How great power conflict is affecting the looming Caucasus crisis
Can the US and Europe exert more pressure on Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh blockade without restarting a war?
Can the US and Europe exert more pressure on Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh blockade without restarting a war?
But that doesn’t mean the United States should try to replace any Russian role there.
Encouraging Baku at this moment could very well complicate Washington’s efforts to calm tensions across the Caucasus.
Tensions have been whipped up by saber-rattling and a new EU monitoring mission on the Armenian border.
Full blown support for Baku doesn’t serve American interests, particularly as it could lead toward conflict with Iran.
The recent strikes by Azerbaijan beyond Nagorno-Karabakh show the frightening potential for war on Russia’s periphery to spread.
The US should do everything in its power diplomatically to ensure that conflicts in Armenia-Azerbaijan and elsewhere aren’t reignited.
EU head Ursula von der Leyen came home from Baku with a fuel deal, but it may not be enough to fix Europe’s woes.
Tehran vowed to purge American influence from the region. On that score, their record is decidedly mixed.
The agreement was presented by both Baku and Tehran as proof that their recent political crisis had been overcome. Has it?
The short-term crisis between the two neighbors has dissipated. But in the longer term, relations have gotten a lot more complicated.
But for many in Washington, the idea of ‘doing nothing’ about some far-off conflict or regional issue is heresy.
Neither country can afford the setbacks that often are the result of hubris. Both have bigger geopolitical, diplomatic, and economic fish to fry.
Meanwhile hawks in Washington are encouraging President Ilham Aliyev to stoke tensions with Tehran.
The two foreign ministers also discussed how to resolve transportation issues in new post-war order in southern Armenia.
The usual suspects in Washington are calling for Biden to get involved but there’s no national interest at stake.
Add Turkey to the mix and see how this is building to become the next step in a strategic security axis against Iran.
The election of a hardliner could augur a more security-oriented approach by Tehran toward Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Constant consideration of intervening in the region inflames tensions with local powers, including Russia.
Azerbaijan is just one of many client governments whose war crimes the U.S. ignores to keep military assistance flowing.
Baku siding with Tel Aviv opens up vulnerabilities in its relations with Turkey and invites attacks of hypocrisy.