While the Baltic economies will eventually recover after the recession is over, what won't change is their location. Despite distinct advantages over other post-soviet successor states, the Baltics remain geopolitically trapped inside the historical no-man's land that exists between Germany and Russia.                   
Lucas does a great job of articulating this issue:

"...the Baltic states' future is not just in their own hands. The economic crisis coincides with the rise of a resurgent, revanchist Russia and its alliances with a divided and demoralized Europe. The most threatening prospect for Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians is the "Schroederization" of German foreign policy—derived from former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, whose conspicuous friendship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin while in office morphed into the chairmanship of a controversial Russian-German gas pipeline consortium within months of his stepping down. The Baltic states feel squeezed. Who will defend their economic and political interests when big countries once again make decisions over their heads?"