A Cynical Pact Between Russia and UK Over Azerbaijan’s Blockade of Nagorno Karabakh

[Borg Refinery]

[..] Britain and Russia have a common interest in maintaining Ilham Aliyev, the notoriously corrupt and callous Azerbaijan president, in power.

Put simply, Britain needs Azeri oil and gas. As for an increasingly embattled Vladimir Putin, Aliyev is a vital ally on the uneasy and dangerous border between Eastern Europe and Central Asia, an area where Russia has a deep strategic interest.

The crisis which united Russia and Britain was President Aliyev’s decision last month to block the link – known as the Lachin Corridor – between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nagorno-Karabakh (known to Armenians as Artsakh) has been contested between Azerbaijan and Armenia in a series of bloody conflicts since the collapse of the Soviet Union thirty years ago.

By blocking the Lachin Corridor, Aliyev was signalling yet again that he is moving towards full control of an area which Armenians see as a part of their heritage, religion, culture and historic identity.

The reaction of the international community was immediate and – at first – strong. France – rotating president of the United Nations security council – called a meeting on 20 December during which one nation after another called for an end to the blockade. Among them was Britain, whose UN ambassador James Kariuki called for “the immediate reopening of the corridor”.

He said that “The Lachin corridor is the only means by which daily necessities can be delivered to the region. The closure of the corridor for over a week raises the potential for severe humanitarian consequences – especially in the winter.”


In the wake of this hastily convened meeting, France set about drafting a UNSC statement condemning the blockade.

Both Armenian and Azerbaijani sources concur on what followed. Azerbaijan set to work making sure that UNSC condemnation never saw the light of day. The lobbying went on throughout the Christmas period – and Britain and Russia (who have been peacekeepers in Karabakh ever since the end of the 44-day war two years ago) were both keen to hear the Azeri side of the story. It goes like this: the Lachin corridor is not being blocked by the state of Azerbaijan. Eco-protestors, angered by mining operations, are responsible.

It’s inconceivable that Britain and Russia believe this preposterous cover story. But it may have suited them to do so.

By 30 December any prospect of a UNSC denunciation of Azerbaijan had collapsed. This became public when an Armenian news site, Factor TV, reported that Russia introduced a series of last-minute draft changes “knowing very well that they would not be accepted by the other members, which in fact happened.”

The following day an exultant Azerbaijan ambassador to Brussels, Vaqif Sadiqov, confirmed the Armenian account. In a preening tweet issued on New Year’s eve, Sadiqov boasted:

“Today France lost another battle to Azerbaijan in UN Security Council in a failed attempt to push biased pro-Armenian UNSC statement on Lachin which triggered harsh reaction from other UNSC members.”

His tweet concluded: “Words of gratitude go to Albania, Russia, UAE & UK! A great job of AZ diplomats!”

Albania and UAE are non-permanent members of the UNSC. Britain and Russia are permanent members. [..]

European President Ursula Von Der Leyen made this explicit when she stated in July that “Europe is turning to trustworthy energy suppliers. Azerbaijan is one of them.”

 

[sear]

BR #1
I'm not merely trying to appear jaded. It seems I genuinely am.
Doesn't the U.S. look the other way when doing $huge $bidness with Saudi Arabia, a flagrant human rights violator? Faust warned us?

 

[Borg Refinery]

But presidents like Obama - and going way back - FDR - had a better vision for a better world; they knew it wouldn' come about in their lifetime but they worked towards it anyway.

A lot of leaders around the world right now are actually going backwards compared to predecessors - supposedly non-populist leaders I mean.

 

[sear]

Few examples other than U.S. electoral politics make it easy for me to believe half the people I meet have below average IQ.

A Cynical Pact Between Russia and UK Over Azerbaijan’s Blockade of Nagorno Karabakh​

I don't know what to think of it. When I read the news and saw the pics of Russia's apparently deliberately sabotaged under-sea gas pipeline I imagined crippling supply shortages in Europe in the Winter of 22 - 23.
But the most recent headline I read indicated the price is falling.

In my pristine ignorance of the region I surmise, whatever the UK decision makers have done here, seem to feel this is the least detrimental option. - yikes -

 

[Borg Refinery]

It's a very detrimental solution; would you want to be reliant on dictator Aliyev's oil and gas as Russia courts him? He's closer to Russia than us, he is in league with Turkey and Erdogan in some pan-Turkic unity, he is a strong Islamist. It's a dangerous and stupid idea like all of our government's ideas and will backfire spectacularly. I'm sure the people here who support it and who support any stupid thing our government do are Very Stable Geniuses.

 

[Borg Refinery]

Obama attempted a genuinely different approach as regards the likes of Saudi Arabia.

It's also true that Biden tried to extricate himself from the Saudi relationship recently and even went so far as calling them liars, to their face. That is quite unprecedented as far as I remember. Both Obama and Biden appear to have done about-turns on Saudi though and have gone back to courting them, that sucks.

 

[sear]

I'm sure the people here who support it and who support any stupid thing our government do are Very Stable Geniuses.

- H A ! -

Problem is, Trump spewed so much nonsense, your allusion to Trump's boast may not be recognized by some. For them, Trump (while president iirc) declared himself "a very stable genius".

BR #5
I don't believe I'm a Machiavellian. But I understand there are obligations of State that one might personally find offensive.
When a nation's policy maker has a choice between a metaphorical finger in the eye to a perceived bad guy, or keeping his nation's economy humming with an adequate supply of essential fuel, we expect the latter.

Bottom line, I gather they've done the cost : benefit and risk : benefit calculations.

"Both Obama and Biden appear to have done about-turns on Saudi though and have gone back to courting them, that sucks." BR #6

I don't envy them. BUT !!

Consider an issue like anthropogenic global warming. The dire predictions made by climatologists a generation ago are being surpassed in some cases, that reality is worse than their dire predictions.

It's very popular to have some idiot Republican pat the U.S. electorate on the head and lie: - there there, everything is going to be alright. Burn all the coal you like. Even if it's no longer cheaper than solar, please yourself. -

It takes genuine leadership to lead a nation of hundreds of millions out of their familiar comfort zone, into energy terra incognita. It seems it's the Democrats that are the grownups on such issues. Sycophantic leadership (if you'll pardon the oxymoron) is pandering. And in the case of anthropogenic global warming pandering to the status quo risk cataclysm.