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By David Boyajian<\/p>\n
Oddly, few Western writers on the South Caucasus have ever grasped Christian Armenia\u2019s significance as Russia\u2019s only ally and military outpost among the region\u2019s three countries.<\/span><\/p>\n Simply put: Were Russia to lose Armenia, the U.S.\/NATO\/EU and pan-Turkism would inevitably dominate the Caucasus\/Caspian and, perhaps, beyond.\u00a0 <\/span>Putin understands this.<\/span><\/p>\n Georgia and Azerbaijan are, after all, headed away<\/i> from Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n Though always under Russian pressure, Georgia\u2019s an unofficial NATO candidate with sizeable Western investments.\u00a0 <\/span>NATO countries and Israel have been modernizing its military.\u00a0 <\/span>Tbilisi\u2019s also the <\/i>middleman for Baku\u2019s gas\/oil pipelines extending to Turkey and elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n Azerbaijan\u2019s fossil fuel deposits, pipelines, and U.S.\/European commercial\/economic ties are well-known.<\/span><\/p>\n Less talked about are the Aliyev autocracy\u2019s pan-Turkic ideology<\/span><\/a>; formal alliance with NATO\u2019s Turkey; deployment of international terrorists<\/span><\/a><\/span>;<\/span> dependence on Israeli weapons<\/span><\/a>\/military prowess<\/span><\/a><\/span>;<\/span> and longtime backing<\/span><\/a> by America\u2019s Jewish lobby<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n Elected ostensibly as a democratic reformist in 2018, Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan grew friendlier with the West than had Yerevan\u2019s previous leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n This enraged Putin.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s problematic: Armenia\u2019s dependent on its ally for gas, oil, the nuclear power plant, weapons, remittances from Armenians in Russia, and more.\u00a0 <\/span>However, Pashinyan didn\u2019t break with Moscow.<\/span><\/p>\n Nevertheless, Putin resolved to punish and humiliate<\/i> Armenia to force it totally and irrevocably<\/i> under Russian domination.<\/span><\/p>\n Punish and Humiliate<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n In 2020, Putin<\/span><\/a> silently but indisputably greenlighted Azerbaijan, Turkey, international terrorists, and Israel to sledgehammer Christian Armenia and Armenian-populated Artsakh\/Karabagh into submitting to Russia.<\/span><\/p>\n We know that near its borders Russia\u2019s extremely NATO-and-terrorist-phobic.<\/span><\/p>\n And yet:<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n In Azerbaijan\u2019s 44-day war in 2020 (Sept. 27-Nov. 9) against Artsakh\u2019s Armenians, Turkey openly <\/i>delivered <\/i>American-supplied F-16s<\/i><\/span><\/a>, <\/i>Bayraktar drones containing NATO parts, additional weapons, generals<\/span><\/a>, troops, and <\/i>several thousand<\/i><\/span><\/a> <\/i>jihadist terrorists to Azerbaijan. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Tellingly, the Kremlin was unruffled<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n Moreover, Tel Aviv \u2014 the West\u2019s friend, not Moscow\u2019s \u2014 overtly re<\/i>supplied Baku with hi-tech weapons. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The Kremlin, again, voiced no particular alarm<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n Post-war, however, Russia revealed that it\u2019d been in charge all along.\u00a0 <\/span>During the fighting, for instance, it was Moscow \u2014 not Baku<\/i> \u2014 that had offered Yerevan a \u201cpeace\u201d deal (which Pashinyan declined).<\/span><\/p>\n Artsakh \u2014 gifted to Azerbaijan by Stalin but indigenously Armenian for millennia \u2014 lost the war, as did Armenia.\u00a0 <\/span>Buffer zones around Artsakh gained by it in the early 1990s were also forfeited.<\/span><\/p>\n Putin\u2019s fingerprints were, not surprisingly, all over the Nov. 9, 2020<\/span><\/a> agreement among Moscow, Yerevan, and Baku.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n In what remained<\/i> of Armenian-populated Artsakh, <\/i>the pact awarded Russia<\/i>:<\/span><\/p>\n That Russia greenlighted a war against Armenia\/Artsakh isn\u2019t a total surprise.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Moscow\u2019s always sought to keep Yerevan apprehensive and dependent.\u00a0 <\/span>The Kremlin has for decades <\/i>permitted repeated Azerbaijani attacks on Armenia despite<\/i> Yerevan\u2019s defense pacts with Moscow and the Russian-led CSTO alliance.<\/span><\/p>\n None of this is intended to defend PM Pashinyan.\u00a0 <\/span>He has failed and should resign.<\/span><\/p>\n And please ignore the nonsense that Russia, shaken by setbacks in Ukraine, couldn\u2019t prevent the 2020 war.\u00a0 <\/span>Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine came much later<\/i>: February of 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n Punishment Without End<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Throughout 2021-2023, Azerbaijan invaded, occupied, and fortified over 80 sq. miles of Armenia\u2019s internationally recognized southeast.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Hurling the Azeri attacks in Armenia\u2019s face, the Kremlin sarcastically termed them mere \u201cborder demarcations.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>The Azeris are still there.<\/span><\/p>\n Russia\/CSTO had again willfully violated their defense treaties with Armenia.<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, despite Russia\u2019s 2020 pledge, its \u201cpeacekeepers\u201d permitted incessant Azeri assaults on Artsakh from 2021 on.<\/span><\/p>\n Then, in December of 2022, Azerbaijan sent military and other officials disguised as \u201ceco-activists\u201d to block the Lachin corridor.<\/span><\/p>\n The armed \u201cpeacekeepers\u201d could\u2019ve moved the Azeris off the road in 5 minutes.\u00a0 <\/span>Instead, the Russians feigned helplessness as food and medical supplies to Artsakh were blocked.\u00a0 <\/span>Meanwhile, the well-fed Russian soldiers offered to sell food to the starving Armenians at inflated prices.<\/span><\/p>\n Baku also cut off gas, electricity, and communications to Artsakh.\u00a0 <\/span>Yet again, despite its signed agreement, Moscow said little and did nothing.<\/span><\/p>\n The blockade, declared<\/span><\/a> former International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, fit the UN definition of genocide: \u201cDeliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Thus, \u201cChristian\u201d Russia and its half-Turkic Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu blatantly violated <\/i>Nov. 9, 2020\u2019s accord while Artsakh was attacked and starved.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n On September 14, 2023, Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Yuri Kim testified<\/span><\/a> that the Biden administration \u201cwill not countenance any effort \u2014 short-term or long-term \u2014 to ethnically cleanse Artsakh.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Then came September 19\u2019s genocidal cleansing.<\/span><\/p>\n Genocidal Cleansing<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Azerbaijan launched a genocidal military assault on Artsakh.\u00a0 <\/span>120,000 Armenians fled their democracy of 30+ years lest they be murdered if they stayed.\u00a0 <\/span>Some were, in fact, killed, tortured, and murdered.<\/span><\/p>\n Russian \u201cpeacekeepers\u201d let it happen. No surprise.<\/span><\/p>\n Artsakh\u2019s millennia-long nationhood \u2014 gone in a flash.<\/span><\/p>\n The White House clearly \u201ccountenanced\u201d the cleansing, as did Europe and the UN.\u00a0 <\/span>America often prioritizes authoritarian regimes over human rights and common decency.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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