszko fought in the American Revolutionary War for his belief in the ideals of a new United States of America that believes in equality. In fact, his friend Thomas Jefferson wrote “He is as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known.”
In Kosziuszko’s will, he requested that his estate be sold to buy the freedom and education of black slaves, including the slaves of Jefferson, so they could have independent lives and work. The will, unfortunately, was never executed.
Priority Bills
| Senate Bill | House Bill | Summary | More information |
|---|---|---|---|
| S.14 | NA | Combating Global Corruption Act to Make Anti-Corruption a National Security Priority | Press release |
| S.93 | NA | Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Reauthorization Act | Press release |
| S.158 | H.R.402 | Counter Corruption and Promote Good Governance | Press release |
| S.208 | NA | Would impose sanctions on current or former officials of Russia's government that were involved in the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. | |
| S.Res.26 | NA | Resolution expressing that the activities of Russian national Yevheniy Prigozhin and his affiliated entites pose a threat to national interests and US partners. | |
| NA | H.R.922 | Would enact the Crimea Annexation Non-Recognition Act. Would prohibit any federal agency from recognizing or implying any recognition of Russia's sovereignty over Crimea. | |
| NA | H.R.3388 | Would enact the Transatlantic Telecommunications Security Act to combat malign influence | Press Release |
| NA | H.Res.440 | This is a resolution commending Lithuania for refusing to ratify the E.U.'s Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement with Cuba | Lithuania was the only E.U. country to refuse to ratify the agreement with Cuba. Rep. Malliotakis's mother is a Cuban exile of the Castro dictatorship. |
