Russia is launching a new phase of pressure on the Baltic states.Moscow has announced its intention to appeal to the International Court of Justice over the "suppression of the rights of Russian speakers" in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.In reality, this is another element of a systematic effort to build a legitimacy framework for possible intervention.Moscow’s rhetoric is standard and familiar: "language bans," "Russophobia," and "persecution of dissent." The foreign ministry pretends that neg