Lithuania's Draft

From the G & M:
"Lithuania to bring back conscription over fears of Russian aggression"

Lithuania plans to restart military conscription, which it ended in 2008, to address growing concerns about Russian assertiveness in the Baltic region, President Dalia Grybauskaite said on Tuesday. “Today’s geopolitical environment requires us to strengthen the army, and do it as fast as possible,” Grybauskaite said after a meeting of the country’s defence council.  The Baltic states are concerned that Russian annexation of Crimea and support for rebels in east Ukraine may be a foretaste of it reasserting itself in other former Soviet territories. Latvia’s defence minister has suggested increasing army numbers by 2,000 to 7,000 people, but there are no plans to introduce the draft. Estonia has maintained conscription. Lithuania’s new conscription would apply to men between the ages of 19 and 26 with exemptions for certain categories, such as university students and single fathers and would recruit around 3,500 men per year. It would be up for renewal after a five-year period.

Lithuania’s parliament still needs to approve the plan. The Baltic states spent much of the last century incorporated into the Soviet Union, and upon independence in 1991 quickly sought to join NATO and the European Union. Lithuania borders the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, where Moscow carried out a military drill in December with 9,000 soldiers and more than 55 naval vessels. NATO has increased the number of fighter planes patrolling the Baltic skies, intensified military drills and agreed to set up command centres there to protect the region in the event of any threat from Russia.

 

^ A few years ago I said that they draft (conscription) was only needed in two countries; Israel and South Korea due to the constant threat of invasion and attack. I now feel the list of countries has grown with Russia's invasion and annexation of the Crimea and supplying the ethnic Russian terrorists in eastern Ukraine to include: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Moldova, the Ukraine, Georgia. All of these countries were once under Russian/Soviet domination and all but one (Poland) were part of the USSR and do not want to loose their independence again. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have distanced themselves greatly in the past 20 years to join the EU, NATO and Eurozone. Poland joined the EU and NATO. Georgia, Moldova and the Ukraine have Russian troops in parts of their country. If the Ukrainian War has shown us anything it's that you can't count on outside forces (NATO or EU member countries) to come to your aid.  It is a sad fact but one that those who are threatened need to realize. They may not win against a Russian attack, but at least they are willing to put up a symbolic stand to not go through 40 more years of occupation. ^

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/lithuania-to-bring-back-conscription-over-fears-of-russian-aggression/article23179091/