Poland was the first looking to use the “imminent” Russian invasion of Ukraine, which never happened, to push for permanent NATO military bases. Not to be outdone, Latvia is now adding to their call, seeking some bases of their own.
Finance Minister Andris Vilks is pushing the matter in a new interview, claiming Russia is “becoming more and more aggressive and unpredictable” and that this warranted a larger military commitment to the Baltic states, including Latvia.
Latvia has been pushing for a permanent US military presence for some time, and after they got a few hundred US soldiers now seems to have designs on a bigger alliance-wide deployment to their territory.
Latvia has some 6,000 soldiers and 11,000 reserve personnel, a fairly large force for a nation of only about 2 million people. There is no suggestion of tensions with Russia, however, and Latvia’s only other neighbors are also NATO members, so the push to continue to grow such a force, and supplant it from abroad, seems not to be based on any practical need, but rather on a hope to make the nation more internationally important.
I think that the Latvian governement should be less aggressive against its russian speaking population first.
The tactic to contain Russia according to the fantazies of a bitter, sick and very old Russophobe Pole, Brzezinski, has been going on relentlessly but is now becoming a costly and obsolete fiasco. It is simply not going to work, certainly not after the historic deal with china yesterday.
"Permanent bases" in these Baltic states, that never where "independent" to begin with but a very brief period between the wars and proud for their unspeakable crimes against humanity during the WW2 for the Nazis, means being permanent target for vaporization and permanent problems for the west, should they provoke Russia and try to kick-start a war like Georgia did. NATO are soon dangerously closer to Moscow than Hitler was, if they are stupid enough to go into Ukraine, in that case Russia will, like they always have make no mistake about that, secure the perimeter and push them back beyond the Baltic´s at any cost.
There is ongoing, permanent tension with Russia. Latvia has a large Russian minority (26%, as against 17% in Ukraine), a relic of post-WWII Soviet colonisation and, as elsewhere, although the young have integrated into Latvian society, the elderly colonists are still clinging to their colonial master race status (refusing to learn Latvian, for example). With Putin claiming to defend Russian colonists in Ukraine, it is natural that other countries with colonial "leftovers" should worry about his intentions. If Putin capitulates in Ukraine, the perceived need for NATO bases will probably diminish.
I wonder if the Latvians are willing to pay for the construction and maintenance of these "permanent" but unnecessary installations? Probably not…
Indeed, it's all about getting 'NATO' cash flowing in on a regular basis, which is mostly derived from U.S. taxpayers.
NATO troops from another continent will not make their relations with Russia better.