Warsaw / October 12, 2020
“Status quo?! Only when the last soldier of the Armenian occupiers gets out of Mountainous Karabakh!”
"Peacemaking?! The international community?! What has the world community done to implement UN resolutions for the last 30 years? Nothing at all, except for pandering to the Armenian aggressor and maintaining the conflict and occupation! The international community has no moral right to prevent the liberation of the territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia under the guise of ‘peacemaking’!"
Those are the words of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. They were said before the shameful and alarming circus performance in Moscow hosted by Russian foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is not without reason called “the Ribbentrop of the XXI century".
Lavrov organized a meeting led by himself, inviting the foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia to attend it. The declared goal of the meeting was to organize peace talks between the two countries. The real goal, however, was to restore the dominant role of the Putin regime in the South Caucasus, with the prospect of participation of the Russian army in another "peacekeeping mission". If translated into normal language, that would mean the opening of a Russian military base within the borders of Azerbaijan. The Lavrov "truce" was also intended to give the defeated Armenian troops a chance to rest and regroup.
We all remember very well how the Kremlin's aggression in Georgia began in August 2008. It began with Russian special forces firing on their own "peacekeepers" and further blaming Georgia for that. It also became known that the Putin regime planned a "hybrid" provocation military at the border of Belarus with Poland in late September of this year. According to the plan, Russian paratroopers participating in the "Slavic brotherhood exercises" in the territory of Belarus, disguised in civilian clothes, pretending to be some "partisan protesters", were to infiltrate to the territory of Poland and Lithuania in order to provoke a military conflict right in the center of Europe. To those who know history, all that is a grim reminder of Hitler's provocation in Gleiwitz (now Gliwice), which ignited World War II.
If not for Azerbaijan's resolute use of military force against Armenian occupiers, the above-mentioned provocation would definitely have happened. It is Putin who is behind the military actions of Armenia, as he counted on the blockade of the Baku - Tbilisi - Ceyhan pipeline by the Armenians, as that pipeline became one of the factors in the actual bankruptcy of Gazprom. However, Putin has miscalculated. He is afraid to get involved in the fight on Armenian side in accordance with the fictious principles of the "Collective Security Treaty Organization", knowing that in such a case he will have to deal not only with Azerbaijan burt also with Azerbaijan's ally - Turkey. Putin has definitely learnt the lessons of Syria and Libya, where is allies - or rather, he himself - suffered a crushing defeat from the Turkish army.
Therefore, the Putin regime had no other choice but to organize a shameful "peacemaking" farce. Not unexpectedly though, 8 hours of that farce ended in nothing. No later than in half an hour after the start of the ceasefire, the Armenian army, taking revenge for the defeats on the battlefields, launched a series of missile attacks on the Terter district and on the city of Ganja deep in the territory of Azerbaijan. In Ganja, those attacks resulted in the death of at least 9 civilians , including women and children, as well as in 17 persons injured, not to mention the huge destruction. After that the Azerbaijanian army went on the offensive, ousting the Armenian forces from several strategic settlements, the last of which was Hadrut, taken over by the Azerbaijanis on October 10.
As for the so-called international community, one should mention that apart from Macron, who has being furiously pressured by the local Armenian lobby, it seems to be prudent enough not to get involved in the military conflict in Karabakh. Indeed all that community seems to be capable of is humble muttering like the one about "the support for democracy in Belarus". That muttering differs greatly from the words quoted at the beginning of this article. Those words are supported by decisive actions, in contrast to the typical inertia of "very powerful” world community. Director General of the Interfax.az News Agency Anar Azizov expressed a wish: "In the face ofthe recent missile attacks from the Armenian territory on the cities and villages of Azerbaijan, we do not need the condolences of the world community, but concrete actions which we do not see now, as we have not seen before". Sounds rather eloquent, doesn't it?
Personally, I have no doubt that Azerbaijan actively supported by Turkey is capable to achieve its strategic goals. However, the most interesting events may happen if Armenian troops are expelled from Karabakh.
Indeed, there will be a need for peacekeepers. But the peacemakers, not the instigators of recent wars wearing Russian military uniforms. When the national composition of the peacekeeping forces is determined, we will see what that notorious "world community" is worth. Today it has an unimpressive and rather shameful sight, mumbling and mumbling with no decent results.
In any case, one thing is obvious: Putin's Russia in the role of a peacemaker is similar to a pig in the role of a gardener, capable only of destroying all life in the garden with its snout.