“The Importance of Strong Leadership in Latvia During Possible Third World War”

Prime Minister candidate Uldis Pīlēns of the “United List” party (from left) and State President Egils Levits in the Riga Palace.

Rolands Repša, “Latvijas Avīze”, JSC “Latvijas Mediji”

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The next President must be able to lead Latvia in the conditions of a possible Third World War!

Personally, I don’t think it’s important for the President to drive around the country in an open car and greet the farmers standing on the roadside or give inspiring speeches to the Meiji people in decorated public houses. The most important thing is that the next president should be able to lead Latvia in the conditions of a possible Third World War. So that he has good personal contacts with all European, US and NATO leaders and that he always has the opportunity to communicate with them and express his concerns about what is happening in Europe and the world. And also so that foreign partners respect our president and know that his thoughts are worth listening to.

This is the bar that all presidential candidates must set! Because we are not currently living in “normal” times, when we could afford “experimental” presidents, now we need cadres tested in crises.

How likely is it that Russian aggression in Ukraine will turn into a bigger war? The decisive factor is China. As we know, China increasingly views Russia as its vassal, and we do not know to what extent Putin has already sold his country to the Chinese in exchange for possible military aid.

From China’s point of view, the most ideal option would be if the front line in Ukraine were to freeze in approximately the existing situation, which Putin could present as a victory – for example, a land corridor with Crimea was established. Chinese leader Xi has already announced that he would like to see Putin, decorated with an arrest warrant, in the position of Russian president even after the 2024 elections. In short, China will not let its vassal fall!

Second, China is rapidly arming and has openly said it is prepared to use force to retake Taiwan. Obviously, this bellicose stance has also been promoted by the slow and still incomplete response of the West to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The inability of the Western military industry to produce the armaments and munitions required for modern high-intensity warfare in sufficient quantities has been revealed.

This emboldens China to take the fateful step toward conquering Taiwan, which Xi has clearly made a major goal of his third term as president. And the “window” of opportunity for China is now that the US and Europe are busy with the war in Ukraine.

If this evil scenario plays out, Russian aggression in Ukraine is likely to escalate into a Sino-Russian tandem war with the West. And in this situation, the unity of the West and strong leadership in each of the countries, including in Latvia, will be very necessary.

The other vitally necessary characteristic of the president is the ability to argue against the left-liberalism ruling in the world and in Europe, which divides the countries and peoples of Western and Eastern Europe. We also see this here in Latvia. This commentary is not the place to analyze the causes of left-liberalism. In short, this is the Marxist desire reborn in the depths of Western welfare societies to redistribute the wealth created by the capitalist system. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist system, it seemed that the specter of communism had disappeared forever.

But it is not and cannot be as long as there is substantial income inequality. There will always be groups of dissatisfied people – for example, left-leaning Western university professors and the media, who will want to redistribute the common wealth pie in their favor, or at least somehow hate the rich. The African-American riots in the US in 2020 and the subsequent wave of “repeal culture”, as well as climate protests and advocacy of various minority rights, both in place and out of place, may have unwittingly served this purpose.

So, our next president must be ideologically capable of debating with his Western colleagues and convincing them to be more critical of left-wing manifestations.

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