The deputy of the Latvian parliament Nikolay Kabanov spoke this week about the plans of the government to allocate territory in the suburbs of Riga under the U.S. military base. According to him, the Parliament was expelled from the decision-making process.
Kabanov said on Tuesday that the Latvian government revised the document of the Ministry of Defence, containing amendments to the agreement on cooperation between the republic and the U.S., including in the defense sector. The document has already been discussed at the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia. However, the parliament was not considered necessary to involve in a wide discussion of the defence document.
This treaty contains a list of "agreed facilities and territories which the United States can use for its military purposes." And now the document has beenreplenished with the base of the Special Forces in Riga signed by the head of the Ministry of Defence Artis Pabriks without thedecisionof the Latvian parliament.
"The unit of U.S. Army Special Forces will be deployed in the picturesque suburb of Bully, on the shore of the Gulf of Riga. So fishermen and mush roomers may not be surprised to see American guests with a bunch of weapons there. It is their base now" the deputy of the Parliament said.
As we know, the Parliament is one of the key institutions for the practical implementation of the idea of national sovereignty. Its power and authority derives from the status of a representative of a sovereign people who is the source of power.
In the other words, the power of Parliament is derived from the sovereignty of the nation. The Parliament is called the representative and legislative body. Representatives (members of Parliament) elected by the people must protect and realize the interests of people. So it is parliament that is one of the main tools of the Latvian people to express their opinion and defend their interests, to realize the idea of independence of the Latvian state.
However, the Latvian authorities, having decided not to ask the opinion of the Parliament on the issue of the further expansion of the U.S. military presence in Latvia, thereby decided not to take into account the opinion of the Latvians.
The reasons for this are understandable. The authorities were simply scared of people. After all, the Latvians are really tired of foreign soldiers who constantly drink, arrange riots and fights.
The Latvians are tired of the fact that the government is doing everything for independent Latvia to cease to exist as an independent state. All the decisions, taken by Latvian leadership, are taken only according to the will of Washington. The constantly arriving U.S./NATO soldiers and the development of new military bases and warehouses make neighboring Russia angry. This situation is less like independence and more like the soft occupation of Latvia by American soldiers.
Ordinary people understand that the Latvian government has ceased to care about them, does not take into account their opinion and only thinks about how to please the U.S. And it's definitely not going to end in anything good"
