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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   26270 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 22, 2024

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Except your example also demonstrates that "let them do it on their own" is BS. The Azeris had Iranian, Turkish, and Israeli backing...the Armenians "fought on their own" and got stomped. Little countries will always cozy up to big countries, and whoever doesn't have a patron had best find one quick or risk domination by their mobbed-up neighbors.

Iran supports Armenia, not Azerbaijan.

You are correct, thank you.

They're awkwardly trying to maintain good relations with both countries these days, but they have recognized Artsakh as Azeri clay for several years now.

I don't know that Iran supports Armenia so much as it opposes Azerbaijan, because it has its own Azeri population that Azerbaijani nationalists would love to anschluss.

And so Turkey, Israel and Iran take on partial responsibility for Azerbaijani expansion, the pros and the cons. Turkey gets to suppress Armenia, they make a useful oil-rich, nearby ally. In contrast, we would gain nothing from helping Armenia, so we don't do it.

Likewise we take on partial responsibility for Israeli expansion/suppression of Palestinians, the pros (all of which are taken by Israel) and the cons (which filter through to us). We get Muslim anger and terrorism from our support of Israel, higher oil prices, enhanced Chinese influence in MENA. The Israelis never provide any useful assistance, they send us faulty intelligence about WMDs in Iraq and Iran (considering they've been shrieking about the Iranian nuclear program for 30 years). We get nothing from helping them, only pain, so we should stop it.

In contrast, we would gain nothing from helping Armenia, so we don't do it.

Armenia is just lower on our list of priorities, not totally irrelevant. Ethnic Armenians are a relevant interest group in the US and blocking Turkish expansion and coaxing away Russian allies are their own end goal, which is part of why American troops were training Armenian soldiers. It's likely we would have done something if Azerbaijan actually invaded Armenia rather than just a piece of territory we formally recognize as Azeri, even despite our multiple commitments. When Azerbaijan blockaded Armenia after the first NK war we aggressively sanctioned them even though American multinationals were drilling oil in country, so there's certainly precedent for us being willing to retaliate against them at personal cost.

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