Oddly, few Western writers on the South Caucasus have ever grasped Christian Armenia’s significance as Russia’s only ally and military outpost among the region’s three countries. Simply put: Were Russia to lose Armenia, the U.S./NATO/EU and pan-Turkism would inevitably dominate the Caucasus/Caspian and, perhaps, beyond. Putin understands this. Georgia and Azerbaijan are, after all, headed […]
Azerbaijan = Corrupt + Terrorist + Evil
There may be no regime more loathsome and deserving of U.S. and European condemnation and punitive sanctions than that of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his crew of criminals and monsters. Corrupt to the Core The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an international crime and corruption watchdog, named Aliyev its 2012 Organized Crime […]
Crisis in the Caucasus: Two Facts You Aren’t Being Told
Armenia is more critical to Russia’s security than Ukraine is Armenia is Russia’s sole ally in the Caucasus, a region I’ve often termed Ground Zero for Cold War 2.0. Without its Armenian partner, Russia would lose the Caucasus (Georgia/Armenia/Azerbaijan) and the Caspian Sea — and possibly Turkic Central Asia — to pan-Turkism and NATO. Pan-Turkic […]
Erdogan Triumphs as Putin Stabs His Own Best Ally in the Back
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been making some astonishing demands, including: NATO mustn’t admit additional countries near Russia, such as Ukraine and Georgia. NATO must cease military activity in non-NATO territories: Georgia, Ukraine, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and parts of eastern Europe. Yet, incredibly, Putin has himself been enabling a NATO member’s aggression bordering […]
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Fails to Question Nominee for US Ambassador to Turkey about Terrorism
Several times this year, the U.S. State Department and Treasury Department have cited Turkey as a financial base for ISIS and al-Qaeda. Turkey has long sponsored ISIS and other international terrorist organizations. No serious analyst disputes this. Turkey has armed, financed, and deployed terrorists in such locations as Syria, Libya, and Azerbaijan. On September 28, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee […]
The Afghan Crisis, Turkey, and Washington’s Global War on Terrorism
As America’s presence in Afghanistan draws to a close and the 20th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, it’s worthwhile to consider the countries that sponsor global terrorism and Washington’s response to them. One country stands out: Turkey. NATO is purportedly a bulwark against attacks on Western civilization. Yet NATO member Turkey has long supported ISIS […]
What Lies Beneath: Biden’s Deceptive Acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide
Joe Biden’s April 24 statement acknowledging the Armenian Genocide (1915–1923+) carried out by Turkey was welcome, but flawed. Indeed, “Turkey” appears nowhere in the document. Moreover, the State Department swiftly undermined Biden’s virtuous-sounding words. American acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide isn’t even new. The U.S. House has passed several resolutions on the Genocide. And […]
Sanction the Axis of Mercenary and Terrorist Evil: Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia
Azerbaijan deployed thousands of mercenaries in last year’s 44-day war that it and Turkey waged against Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabagh and Armenia. Azerbaijan thereby flagrantly violated the UN’s International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries (UNMERC) which it signed in 1997. Forty-six countries have signed UNMERC including Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and Poland. These mercenaries are not […]