BooksBarbecue
Back War with Russia
Chapters (60)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Foreword
  4. Preface
  5. Prologue
  6. PART ONE
  7. Kharkiv, Ukraine
  8. The President’s weekly defense and foreign policy meeting, The Kremlin, Moscow
  9. Comprehensive Crisis Operations Management Center (CCOMC), Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), Belgium
  10. Briefing Room, Boryspill Air Force Base, Ukraine
  11. The Kremlin, Moscow
  12. Washington, D.C.
  13. Residence of DSACEUR La Belle Alliance, Erbisoeul, Belgium
  14. North Atlantic Council Conference Room, NATO Headquarters, Brussels
  15. Banks of River Daugava, Riga, Latvia
  16. Ādaži Training Camp, Latvia
  17. Riga, Latvia
  18. National Defense Control Center, Moscow
  19. Ādaži Training Camp, Latvia
  20. NATO Headquarters, Brussels
  21. National Armed Forces Joint HQ, Riga, Latvia
  22. Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), Mons, Belgium
  23. Central European Time 1600 hours, Eastern Standard Time, The White House, Washington, D.C.
  24. Lielvārde Air Base, Latvia
  25. Lielvārde Air Base, Latvia
  26. Camp David, Catoctin Mountains, Maryland
  27. British Embassy, 5, J.Alunana Street, Riga, Latvia
  28. The Russell Arms, Butler’s Cross, Buckinghamshire
  29. HMS Queen Elizabeth Middle Slip Jetty, HM Naval Base, Portsmouth
  30. National Defense Control Center, Moscow
  31. Comprehensive Crisis Operations Management Center (CCOMC) SHAPE headquarters, Mons, Belgium
  32. Somewhere in the forest, Gauja National Park, Latvia
  33. 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, London
  34. HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Baltic Sea
  35. Control Room, Kilo Class submarine Krasnokamensk, Baltic Sea
  36. PART TWO
  37. Prime Minister’s Office, House of Commons, London
  38. The Presidential Dacha Barvikha, Odintsovsky District of Moscow Oblast
  39. The White House, Washington, D.C.
  40. NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium
  41. Gauja National Park Forest, Latvia
  42. PART THREE
  43. “The Tank,” Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
  44. North Atlantic Council NATO Headquarters, Brussels
  45. Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Cheltenham, England
  46. GCHQ, Cheltenham, England
  47. Forest south of Pravdinsk, Kaliningrad, Russia
  48. Headquarters, Kaliningrad Special Region, Kaliningrad
  49. The President’s Office, The Kremlin, Moscow
  50. Forest south of Pravdinsk, Kaliningrad, Russia
  51. Comprehensive Crisis Operations Management Center (CCOMC) SHAPE headquarters, Mons, Belgium
  52. Command Bunker, Iskander Missile Battery Pravdinsk, Kaliningrad
  53. Over Wroclaw, Poland
  54. Forest north of Pravdinsk Iskander Battery, Kaliningrad
  55. 25,000 feet above Kaliningrad
  56. Close to the Pravdinsk Iskander Battery, Kaliningrad
  57. Epilogue
  58. Glossary
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. Notes

Kostilek stopped and again looked every ambassador in the eye. As a Pole, he understood far better than those from Western Europe the reality of life as part of the Russian Empire. Some looked down, but did not argue. Others looked back at him equally directly. Some even nodded their approval. The Secretary General had set the tone he was looking for.

He continued, “Dear colleagues all. NATO is an alliance of three-and-three-quarter million men and women under arms. We far outnumber the Russians in men and equipment and resources. United we are terrifying; unstoppable. United, we can put together the means, not only to liberate our dear friends in the Baltic states, but also to defend the freedom, democracy and the rule of law we all cherish . . . The alternative is too terrible to contemplate. Will you too fall under Russian control? Will you find yourselves the next country in front of this Council, begging for help? Picked off one by one at the President’s whim . . . Because, be under no illusions, that is what will happen next.”

And now, McKinlay saw, he really did have their attention. It was one thing for the Greeks to get loans from the Russians or on the international bond markets, but quite another to be informed that the interest on those loans now included the gift of a port for the Russian navy, or a base for their fighter aircraft. Even Greece could see that their independence was only possible because she was a vibrant democracy. Anybody who read a newspaper or watched a television had to be able to see that true democracy was anathema to the Russian President.

Kostilek concluded with a clarion call to action. “Let me be clear. NATO has agreed Article Five and we are now at war with Russia. What I want from the North Atlantic Council today is a strong consensus that the end we are seeking is nothing less than the liberation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and that you, the nations, will deliver the military means to achieve that. We must all be prepared to strain every nerve, every sinew in the fight to free the Baltic states.”

He paused to let his words sink in. Then he called upon the American ambassador to speak.