Putin's Next Move?

The President of the United States is very likely a Russian stooge. This basic reality is Putin's opportunity, but the President is up for re-election in six months. This means that Putin has that amount of time to move against the Baltic States, which is surely where he will look next as he continues to push back the borders of his country in an attempt to restore the glory days of the USSR.

These countries, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, are NATO allies - they rely almost 100% on the alliance for their protection from Russia. But that alliance is led by a man who benefitted from Russian interference in the last US presidential election, and who meets Putin in private for hours at a time with no debrief provided regarding their conversations. This is totally unprecedented. Putin would be relying on Trump to do nothing of substance should he make a move against the Baltic States soon.

Russia would not out and out invade as there are small NATO forces in these countries and they would not want a face-to-face confrontation that could trigger a wider war.  

The Russian move could take the form of sowing instability in the Eastern ares of these countries, possibly by backing ethnic Russian enclaves, perhaps claiming that these enclaves are suffering from ethnic-based oppression - precisely what Hitler did to Czechoslovakia in the Sudetenland.  

Would NATO soldiers be willing to become internal police forces in these countries, suppressing illegal Russian sedition? If not, then such enclaves would slowly become a fait accomplis as they have in Eastern Ukraine. 

We are about to enter into a very dangerous time in NATO-Russian relations. Trump is not the man for the job.