The clash between Azerbaijan and Armenia has been escalating fast. There is a full scale war going on, with both sides using heavy artillery, tanks, and aviation, with confirmed causalities already being in the hundreds, including civilians.
This conflict is beneficial for both Azerbaijani and Armenian elites, in short term, as it allows to distract people from the economic issues (caused by the anti-coronavirus measures with the global recession/depression in the background) and temporary unite them in the face of a perceived threat, but there is also a distinct international dimension, with Turkey outrightly supporting Azerbaijan through its networks (president of France, Emmanuel Macron, among others,
has stated that Syrian jihadists are fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh) and Turkish diplomats using highly militaristic rhetoric in relation to Armenia (Turkey should be quiet about anything that has to do with Armenia, given the history between the two in the early 20th century, but that is besides the point).
There are multiple factors at play, but there are a few minor details that analysts do not really pay attention to.
The current director of the CIA, Gina Haspel, was doing field assignments in Turkey in the early stages of her career, she reportedly speaks Turkish, and she has history of serving as a station chief in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the late 1990s. It is, therefore, presumable that she still has connections with the local government and business elites.The current Chief of the MI6, Richard Moore, also has history of working in Turkey โ he was performing tasks for the British intelligence there in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Moore is fluent in Turkish and he also served as the British Ambassador to Turkey from 2014 to 2017.The intelligence chiefs of the two most powerful countries in the Anglosphere are turkologists with connections in Turkey and Azerbaijan.
It would be reasonable to assume that a regional conflict of such magnitude happening now, on their watch, is far from being a mere coincidence.Besides, there are two other powers in the region that can get pulled into this conflict, eventually โ Russia from north and Iran from south, the countries that have deep economic, cultural, diplomatic and security interests in Armenia and Azerbaijan respectively. Neither Russia nor Iran needs another warzone at their borders, and neither is known for being liked by the US and the UK elites.Also, we shouldn't forget that this year is the Presidential Elections year in the United States, and
it is common for Americans to try to solve their domestic issues through aggressive foreign policy (and they
do have issues this time; probably the worst kind of issues they have had since the 1930s). Interesting that this conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia (the conflict that has a potential of escalating into a World War 3) is happening now, mere weeks before the elections and the potential civil war in the United States.
Besides, it is the year 2020, after all, with pan(plan?)demics, recessions, economic depressions, ultra-nationalism being utilised by different power groups across the world, and the global system in general going through a massive turmoil.
Nothing good to be expected out of it all.
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