A Fresh Start for US-Latvia Relations is needed

Reire, G. A Fresh Start for US-Latvia Relations is needed. Spruds, A., Potjomkina, D. (eds.) Latvia and the United States: Revisiting a Strategic Partnership in a Transforming Environment. Riga: Latvian Institute of International Affairs, 2016, pp. 64-83.

The aim of this article is to outline the complex setting of Russia’s foreign policy principles, existing and possible responses from the US and NATO, and Latvia’s place in the middle of the information war, and hybrid warfare situation.

Despite being relatively low on the agenda for many years, it is high time the US recognized Europe, and particularly the Baltic States, is still on the map. Latvia together with Lithuania and Estonia form the external border of the European Union and NATO. The European Union’s Eastern Partnership initiative,20 launched seven years ago, was intended to be a buffer zone against Russia. Nevertheless, the European Union’s Eastern Partnership initiative came too late and appeared too weak, but Barack Obama’s policy to turn away from Europe was a strategic failure. Therefore, nowadays, US–Latvia relations meet at one focal point, and it is Russia. Baltic countries are now in the front line, face to face with Russia, and the US must recognize the Baltic States are still on the map.

The book “Latvia and the United States: Revisiting a Strategic Partnership in a Transforming Environment” is available here: latvia-and-the-united-states-revisiting-a-strategic-partnership-in-a-transforming-environment-514 (liia.lv)