Europe, especially the Baltic states, are terrified of Russian aggression.
Or so we've been told.

Today Latvia had an election.

The pro-Russia Harmony party has topped polls and the ruling coalition lost its majority in Latvia's national election, according to results from over 80 percent of precincts released.

Latvia, a country of roughly two million, shares a 214km border with Russia.

Its location, along with its membership in NATO and the European Union, places Latvia on the front line of increasingly tense relations between Moscow and the West.

A quarter of Latvia's population is ethnic Russians, bolstering support for the Harmony party, which won 20 percent of the vote.

It's curious that so many Latvians would vote for a Russia-friendly party when we are told that "Fear of Kremlin influence was one of the driving forces of political campaigns ahead of Latvian elections".

Last week there was another election that didn't go the way that some had hoped.

For close to three decades, Greece and Macedonia had feuded over the latter’s name. Greeks said that “Macedonia,” which is also the name of a region in northern Greece, represented a culture and history that rightfully belonged to them. They expressed their displeasure by barring Macedonia’s path to membership in both the European Union and NATO.

Then, this summer, the two countries struck a potentially historic deal: The smaller country would rename itself North Macedonia, and Greece would drop its objections to bringing its neighbor into the E.U. and NATO fold. Macedonian voters went to the polls Sunday to vote on a referendum that would approve the agreement.

But while the results overwhelmingly endorsed the compromise with Greece, only about a third of eligible voters cast a ballot. That fell short of the required 50 percent turnout that Prime Minister Zoran Zaev — leader of the “Yes” campaign — had hoped would confer popular legitimacy on the move. Zaev hailed the vote’s success, but he now faces an uncertain fight with the opposition in parliament.

Maybe, just maybe, the people of Europe don't want a new Cold War with Russia.