Boko Haram terrorizes large swaths of Nigeria. The Chinese terrorize the Tibetans. The North Koreans terrorize their own populace. Iran terrorizes anyone, at all, who opposes its repressive totalitarian/theocratic world view. Seemingly, everyone terrorizes the many ethnic minorities that comprise Syria and parts of Iraq — before that, of course, they terrorized the Israelis.
All of this is happening… now. Yet the world looks on as we flip from channel to channel, while we fixate on the right pronouns and bathrooms to use, so as not to offend another politically correct-obsessed individual.
This is happening… now. While the UN dithers, endlessly contemplating and accomplishing nothing, in an effort to avoid offending any party… save Israel, of course. And, this while the U.S. is just now peeking out from its decade-long hibernation, sequestered in a proverbial lead-laden box with President Obama occasionally cracking the hinges to fund Iranian terror and its nuclear program, giving his acquiescence to Russia or voicing apologies for seemingly everything America has done in the past 238 years.
The mainstream media provides precious little to us. More interested in the clothing the First Daughter is wearing and if someone said it was “nice,” we are left in the dark about the plights of many of our fellow men and women.
These deaths are not esoteric constructs. They are people like Samir Gachayev, a talented young artist from Azerbaijan, a sculptor of significant promise.
Gachayev was noted for the manner in which he “created ‘complex simplicity’ by minimizing human forms and placing them into unique, simple, yet complex compositions.” “He tried to evoke emotion,” commented one of his classmates.
“We were all horrified by what happened,” said the President of the Azerbaijan State Academy of Arts. “Many of us cannot hold our feelings and cry… there are a lot of students in the Academy; however, Samir was perfect. He was a very talented sculptor, well-mannered and [a] gifted man… God rest his soul,” he added.
Nearly a year ago, Gachayev was killed near the “line of contact,” a supposed “no-go” zone established following a 1994 cease fire between warring Armenia and Azerbaijan. Gachayev, was felled by a bullet supplied by Russia, shot from an assault rifle given by Russia and fired by a Russia- and Iran-backed Armenian soldier.
Nearly a year ago, in the largest conflagration along the ‘line of contact” since the 1990s, Armenia, reportedly in response to scheduled Azerbaijani military maneuvers, began a large-scale bombardment of Azerbaijani positions. Seemingly in an effort to flex its muscles and to sabre rattle, Armenia started a war that was, in the end, stopped by Azerbaijan despite significant gains.
Azerbaijan was compelled to respond and, to Armenia’s shock and dismay, Azerbaijan once an army of disparate militias, fought as a coordinated force, well trained in the arts of war and eminently effective. Azerbaijan utilized, with adept professionalism, its new and advanced command and control systems, its state-of-the-art armaments and professionally trained soldiers. The Armenians were routed with Azerbaijan liberating a large swath of its territory from Armenia.
Alas, Samir Gachayev was dead and society robbed of his talents and the beauty he was likely to have shared with humanity.
The Nagorno Karabakh conflict has simmered for decades with each nation, Armenia and Azerbaijan preparing for all-out war… a war so dangerous as to likely evolve into a regional war, involving Turkey, Russia and Iran and Israel. On the Armenia side — Russia and Iran. On the Azerbaijani side — Turkey and Israel.
In the intervening decades, as diplomats from Russia, the U.S. and France in the form of the OSCE Minsk Group have dallied and accomplished nothing, while Armenia has stocked up on Russia weapons systems, either given by Russia or procured from Russia with funds lent by Russia. On the Azerbaijani side, weapons are bought from Turkey, Israel, and, yes, Russia. Azerbaijan’s latest major procurement is the Israeli-made Iron Dome anti-missile system, a necessity to protect civilians from Armenian missiles surely to reign down on Azerbaijan’s population.
The game changer may be the new and seemingly more active and pragmatic foreign policy of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Armenia is Russia- and Iran-backed, clearly not an ally of the U.S. — the opposite, of course, to be certain. This despite what Armenian boosters in Congress would have us believe.
It would seem a most opportune time for President Trump to permanently retire President Obama’s lead-laden box and as soon as possible. Azerbaijan, once a close strategic ally, prior to President Obama’s retreat from the world stage, never wanted daylight with America. Azerbaijan’s leadership, her people and the family of Samir Gachayev wait eagerly for the U.S. to reengage and for that close and mutually beneficial relationship to resume.
Perhaps then the conflict will be resolved.
