http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050328-122030-4218r.htm
By S. Rob Sobhani The recent arrest of 18 people planning to smuggleSoviet-made grenade launchers, shoulder-fired missiles and other Russianmilitary weapons into the United States is a disturbingnational-security problem connecting unresolved conflicts in the formerSoviet Union to our homeland security.
According to various news reports, the participants in thisdangerous scheme included both Georgians and Armenians, citizens of twoformer Soviet republics with continuous ethnic and territorialconflicts. Georgia is embroiled in a conflict to protect its territorialintegrity from Russian-backed separatists in Abkhazia and Ossetia.Armenia, on the other hand, is engaged in a 15-year conflict withneighboring Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabagh.
While continued ethnic conflict in the territory of Georgiashould be of concern to Washington, the more important and worrisomeconnection is the involvement of Armenians and that country's continuedoccupation of Azerbaijan. Left unchecked, the conflict between Armeniaand Azerbaijan presents an immediate danger to America's energy andhomeland security.
Soviet dictator Josef Stalin decided to play the ethnic cardto consolidate power by pitting one group against the other and imposingartificial boundaries within the Soviet empire. The lingering warbetween Azerbaijan and Armenia over the territory of Nagorno-Karabagh isa tragic result of this ethnic gerrymandering. In 1988, theArmeniansofNagorno-Karabagh declared their "independence" andunification with Armenia. With substantial support from Russia, Armeniastarted a full-fledged military campaign in 1991. The ensuing war led tothe occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory by Armenia andforced about a million Azerbaijanis into the status of refugee orinternally displaced person.
Despite a Russian-brokered cease-fire in 1994, Moscow hastransferred $1 billion in illegal arms to its historic ally, Armenia,between 1994 and 1997. And although the government of Armenia iscooperating with U.S. law-enforcement agencies, it now appears that someArmenians are turning their country into a "warehouse of evil" and aretrying to sell these Soviet missiles and other armaments to Al Qaedaterrorists for use against the United States. The FBI has expressedserious concern over shoulder-fired missiles that pose a major securitythreat to American airlines.
Ironically, Congress has singled out Armenia for specialfavor and Azerbaijan for special disfavor. Between 1992 and 2003,Armenia received $1.336 billion in assistance from the U.S. government.Azerbaijan, however, received only $335 million during this same period.Despite its unjust treatment by the U.S. Congress, Azerbaijan hasremained a steadfast ally of the United States. When tragedy struckAmerica on Sept. 11, 2001, Azerbaijan offered immediate andunconditional support.Today, its troops are working side-by-side withU.S. forces in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Furthermore, Azerbaijan has stood beside the United Stateson a major foreign-policy priority of Washington -- the uninterruptedexploration, development and transportation of Caspian Sea oil tointernational markets. The anchor of this policy has been theBaku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline running from Baku, the capital ofAzerbaijan, to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean. On May25, this historic pipeline will become operational. Crude oil from theCaspian Sea -- home to 10 percent of the world's remaining crude-oilreserves -- will be on its way to the East Coast of the United States.
Clearly, the resolution of this conflict must be of utmostimportance to President Bush, because it does indeed affect our nationalsecurity. According to the State Department's 2005 fact sheet, theUnited States does not recognize Nagorno-Karabagh as an independentcountry. Washington supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. With this in mind, the Bush administration should take amore robust approach to a swift resolution of the Nagorno-Karabaghconflict in a fair and balanced manner. The presidents of bothAzerbaijan and Armenia have expressed strong support for a peacefulresolution of their conflict and Washington should seize on thisgoodwill.
A summit at the White House hosted by President Bush couldserve as a catalyst to end this festering regional conflict with itsdirect threat to American security. There is international consensus onthe broad outlines of a solution. Armenians must withdraw from alloccupied territories. Azerbaijan should regain full sovereignty overNagorno-Karabagh.
The rights of Armenians to live in peace within theterritory of Nagorno-Karabagh must be secured and guaranteed, as mustthe right of Azerbaijanis to return to their ancient homeland if they sodesire. The introduction of NATO peacekeepers into the conflict zonewould be a first step towards a permanent solution, thus keeping theregion from manipulation by criminal elements whose goal is to harmAmerica.
When Afghanistan became a "warehouse of evil" for criminalslike Osama bin Laden, Americans paid a heavy price on September 11. Wecannot afford another region of the world to fall prey to criminalelements. The United States must act now before it is too late.
Rob Sobhani is president of Caspian Energy Consultingand a member of the Committee on the Present Danger.
By S. Rob Sobhani The recent arrest of 18 people planning to smuggleSoviet-made grenade launchers, shoulder-fired missiles and other Russianmilitary weapons into the United States is a disturbingnational-security problem connecting unresolved conflicts in the formerSoviet Union to our homeland security.
According to various news reports, the participants in thisdangerous scheme included both Georgians and Armenians, citizens of twoformer Soviet republics with continuous ethnic and territorialconflicts. Georgia is embroiled in a conflict to protect its territorialintegrity from Russian-backed separatists in Abkhazia and Ossetia.Armenia, on the other hand, is engaged in a 15-year conflict withneighboring Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabagh.
While continued ethnic conflict in the territory of Georgiashould be of concern to Washington, the more important and worrisomeconnection is the involvement of Armenians and that country's continuedoccupation of Azerbaijan. Left unchecked, the conflict between Armeniaand Azerbaijan presents an immediate danger to America's energy andhomeland security.
Soviet dictator Josef Stalin decided to play the ethnic cardto consolidate power by pitting one group against the other and imposingartificial boundaries within the Soviet empire. The lingering warbetween Azerbaijan and Armenia over the territory of Nagorno-Karabagh isa tragic result of this ethnic gerrymandering. In 1988, theArmeniansofNagorno-Karabagh declared their "independence" andunification with Armenia. With substantial support from Russia, Armeniastarted a full-fledged military campaign in 1991. The ensuing war led tothe occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory by Armenia andforced about a million Azerbaijanis into the status of refugee orinternally displaced person.
Despite a Russian-brokered cease-fire in 1994, Moscow hastransferred $1 billion in illegal arms to its historic ally, Armenia,between 1994 and 1997. And although the government of Armenia iscooperating with U.S. law-enforcement agencies, it now appears that someArmenians are turning their country into a "warehouse of evil" and aretrying to sell these Soviet missiles and other armaments to Al Qaedaterrorists for use against the United States. The FBI has expressedserious concern over shoulder-fired missiles that pose a major securitythreat to American airlines.
Ironically, Congress has singled out Armenia for specialfavor and Azerbaijan for special disfavor. Between 1992 and 2003,Armenia received $1.336 billion in assistance from the U.S. government.Azerbaijan, however, received only $335 million during this same period.Despite its unjust treatment by the U.S. Congress, Azerbaijan hasremained a steadfast ally of the United States. When tragedy struckAmerica on Sept. 11, 2001, Azerbaijan offered immediate andunconditional support.Today, its troops are working side-by-side withU.S. forces in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Furthermore, Azerbaijan has stood beside the United Stateson a major foreign-policy priority of Washington -- the uninterruptedexploration, development and transportation of Caspian Sea oil tointernational markets. The anchor of this policy has been theBaku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline running from Baku, the capital ofAzerbaijan, to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean. On May25, this historic pipeline will become operational. Crude oil from theCaspian Sea -- home to 10 percent of the world's remaining crude-oilreserves -- will be on its way to the East Coast of the United States.
Clearly, the resolution of this conflict must be of utmostimportance to President Bush, because it does indeed affect our nationalsecurity. According to the State Department's 2005 fact sheet, theUnited States does not recognize Nagorno-Karabagh as an independentcountry. Washington supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. With this in mind, the Bush administration should take amore robust approach to a swift resolution of the Nagorno-Karabaghconflict in a fair and balanced manner. The presidents of bothAzerbaijan and Armenia have expressed strong support for a peacefulresolution of their conflict and Washington should seize on thisgoodwill.
A summit at the White House hosted by President Bush couldserve as a catalyst to end this festering regional conflict with itsdirect threat to American security. There is international consensus onthe broad outlines of a solution. Armenians must withdraw from alloccupied territories. Azerbaijan should regain full sovereignty overNagorno-Karabagh.
The rights of Armenians to live in peace within theterritory of Nagorno-Karabagh must be secured and guaranteed, as mustthe right of Azerbaijanis to return to their ancient homeland if they sodesire. The introduction of NATO peacekeepers into the conflict zonewould be a first step towards a permanent solution, thus keeping theregion from manipulation by criminal elements whose goal is to harmAmerica.
When Afghanistan became a "warehouse of evil" for criminalslike Osama bin Laden, Americans paid a heavy price on September 11. Wecannot afford another region of the world to fall prey to criminalelements. The United States must act now before it is too late.
Rob Sobhani is president of Caspian Energy Consultingand a member of the Committee on the Present Danger.
posted by Arina at 12:06 PM
5 Comments:
this really is a pile of crap and shouldn't be taken seriously!!
'Committee on Present Danger' hahahah, pastoren only applies to Americans.
Disgusting article... write a letter to the editor and complain...
(also, just an excerpt from the article and the link is usually better...)
It's a pity that the article didn't identify the author, Rob Sobhani, as an ethnic Azeri from Iran. See:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/europe/caspian100498b.htm
Gang,..I’m disappointed to read how logical politicians in DC take his views so earnestly. He is just so one-sided on the NKR issue and totally unrealistic with his stance on the topic of genuine Iranian-democratic reforms. I read somewhere that there was a petition to expel this ultra-radical right wing republican adjunct professor from Georgetown University. There is surely a Baku/oil money trail following Rob. In the late 90’s he also had the audacity to run for United States Senate. What a nightmare that would have been.
As an individual of Iranian background from Caucasia, I am very upset with the government of the Azerbaijani Republic or North Azerbaijan. I am of Georgian lineage from my fathers side and of Azeri-related lineage from my mothers side. I am sickened by the authors article. The majority of Iranians support our Armenian cousins for transparent reasons. The government of Azerbaijan is anti-Iranian and tries to errase the people of Azerbaijan's Iranian identity as well as refurbbish history like the facist government of Turkey. No one in Iran has forgotten the Armenian genocide, from the clerics to the academics to the regular people. Nor have we overlooked the Republic of Azerbaijan's betrayal to Iran and their Iranian heritage/culture. I am absolutly disgusted by Pan-Turkicism and the fabricated tales it spins about Azerbaijani's being Turks and the hostility it has towards Armenia, Iran, and Georgia. I am greatly sickened by the government of Azerbaijan's claims towards Iran and Armenia. North Azerbaijan is not acting like a real democracy or a partner for peace by aiding the USA and Israel.
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