Can Europe still call the Baltic Sea its own?
00:00 – Introduction: Why the Baltic Sea matters
01:34 – A history of invasions, regimes & shifting borders
04:32 – NATO’s military buildup since Ukraine
10:10 – The Baltic states’ westward pivot
12:00 – Kaliningrad: Russia’s explosive enclave
13:42 – Environmental dangers beneath the sea
18:06 – Nord Stream: Europe’s energy trap
23:47 – Gotland and Finland’s new defense strategies
32:20 – Ethnic Russian tensions in the Baltics
36:42 – Cyberattacks and hybrid warfare
42:51 – After Ukraine: What comes next in the Baltic?
49:35 – The future of the region
The Baltic Sea became a major geopolitical hotspot. Natural border between 8 countries of the EU and Russia, it crystallised many strategic issues: gas pipelines, territories and foreign political influences…
It is now clear that the time when Europeans could consider the Baltic as “their” lake is over: Russia intends to reclaim its shores lost with the end of the USSR and is confronting Brussels with an unprecedented challenge. The stakes are indeed high and are not limited to a dispute over sovereignty between rival powers. For Europe, the Baltic Sea is a strategic hydrocarbon supply corridor, and the heated debates over the construction of the NordStream gas pipelines are causing deep discord within the EU member states.
Credit to : World View – Documentary