what history do we have in the baltics? where and when have we fought together? in what way are we allies?

these were some of the most nazi corners of europe, and they willingly aligned with the fascists against the communists. they were not on our side; they were not on the right side. and, they never even truly recanted. poland was a victim in the war, but, to this day, latvia & lithuania maintain vibrant white supremacist communities, and little shame about their collaboration with nazis. they don't deserve any protection at all.

moving further back in history, the region is actually just extremely remote. the region didn't really exist in history as anything besides a transit point for varangians moving south until the german crusaders moved in looking for lebensraum around the year 900, but the indigenous inhabitants would have been fully in the sphere of the norse-slavic states (like kiev). riga was founded in the 13th century. this area was just outside of what we call civilization. so, there's no shared history, here, until they had to fight off the mongols, which didn't end until a city called moscow decided to refuse payment, and united an indigenous revolt against them. the region only then emerges in history as a satellite of the russians, although they had to fight some wars against the swedes and others around it.

we don't need the details of baltic history, here; the point i'm making is that there's no point of shared history, no overlapping culture, nothing to tie us together with them. the region is not strategic, either; there's nothing to save, nothing to protect.

we have never fought side-to-side with these people, and to suggest they are some kind of allies is consequently an abuse of language and an abuse of history.

if anything, they're taking advantage of the west to use us as leverage in an independence struggle that is not based on any meaningful concept of difference.

we should give them back; they don't belong to us.