US hypocrisy: support for separatism, double standards...
Washington inflames Caucasus

ANALYTICS  17 September 2023 - 15:06

This week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared the end of the world order that emerged as a result of the Cold War. He expressed this opinion while delivering a lecture at Johns Hopkins University. "What we are experiencing now is more than a test of the durability of the world order formed after the Cold War. It is the end of it," the US diplomatic chief said.

An accurate but half-hearted statement. "It didn't happen overnight. What brought us to this point will be the subject of research and debate for decades to come," Blinken says. And it's a half-truth, too. Because he surely knows the answer to the question, and the answer he leaves to future generations. It is simple - the US has failed in its role as the only superpower with whose opinion all the nations of the world would reckon.

The US has been too busy looking for its "sons of bitches" all over the world. They have too often sacrificed their declared values for their own interests and too often failed to live up to what they demanded of others. Double standards, cynical morality, flirting with separatists, and threats of military invasion were juxtaposed with statements about the inadmissibility of separatism and the importance of respecting territorial integrity.

Everything depended on the conjuncture. And this is not following the declared values, but using them as a universal means to criticize in one case and praise in another. Azerbaijan has faced examples of such American inconsistency for more than 30 years. I have put it diplomatically. And if we put diplomacy aside, we should recognize that the US has pursued and is pursuing a hypocritical policy towards our country.

There are plenty of examples of this! Let us cite the most recent one. This week we witnessed the hypocrisy of the United States with regard to the "elections" of the separatist junta in Garabagh. Many states and organizations of the world promptly declared non-recognition of the illegal regime and "elections" in Garabagh. But Washington took an inappropriate pause, deciding to remain silent at first. Although, by the way, even before the "elections" in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, it had not only declared their non-recognition, but also threatened sanctions against those who recognized them.

This is a completely different approach to a completely identical situation. This was cynical and criminal towards Azerbaijan. Only after Azerbaijan's open indignation at such demonstrative selectivity, the US State Department at the level of its ordinary representative verbally stated that it would not recognize the "elections". But this was a belated and, let me say more, offensive to common sense, morality and ethics reaction on the part of the United States.

More to come. The day before, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov received Louis Bono, the US State Department's senior advisor for negotiations in the Caucasus. But what's next? This visit of the American representative does not contribute to the solution of problems in the region and remained inconclusive. Why? Because the US is insincere in its intentions - America is not interested in peace. Otherwise, US State Department representative Yuri Kim would not have talked about the non-existent "people of Nagorno-Karabakh", "blockade" and "Lachin corridor" at the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee hearings.

This is an open support for separatism! The US has annually officially allocated financial aid to the Garabagh separatists. Does the United States allocate financial aid to the separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk? No. Has the US ever once made a statement about the importance of respecting the "rights of the people of Donbas"? Also no. In the case of Ukraine, it was correct. Azerbaijan also supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine. But then why is the US acting so axe-headedly, pushing away the most important state of the South Caucasus?!

The United States itself imposed all sorts of sanctions against Russia for the annexation of Crimea and the full-scale war against Ukraine. At the same time, there were no sanctions against Armenia, which has kept 20 per cent of our country's territories under occupation for more than a quarter of a century. There were no sanctions against Armenia, which turned over a million Azerbaijanis into refugees and IDPs. There were no sanctions against Armenia, whose current Prime Minister gave orders to bomb peaceful Azerbaijani cities - Ganja, Barda, Mingachevir.

The US does not want to hear about the fact that not a single Azerbaijani life on the territory of the Garabagh economic region, even after the 44-day war! But there are several tens of thousands of Armenians living there, who are holders of Armenian passports. Alas, the US ignores today's realities and is seriously trying to legalize the separatist junta in Garabagh.

In fact, today the US, along with France, acts as the party that hinders the reintegration process of Garabagh Armenians and stimulates revanchist forces in Armenia. Because of this open pro-Armenian policy, Paris is completely isolated from regional processes and has lost hope for mediation. If this continues, the same fate awaits the United States, which behaves in this region like Christian missionaries in the Middle Ages, trying to give Armenia's territorial claims a religious character.

Yes, the world Armenian community was satisfied with the latest US actions. The money and efforts of the Armenian lobby were not wasted. But it is naive to think that the hypocritical policy of the United States will benefit Armenians. Azerbaijan has repeatedly proved its ability to realize the most ambitious projects, preventing US attempts to force Armenia into them. This was the case, in particular, with the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. It was realized in spite of the US position.

Yes, the United States refused to provide financial assistance in advancing the line, arguing that the route was intended to bypass Armenia. Which at that time continued to keep 20 per cent of our country's territories under occupation. That is, Azerbaijan then stopped the plans of the American side, defended its national interests. And it happened more than once. Suffice it to recall the US attempts to achieve the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border without settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

Have the Armenians benefited from all these American games? No. The remnants of the separatist junta in Garabagh are running around in fear and panic. Armenia is still in self-isolation. One can hope for overseas patrons, for Macron's ridiculous moves, but without normalization of relations with its closest neighbours - Azerbaijan and Türkiye - Yerevan's future will remain murky. Official Baku has already pointed out the fallacy of this Armenian path, noting that if Armenia refuses to fulfil its obligations under various pretexts and wants to continue to remain isolated, Azerbaijan does not intend to wait and is already actively working on alternative projects with other countries in the region.

This was a clear statement not only for Armenia, but also for the forces it naively relies on. Our country is able to prove again its ability to achieve the realization of the grandiose project called Zangezur corridor, which is of importance for a huge number of countries of the world, without the participation of Armenia. And, I should add, in spite of the US plans. In which a number of senators, congressmen and politicians too clearly put personal interests above national interests.

Robert Menendez, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is worth it alone. Yes, the very figurehead of countless corruption scandals reported by many media outlets, including The New York Post. This corrupt and pro-Armenian politician protects the Garabagh separatists, while preventing the sale of American F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye. Here is the clearest example of actions that harm American national interests but please a corrupt and biased senator. Yes, he and his kind are doing everything possible so that the US does not see allies and friends in Azerbaijan and Türkiye, the two most important states of such a vast region.

And there is every reason to believe that Ukraine's attitude towards the United States will change for the worse. Because Kyiv sees perfectly well that the United States is deliberately dragging out the war in Ukraine. But the United States is the guarantor of security and territorial integrity of Ukraine, according to the Budapest Memorandum. That is, they were obliged to act as tough as possible immediately after the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. But the American side preferred not to settle the conflict, but to use it in its own interests. And the fact that Ukraine has not yet received everything that should have been handed over long ago and that would have radically changed the course of the war is proof of this.

But speaking of this, let us remember whether the United States has provided any assistance to Azerbaijan, whose lands have been under Armenian occupation for so long? The answer is obvious - they did not. On the contrary, the unfortunate 907th Amendment, adopted, paradoxically, with regard to the state - the victim of occupation, has not been cancelled yet!

Let us also remember Georgia. The United States made so many promises to Mikheil Saakashvili, but in the end betrayed both him and the Georgian people. By the way, the US did not impose any sanctions against Russia for the August 2008 war. And then the United States complains that Georgia has made a geopolitical U-turn. So you, Americans, created all the prerequisites for it!

Also, we all remember that the US tried to turn Türkiye into a second Syria, and in 2016 they attempted a coup. Only thanks to the determination of the Turkish leadership and the support of the people of Türkiye was this threat avoided. But even today, terrorist organizations fighting against Türkiye receive instructions, weapons and funding directly from the US. And the just demands of official Ankara to extradite Gulen are ignored by the United States.

Finally, let us remember that the US has destroyed Afghanistan. During 20 years of occupation, America did not build a single road or school in Afghanistan. In the end, the US shamefully fled that country, effectively returning to power the Taliban, whom it had brought in troops to overthrow. And Iraq? Did the people of that country live better lives as the US had promised them? No. And Libya? No. This country is, in fact, divided into two parts.

And there are a lot of examples of the United States acting cynically, ultimately bringing misery to countries and people. And that is why the world order that emerged from the Cold War ended. The very world order where the US gained the status of the most powerful world power. And the US has only itself to blame for the fact that it has now lost this status.

Caliber.Az