By Anastasia Lavrina, Leading Eurasian political analyst

AIR Center has published a report about the recruitment of mercenaries and foreign fighters by the Armed Forces of Armenia during the Second Karabakh War, occurring in the internationally recognised territories of Azerbaijan.

Today, the population of Armenia stands at nearly three million. Armenia has a mono-ethnic, monolingual, monocultural and mono-religious society (predominantly Armenian Apostolic Church followers) comprising 98% of the nation’s population (Armenians total 2,961,801, or 98.1%). 

The world finds itself in an international environment characterized by multipolarity, no global leadership, and the onset of de-globalization— centrifugal trends that the coronavirus pandemic has not caused but by its effects is accelerating. This essay will briefly sketch the origins of these trends, quickly discuss their effects on present global circumstances, and conclude with a short assessment of how all this can best be leveraged by Azerbaijan (and other middle powers) in the overlapping set of subregions to which it belongs. 

KASHMIR IN FOCUS, A YEAR OF LOCKDOWN AND STRIPPED OF AUTONOMY

On June 18, the President of the European Council convened a videoconference with the leaders of the six Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries. In order to evaluate the event and its outcomes and prospects, and what it means for Azerbaijan, it is useful if not necessary to look back on the history of the program back to the days when EaP was originated as the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP).

COVID-19 HAS INCREASED THE IMPORTANCE OF AZERBAIJAN IN THE REGION

Recent Azerbaijani diplomacy implicitly indicates how mistaken are many Western journalistic commentaries that criticize U.S. President Donald Trump's supposed abandonment of international cooperation. To a close observer, it has now become obvious that “America First” does not mean “America Only”. For all his emphasis on bilateralism, Trump does not oppose what diplomats and political scientists call “plurilateralism”.

On 12 May 2020, Conciliation Resources released a 76-minute documentary Parts of a Circle: History of the Karabakh Conflict that addresses Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict 26 years after the ceasefire. The filmmakers claim their presentation of the history of the conflict is balanced and neutral. We believe that there are number of inaccuracies and omissions in the documentary that distort the true nature of the conflict, which we would like to highlight in our critical review divided into two parts: general and specific comments.

The historical Congressional Record found by the Consulate General of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles reveals several essential traits inherent in the members of the Dashnaksutyun or Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF).  According to the article dated 4 May 1945 from Frank E. Hook, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan Dashnaks are political terrorists and pro-Nazis, antisemites and anti-christian, race-worshippers and political chameleons. They sympathize with Hitler and assume that “Italy has not only become regenerated by fascism, but has become an empire nation, and today is reckoned as a military power in international politics. Germany has not only become regenerated by Hitlerism, but has turned her face to the east, and displays her fist to Moscow” .  

The first public debate between Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was held on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on 15 February 2020. This debate manifested the continued dispute over many historical issues, including recent events, such as the tragedy in the town of Khojaly in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Although the ruthless massacre of Khojaly residents has been well documented by authoritative international observers, Armenian nationalists still do not shy away from falsifying even the most recent history and denying their responsibility. The Center of Analysis of International Relations has prepared a short review of the Armenian allegations and Center’s brief responses to them.

Today, one of the main concerns for the European Union is energy security and how to address any challenges in this direction. The EU has several concerns regarding energy security, primarily the high dependency on external energy suppliers from the Middle East, Africa and Russia. High dependency on a few energy suppliers may threaten the energy market due to increased vulnerability. With this in mind, the core objectives of the EU energy policy are to make the energy supply sustainable, competitive and secure. Thus, basic elements in promoting long term EU energy security, must include, the diversification of suppliers, supply routes and the establishment of a strong common energy market. Therefore, the main strategic objective of the EU in ensuring energy security is supporting multiple projects that seek to accomplish the goals of EU energy policy. Additionally, a close cooperation is needed with the Middle East and especially the Caspian Sea region—a key point in supplying the EU with natural gas from the Caspian Sea and Central Asia.