???? Estonia gets serious: more American presence and nuclear power

Estonia, one of the three Baltic countries facing the constant threat of Russian intervention – especially under the format of hybrid warfare – seems to want to put its foot down both militarily and geopolitically.

In recent days, both the Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, and members of her government, have made very revealing statements about the direction this country may take from now on.

First, Estonia could build its first nuclear power plant. Kallas has spoken clearly and directly on this issue, saying that if the country wants to achieve full energy independence, Estonia must make a firm commitment to nuclear power.

If the Prime Minister's project is implemented, this Baltic country of just over 1.3 million inhabitants could not only achieve a high degree of energy independence from Russia, but could also become an important supplier of electricity to its neighboring countries, particularly Latvia. The nuclear gamble would therefore be a gamble of security and economic interest.

On the other hand, in the military field, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has been direct in requesting that the United States and NATO deploy more troops in Estonia, as well as in Latvia and Lithuania. She has also announced a significant increase in military spending, which will bring the funding of the Estonian armed forces to a level of more than 2.80% of the national GDP.

The Baltics have traditionally been NATO's Achilles heel in Europe. Despite having thousands of Atlantic Alliance troops deployed in the area, most military experts agree that NATO would not be able to repel a Russian invasion of these territories. Russia could conquer them in a matter of weeks.

At present, neither the amount nor the type of equipment deployed in the Baltics would be able to respond to an invasion in a region which, like Ukraine, has a significant Russian minority – which are a majority in the regions bordering the Russian Federation.

Why is it important?

Aside from the situation in Ukraine, the Baltic countries, and in particular Estonia, are aware of their significant strategic weaknesses. They are too small and too weak militarily, which makes them very dependent on foreign powers, especially the United States, to ensure their defense.

And while these countries are among the few that comply with NATO's rule of spending at least 2% of GDP on defense, it is not nearly enough to provide them with deterrent capabilities against Russia. That is precisely why they want NATO to make larger deployments there. At the moment, the UK has announced that it is seriously considering doubling its deployment in Estonia to close to 2,000 troops stationed in the country.

On the other hand, Estonia is aware of the German energy disaster. After the nuclear blackout, Germany has seen its dependence on Russian gas increase to unprecedented levels. This has provided Putin with a fundamental strategic advantage that Estonia does not want to fall victim to in the future. Hence, the possibility of going nuclear has been put on the table.

The question is, will we witness the rebirth of nuclear energy in Europe thanks to the moves of countries such as Poland or Estonia after the German fiasco? Everything seems to indicate that is the case.