International order must be maintained in order to avoid military aggressive chaos in the world - Levits

RIGA - International order must be maintained, based on international rights in order to avoid military and aggressive chaos in the world, said Latvian President Egils Levits in an opening panel discussion of the Riga Conference today.

Levits participated in the panel discussion "Realpolitik vs Idealpolitik. The West after February 24". The president described ideal politics sets goals that meet values. Meanwhile, real politics is the practical politics how these goals are achieved. The president believes that there is danger that these ideals are given up. This refers to the West and the so-called global South.

He said that the West is more than just Europe and more than Europe and North America. In his opinion, this could be also observed during NATO summit in Madrid when also other countries were invited - Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand.

"We see that there are also other countries which share the same values as Europeans. Why is it important? Because the "global South" and Latin America, Africa, Asia are looking for their place in the world. We should admit their claim for these rights, but we should not agree with certain political claims against the values," Levits said.

Speaking about Ukraine, the president said that he has observed that there are doubts about who is the aggressor and who is victim. In his opinion, from the point of view of international rights, the answer is crystal clear and this message should be sent to the "global South". It should be explained why peace and international rule meets the interests of the "global South" and all countries of the world.

As reported, on October 21-22, the annual security and foreign policy forum, the Riga Conference, is held at the Latvian National Library.