‘I’m not afraid’: The president of tiny Estonia gives a giant lesson in leadership - WP
28 Mar 2017 EWR Online
The President of Finland Sauli Niinisto and the President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid beginning her two-day state visit in Helsinki on March 7. (Reuters/Jussi Nukari)
By Jonathan Capehart “No, I’m not afraid. … I trust NATO.”
When you are president of a Baltic republic that shares a border with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, there really is no other response. But when it comes from Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, you are left with the distinct impression that she means exactly what she says.
“NATO’s deterrence has always been adequate and I’m not worried about the physical security of my country. Not at all,” Kaljulaid told me during an interview for the latest episode of “Cape Up,” recorded at the Brussels Forum hosted by the German Marshall Fund in the Belgian capital last week. “NATO deterrence has always held … all through NATO’s history.”
