The flags of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were first raised at the UN 35 year ago today. It was almost exactly 70 years earlier, in September 1921, that all three joined the League of Nations, supporting the first ill-fated attempt to build a rules-based world of sovereign nations ..before the Nazi-Soviet Pact delivered its fatal blow. As a lasting consequence of that pact, the occupied Baltic countries were the only members of the League of Nations not subsequently able to join the United Nations. 35 years ago, delegates of all three Baltic countries could finally take their seats where they belong and get back to helping build that world for others too. The problem with the League of Nations back then and the United Nations today is only that it’s not rules-based enough and not at the service of sovereign nations enough. The hill we are prepared to die on: A rules-based world of sovereign nations is far, far better than an age of empires, and not just for small nations. One leads to widespread peace and prosperity, the other to widespread death and destruction. We do not need to keep repeating this experiment.