For decades, Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to unravel the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance, which steadily expanded eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union and now includes nations on Russia's borders including Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
The Wall Street Journal reports, however, that Putin's invasion of Ukraine has completely undone his efforts to break the military alliance and he now faces a revitalized NATO that is pouring resources into the Baltic states that were once part of the USSR.
"Rather than repel NATO, Mr. Putin has prompted the alliance to reinforce its eastern front, placing an unprecedented number of troops, planes and vehicles on alert in the region," WSJ writes.
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One of the biggest changes that Putin's Ukraine invasion has caused has been Germany's decision to ramp up its defense spending after decades of spending less than two percent of its GDP on its military.
What's more, countries such as Finland and Sweden, who have long resisted NATO membership, are now making serious noises about joining the alliance to preempt any temptation Putin might have toward invading them.
“It’s clear that on the 24th of February, the world changed,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas tells the Journal. “I think everybody sees now that we need a permanent strengthening of the eastern flank of NATO.”
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