https://eurasianet.org/trump-brokers-potentially-game-changing-deal-with-armenia-azerbaijan
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/07/us-deal-armenia-azerbaijan-00499285
I must say if this deal holds and comes to fruition, it will be quite the feather in Donald Trump's cap. Or if it goes wrong, it may be viewed by historians in terms of folly and provocation.
I've written many times about Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, the son of a rebel leader who turned into Moscow's faithful satrap. Usually when Kadyrov's name comes up, it's in reference to his corruption, authoritarian rule, or the hunting down of Chechen rebels abroad - men that would consider him to be a traitor and thus he's proven quite zealous in pursuing these men.
https://theworld.org/stories/2024/09/06/the-rise-of-an-armenian-church-opposition-leader
Yerevan continues to signal its shift to the West. There's little doubt that Moscow is alarmed as now Armenia seeks to re-orient its nuclear energy programme to the West and to cut out the Russians.
https://thegrayzone.com/2024/08/05/us-russia-prisoner-swap-cia-chechen-jihad/
This GrayZone article also caught my eye. I was glad to see that in all the hysteria regarding Russia, there's a story about Chechnya that's been largely forgotten.
https://eurasianet.org/russia-rages-over-us-military-exercise-in-armenia
These military exercises signal Yerevan's shift to the West and yet another Western incursion on the borders of Russia, another invasion into its historical sphere.
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-launch-new-e270-million-plan-bring-armenia-fold-russia/
Since the article's publication in April, there have been numerous reports regarding Armenia. The situation remains dynamic with Yerevan reaching out to Ukraine and thus angering Russia in the process. There are real fears in Moscow of Armenia rescinding its membership with the Russian-led CSTO security agreement and flipping over to the NATO column - not in full membership but as one of its allies. This also generates concerns over the brewing instability of its neighbour Georgia. For Putin, the invasion of Ukraine was meant to arrest Atlanticist expansion, but with the accession of Sweden and Finland into NATO, and now the growing risk of all of Transcaucasia falling under the aegis of the American-led bloc, there's no small degree of consternation. And the EU is also looking to expand.
I have mentioned this in previous articles but there's been a shift in how the American Right deals with the Armenian question. For many years the US stuck close to its NATO ally in Ankara and the Turkish refusal to acknowledge the genocide. Türkiye has long been linked with Azerbaijan, especially in the post-Cold War setting. This opened door for Washington and gave the United States access to oil and both America and Israel found an ally (for its own reasons) antagonistic to Tehran and right on its border. For the US, the geopolitical placement of Azerbaijan vis-à-vis Russia was also an important consideration.
https://eurasianet.org/armenia-azerbaijan-macron-stirring-things-up-in-the-caucasus
Baku is in a fairly cozy relationship with Washington and thus if the Americans don't want to see Macron make this move, you can be sure the Azeri government will speak out and condemn French overtures.
The sources cited here are not above scrutiny, but given the
history of the Orthodox world, and the present tensions within Georgia and the
Caucasus in general, the intrigues and attempted assassinations are not
altogether surprising. In fact the Georgian Orthodox Church had a similar
incident in 2017.
Anti-Semitism is alive and well to be sure and yet there elements within the media that are keen to spin these stories and obfuscate the real issues at hand.
https://eurasianet.org/as-azerbaijan-takes-over-karabakh-armenian-russian-ties-reach-new-nadir
As I have related in the past, the Armenian lobby in the
United States has been faced with an impossible situation, a position divorced
from the realities of US foreign policy. Since the fall of the USSR, Armenia
has been allied with Russia and indirectly with Iran. America has, since the
formation of NATO been an ally of the Turks, and with the break-up of the
Soviet Union this relationship extended to the Turkish regime in Azerbaijan.
The latter country was particularly attractive given its oil resources and
geo-strategic position on the Caspian Sea which connects it to Central Asia.
https://eurasianet.org/rift-widens-between-armenian-church-government
This is a somewhat hopeless debate to wade into. There are
glaring assumptions being made that must be questioned. Armenia is viewed by
its Orthodox Church and the religious sections of its populace as a sacral
state. As such, Nagorno-Karabakh is in reality Artsakh – part of the ancient
conglomeration of Armenian kingdoms. As a people they have lost so much and
have been brought so low, that for some a line has been drawn. No further. They
will not brook any further humiliation at the hands of Turks and will not
tolerate any political party that even entertains capitulation. For some this
isn't just politics or nationalism – it's theological.
This article has been in the queue for a few weeks and I
might have tossed it aside other than it struck me today (24 June) of how absurd
it is in many respects even as NATO continues to push the narrative about the
threat of Russia. Russia has been exposed today as a nation in a state of
instability and peril. Not only did Putin's forces fail to take Kyiv in 2022,
he has now faced a very threatening mutiny and this is even in light Ukraine's
failed spring 2023 offensive. Putin looks weak in the eyes of the world.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/8/analysis-will-azerbaijan-iran-tensions-lead-to-war
This is a story that I've been following for years – the fact
that Azerbaijan has become a platform for Israeli military and espionage
operations directed against Iran. Azerbaijan itself is a divided land – the Turkic-speaking
region was carved out of Persia first by the Tsars in the nineteenth century
and then under Stalin the northern portion of the territory became part of the
USSR. Apart from a brief episode in the context of the Russian Revolution and
Civil War, Azerbaijan only became truly independent in 1991. And while the
population is mostly Shiite (orienting them toward Iran), being Turkic they
also retain close cultural ties to Ankara and share the general Turkish
hostility toward the Armenians – with whom they have fought two wars since the
break-up of the Soviet Union.
The US media and Washington's political mouthpieces can
downplay this question all they want but the discussions are happening and at a
greater pace than seen before.
https://thediplomat.com/2021/06/dont-expect-pakistan-to-host-us-military-bases/
In some respects this is a small story and received little
attention but it deserves a second look. The Taliban has protested regarding US
drone strikes in Afghanistan and particularly the targeted killing of al Qaeda
leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. They are of course upset with Washington but the real
target of their accusations and perhaps their ire is Pakistan. The Taliban
accuses Islamabad of hosting US drones or at the very least allowing them to
strike from its airspace.
The longstanding conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has flared up and dozens are dead as a result of skirmishes. The evidence suggests this latest round of violence was instigated by Baku as Armenia is all but broken and still recovering from its serious defeat in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War. It is highly unlikely that they would pick a fight at this time – a point even Western academics and commentators are willing to concede.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/07/28/iran-israel-agents-kurdish-rebels/
The Mossad will deny that they're working with these Kurds
but in fact Israel has been working with various Kurdish paramilitaries for
some time. This was not always the case but the Turkish realignment under
Erdogan has made it so.
https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-geopolitics-of-dead-georgian-in.html
Accused Russian assassin Vadim Krasikov has been found guilty
of the 2019 murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili – Chechen militant living in
Germany. The verdict is no surprise and it has led to tit-for-tat diplomatic
expulsions.
https://in.reuters.com/article/germany-georgia-chechnya-idINKBN1Y81J3
Zelimkhan
Khangoshvili was
murdered on the streets of Berlin in August 2019 and for a time the story was
'big news'. The trial of the killer has dragged on and still appears
occasionally in the media. The verdict was due in July 2021 and yet the trial
has once more been extended. The verdict should come through before the end of
the year and it's going to be a big story in the West – part of the ongoing
anti-Russia campaign.
