Should we hurry or hesitate to support the winner

Saeima deputy from the National Alliance (Latvian: Nacionālā apvienība) Jānis Dombrava calls on Latvian politicians not to rush to show support for the newly elected US President. "The Americans are deciding who will be their president. We will wait for the official results and cooperate with the newly elected administration, defending the interests of Latvia,” the deputy wrote on Twitter.

At first glance, it may seem that everything is as it should be, the conservative MP is expressing a wise statement - do not rush, because everything is not set in stone yet... But in reality, the issue is much more serious and applies to other cases as well. Let's start its evaluation with the common disposition. Whether you like it or not, but Latvia's strategic security is guaranteed by the United States. Nominally NATO, but actually US.

If so far it has not been clear enough to anyone what security guarantees mean, then right now it is being demonstrated in Nagorno-Karabakh. The security of Armenia (surrounded by Azerbaijan and Turkey) is guaranteed by Russia (nominally the Collective Security Treaty Organization). After the revolution in Armenia last year, which brought Nikol Pashinyan, who is not very well-liked by Russian President Vladimir Putin, to power, a certain coldness arose between Armenia and Russia. Not even frostbite levels, just moderate coldness. However, this was enough for Azerbaijan (supported by Turkey) to try to change the strategic disadvantage it had suffered since the de facto loss of the first Nagorno-Karabakh war in 1994. Formally, Russia is complying with the terms of the Armenian security guarantee agreement (within its internationally recognized borders, that is, without Nagorno-Karabakh), but in practice Armenia is left to stand alone against the Azerbaijani army. It was only after the Azerbaijan's mistake in shooting down a Russian helicopter that Russia intervened and a ceasefire was brokered with very difficult conditions for the Armenian side.

Of course, the United States is not Russia, and NATO decisions are not made by one person, whose sympathies or antipathies towards a country or its leader can be decisive in making a certain strategic decision. It is clear that Biden would not be particularly worried about whether Latvian officials would recognize him a day earlier or a day later, but there is no reason not to do what can be done if it might benefit us.

We ourselves always recall Iceland and Denmark as the countries that first recognized the restoration of Latvia's independence in August 1991, and we remember with some annoyance the long delay of the United States in doing so. Therefore, this symbolic gesture is important. It is not for nothing that Putin was in a hurry to congratulate the newly elected President of the United States in 2016, while he is now hesitating to congratulate Biden on his victory. Putin is thus demonstrating his careless attitude towards the new US president.

It is unlikely that Dombrava wants to point out the insignificance of the United States or wants to humiliate the new US president, by urging people not to rush with the recognition of Biden. That would be beyond common sense. Most likely, it is dictated by a stubborn reluctance to acknowledge the obvious fact that the less desirable candidate for Dombrava won the US election. Trump is mentally closer to him, and there is a primitive desire not to accept reality. Just like Trump himself, who continues to fantasize about fraud and the "theft" of his victory, although he cannot present any real facts or evidence for this "theft".

One can, of course, expect various miracles, but it must be understood that the US presidential election, albeit with some delay, has been successfully concluded. With a majority of more than 4 million votes and nearly 100 electoral votes, the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden, has been elected. He will be formally elected on December 14, when the electoral college will meet in Washington, but there is no reason to think that the electoral vote could be different.

There is also no serious evidence of widespread falsification of election results. Votes will probably be recounted where this can be done by law. For example, in Wisconsin, where a recount of votes may be requested if the difference between the votes received by the candidates is less than 1%. There will be shortcomings, mistakes and possibly even some deliberate misconduct somewhere, but that cannot change the overall distribution of power. Not even the overall, because the US election happens in states and in them the winner takes everything.

Therefore, this time the scenario of 2000 cannot be invoked, when an extremely similar distribution of votes in one state - Florida - could be used to decide who would be the President of the United States - George W. Bush or Al Gore. Now Biden's dominance over the Tramp is large enough to say without any doubt - that’s it, the election is over. Only regular viewers of Russian federal television channels - supporters of conspiracy theories, who are convinced that everything in the United States happens in about the same way as in Russia - can believe the stories of mass irregularities through postal voting and slipping fraudulent ballot papers in ballot boxes. We can write as many as necessary. If there is a lack of votes, we will throw as many as needed in the ballot box.

Estonian Interior Minister Mart Helme took the Russian propaganda bait, began to publicly discuss the undoubtable "illegality" of the US elections, that is, he demonstrated the source from which he obtains information, and naturally lost his job. Well, it is not possible to work as a minister, moreover in such a responsible field, for a person with this level of intellectual capacity, who can irresponsibly damage the reputation of his country.

Dombrava's call not to rush into recognizing Biden as the US president-elect puts him in the same cohort as Putin, who calls for exactly the same. Even the extremely cautious (corresponding to the status he holds) UN Secretary-General António Guterres acknowledged Biden's victory. Who else should we wait for? Putin and Xi Jinping? To be fair, all of Latvia's top officials congratulated Biden on victory last week, so Dombrava's call can only be seen as a hint to his core constituency, which stands for Trump as strong as a wall. Extremely tough. I am just as tough and even tougher. And, of course, a hint to everyone else - people with a similar worldview should be placed as far away as possible from positions where state responsibility is required. Se we wouldn’t experience the same situation as Estonia or even worse - as Armenia.