IF THE PUTIN WERE TO DRIVE TOWARDS THE BALTIC TO RECOVER POST USSR TERRITORIES - THE EXISTING NATO FORCES WOULD BE OVERWHELMED AT FIRST ACCORDING TO RAND - AS MORE FORCES ARE NEEDED TO DEFEND THE NEW NATO ACQUIRED NATIONS OF THE BALTIC - BUT NATO FORCES WOULD COUNTER ATTACK FOR A PROLONG WAR AS THE PUTIN FOR NOW CONCENTRATES HIS WAR EFFORTS IN SYRIA TO DEFEND THE BASHER REGEME FROM THE THE POTUS BHO BACKED REBELS OF THE SO CALLED ARAB SPRING THAT HAS OVERSTRETCHED ITS COILS LIKE THE SLINKY

A Russian offensive on NATO territory in the Baltics would overwhelm underarmed alliance forces in a matter of hours, leaving NATO with a harsh dilemma: Launch a long, bloody counteroffensive or concede defeat.
That is the conclusion of a new report by Rand Corp., which conducted a series of elaborate war games from summer 2014 to spring 2015 with the assistance of numerous American military commands and experts.
"As presently postured, NATO cannot successfully defend the territory of its most exposed members," the Rand Corp. study says.
The findings are likely to come as no surprise to the military's top officers in Europe, who have been warning that sophisticated Russian anti-aircraft systems could deny allies quick military access to the Baltics. Russia has superior numbers of air and ground forces across the border from the vulnerable Baltic states, which were once part of the Soviet Union. However, Russia has repeatedly stressed that it has no territorial designs on the Baltics.
Policymakers must determine whether the risks of potential Russian aggression are strong enough to demand the kind of reinforcements that could thwart a Russian assault. The costs of placing such a force in the region would be substantial but manageable for a NATO alliance with a collective gross domestic product of more than $35 trillion, Rand says.
The report was issued just days before the release next week of the Pentagon's 2017 budget, which includes plans to add a brigade's worth of pre-positioned tanks and other heavy equipment in Europe, where the Pentagon now rotates one heavy brigade. The U.S. maintains only two infantry brigades permanently in Europe and no heavy units.
There are about 65,000 troops in total forward stationed. A plan to quadruple investment in the European Reassurance Initiative to $3.4 billion will add several thousand more rotational troops in a plan to increase operations along NATO's eastern flank, but falls far short of Rand's recommendations.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/02/05/report-russia-defeats-nato-in-baltic-war-game.html