NATO's predicament is easily illustrated: the Russian 1st Guards Tank Army moved from Moscow to its western border region during exercises in 2017.  The unit had 50,000 soldiers, 500 tanks, 600 armored vehicles, and 300 artillery pieces.  NATO member Latvia, across the border, has an active-duty land combat force 1,500 strong.  It has no tanks.  It has no fighter aircraft.  Instead, it relies on a total of four NATO fighters based in Lithuania.  In other words, if seriously attacked, Latvia's active brigade would be lucky to survive the first day, and there would likely be no original surviving fighter aircraft in the Baltics within hours of the start of conflict. This weakness is spread throughout NATO: Lithuania and Estonia are equally weak.  The Netherlands sold its last tank in 2012.  Of Germany's once vast tank fleet, only 105 are operational, while zero submarines are...(Read Full Post)