By Michael Rubin,
Speaking at the United Nations last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke out about famine, quoting President Biden’s declaration, “If parents cannot feed their children, nothing else matters.” It was unfortunate, but symptomatic of his cynicism, that Blinken ignored the famine underway in Nagorno-Karabakh caused exclusively by Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade.
Rather than stand on principle, Biden and Blinken fund Azerbaijan as it perpetrates ethnic cleansing. Such funding is illegal. Azerbaijan neither meets the terms of a waiver on Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act to allow American aid due to President Ilham Aliyev’s open calls for a military solution, nor does the Humanitarian Aid Corridors Act allow the United States to provide assistance to any country that interferes with the delivery of American assistance to any other territory or entity. Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor does just that. Unlike with Section 907, there is no waiver.
Aliyev argues Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijani territory, and that its residents must subordinate to his rule, one of the world’s most authoritarian dictatorships. For too long, the State Department has deferred to Aliyev’s claim of sovereignty. US recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh upon Azerbaijan’s renewed independence was never cut-and-dry; rather, recognition of sovereignty over the region depended upon Azerbaijan’s agreement to peaceful resolution of the dispute and balancing principles of territorial integrity and self-determination. Even if Blinken bullies Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan into renouncing Armenian claims over the region, Pashinyan has neither the right nor the ability to forfeit residents’ legal rights to self-determination.
Not everyone ignores the crisis. On August 7, 2023, Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, issued an opinion labeling the deliberate starvation of Nagorno-Karabakh’s 120,000 Christians to be an act of genocide.
Aliyev believes that he is absolute sovereign over the territory; this exposes his sense of impunity. If Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenians are Azerbaijani citizens as he insists, then his deliberate starvation of the community suggests parallels at play between Aliyev and Omar al-Bashir, the former dictator of Sudan, who targeted for genocide the inhabitants of Darfur. That they were Sudanese citizens did not mean open season for slaughter. Sudan, like Azerbaijan, is not party to the Rome Statute, and thus does not place itself under the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction. Still, the UN Security Council passed a resolution to extend ICC jurisdiction over Sudan for crimes in Darfur enabling Bashir’s indictment.
It is unlikely the UN Security Council treat Azerbaijan the same way. While the United States, France, and Russia might hold Aliyev to account, China is a wildcard and the United Kingdom would veto due to BP’s multibillion dollar partnership with Aliyev. Even if London stood on principle, Azerbaijan would buy the votes of non-permanent Security Council members to hamper any resolution.
There is another path to an Aliyev indictment, however, as Azerbaijan has ratified the Convention Against Genocide.
For too long, the State Department has believed balance the key to successful diplomacy. This is wrong, as Aliyev only stakes out more extreme positions figuring Blinken will simply meet him in the middle. The latest example are arguments Azerbaijan voiced yesterday that Armenia is to blame for starvation in Artsakh. This is akin to a judge privileging a child who murders his parents because he is an orphan.
It is time instead for USAID to send trucks flying the American flag to the Lachin corridor under the observation of US diplomats stationed in both Armenia and Azerbaijan. If Azerbaijan impedes diplomats’ movement, it is time to send its ambassador home. If it refuses to allow the flow of relief supplies or, worse, threatens to kill Western observers as Azerbaijan’s ambassador in Brussels recently did, then it is time for sanctions. There is no shortage of options. Biden can put an end to the Section 907 waiver, enforce of the Humanitarian Assistance Corridors Act, designate under the Magnitsky Act, and even support Aliyev’s indictment under the Genocide Convention.
Africans are right to argue that near-exclusive indictment of Africans by international courts and tribunals is unseemly if not racist. Bashir is still a fugitive, but Liberia’s Charles Taylor could use a roommate. Aliyev could be just that man.
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Can we please be honest?
Whatever one thinks of Pashinyan, the U.S., Russia, the UN, the ICJ, or any other party, it’s abundantly clear that Russia is allowing the blockade to continue.
(Russia is also allowing Azerbaijan to invade southern Armenia, and Russia allowed the 2020 war.)
Why we Armenians don’t openly acknowledge this is beyond me.
Acknowledging it does not by any means imply that Azerbaijan, Turkey, and others are somehow blameless.
Recognizing Russia’s role in punishing Armenia is simply recognizing a geopolitical fact.
And why does Russia punish Armenia?
Because Armenia is Russia’s ONLY ally in the Caucasus. Without Armenia, Russia knows that NATO will move into Georgia and Azerbaijan and marginalize Russia.
Russia not fooled by Azerbaijan, which is an ally of NATO (Turkey) and Israel. Do we think Russia does not know what Azerbaijan’s long-term goals are? Please.
Russia is angry and very worried about Pashinyan’s turn to the West and the possible loss of Armenia.
Russia is, therefore, choosing to punish Armenia to bring it into line and perhaps make it a Union state like Belarus.
If we lie to ourselves and others about these things, how can we expect others not to lie to us?
Observe the adept handling of Russia by Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, even in the face of challenges similar to those encountered by Armenia. At this moment, Erdogan is compelled to request a meeting with Assad, who remains resolute in declining the invitation. Despite formidable adversaries such as Turkey, the USA, the Kurds, and ISIS, Assad stands unwavering, refusing to surrender or collaborate with opposition forces.
Amidst the conflict, Pashinyan and Armenia continuously criticized Russia, their primary source of support. While I may not strongly favor Russia, it was undeniably Armenia’s key pillar of backing. During the initial Karabakh war, Armenia confronted numerous instances of the 44-day conflict, yet they persevered. Pashinyan’s actions throughout the war appeared to align with Turkish interests, implying a deliberate course of action.