Elisabeth Braw, Author at the Lithuania Tribune

Weapons flood into Putin’s European arms depot

March 31, 2015 Elisabeth Braw 0

While the world watched Russia’s North Fleet with trepidation as it launched surprise exercises near the Arctic Circle last week, Vladimir Putin has quietly been arming another area inside Europe’s borders: Kaliningrad, the Russian seaport city in a region sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, with convenient access to the Baltic Sea. Vessels from Russia’s Baltic Fleet have delivered fighter jets and Iskander missile launchers to the former German city, from where missiles could reach not just to Warsaw and Vilnius but Germany as well, Elisabeth Braw writes in the Newsweek magazine. […]

Responding to Kremlin Propaganda in the Baltics

March 31, 2015 Elisabeth Braw 0

How to counter Vladimir Putin’s propaganda? The EU is trying to decide on a strategy. Meanwhile—you read it here first—the Nordic and Baltics states are steaming ahead with a very concrete plan that will soon offer Russian-language television in the Baltic states, where Russian minorities today almost exclusively watch Kremlin-directed TV. Call it Nordic noir versus the Kremlin, Elizabeth Braw writes in the World Affairs magazine. […]

Opinion: US reliability depends on Europe’s contribution to NATO

January 24, 2015 Elisabeth Braw 0

“The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the US Congress—and in the American body politic writ large—to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense.” That’s Secretary of Defense Bob Gates on his way out of office, back in 2011. […]

Mysterious men linked to Russia target Lithuanian president

January 17, 2015 Elisabeth Braw 0

Last month a peculiar thing happened at the European Parliament. Four men were observed placing books with the title Red Dalia in members’ pigeonholes. Nothing unusual, you say: pigeonholes are for putting missives in. But it wasn’t just any book, and the four men distributed it without permission. The eponymous Dalia in the book of 200-plus pages is none other than Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė, and the book alleges that she used to be involved with the KGB. […]

Vladimir Putin with President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolić

Newsweek: Putin seeks to influence radical parties in bid to destabilise Europe

January 14, 2015 Elisabeth Braw 0

This past November, Russia’s Berlin ambassador, Vladimir Grinin, invited two representatives of the surging new party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) for a meeting. According to German news media, Grinin offered the party strategic advice. […]

Russian spies return to Europe in ‘New Cold War’

December 12, 2014 Elisabeth Braw 0

Earlier this month, experts convened in Brussels for a conference titled ‘The Second Cold War: Heating Up?’ Even among the plethora of current ‘New Cold War’ themed events, this one stood out: the organiser, Latvian MEP Tatjana Zdanoka, has been accused of being a Russian agent of influence – a spy. […]

After Nausėda meeting with Budrys, the opposition retorts to the candidate’s “cooling off “

November 22, 2024 0

Kęstutis Budrys, the President’s Senior Adviser, who has been nominated for the post of Minister of foreign affairs, does not say whether he first discussed the possibility of taking up the post with President Gitanas […]

“No need to mince words”: an assessment of what Trump’s victory means for Lithuania

November 6, 2024 0

“We can shout very loudly, but it won’t change the position of the American people,” says Professor Tomas Janeliūnas, as the winner of the United States of America’s (USA) presidential election, which will almost certainly […]

Another year in the sovereign history of Kazakhstan

October 24, 2024 0

Republic Day has been celebrated in Kazakhstan as the main national date since 2022, giving new life to the fundamental document on state sovereignty—the Declaration of October 25, 1990. The Republic is a modern form […]

In the assessment of NATO’s readiness for war with Russia, there is also a warning about the Baltic states: what is the Kremlin’s wild card?

October 23, 2024 0

According to Lrytas.lt, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) faces a new geopolitical reality with the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. While the Alliance has begun responding to emerging threats, its readiness for […]

These parties will enter the Seimas for the third time in a row. How many votes did they lose, and how many did they gain?

October 15, 2024 0

As various parties emerge, disappear or reorganize themselves in the political space, the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats – TS-LKD) and the Liberal Movement are making […]