Yes, We Have No Army

They called it "the CNN defense." In the early 1990s, just after the Baltic states won independence from Moscow, the region's strategy in the event of a Russian attack was to hold out just long enough for a camera crew to arrive — and then pray for help from the West. This week in Prague the prayers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will be answered, as all three countries receive formal invitations to join NATO. But given the weakness of the countries' militaries, why is NATO admitting them? And in the absence of any obvious Russian threat, why do the Balts...