Unlike Armenia, US Ambassador, U.S. State Department: On the Road to Nowhere
– December 19, 2012
By Berge Jololian
Watertown, MA
December 17, 2012
I attended the presentation by the US Ambassador to Armenia, John
Heffern, on December 13 at St. James Armenian Church in Watertown, MA.
Before his presentation, Ambassador Heffern shook hands with some
members of the audience. He approached a young boy who was sitting
with his mother. However, as the boy was busy playing a game on his
electronic gadget, he ignored Mr. Heffern’s offer to shake hands. The
ambassador asked the mother if she had ever taken her son to Armenia.
`No’, the mother replied.
The boy finally extended his arm, shook hands, and looked away without
ever making eye contact with Mr. Heffern. `You should take him to
Armenia,’ the ambassador told the mother. `It is a long trip. On the
way to nowhere.’
Heffern then laughed and happened to walk towards me. I grabbed his
hand and said `Mr. Ambassador, Armenia maybe on the way to nowhere,
but it is certainly in the way of energy pipelines.’ He walked away
laughing.
I think that the ambassador is frustrated and angry that Armenia is
not dancing to the U.S. State Department’s tune – for example, by
refusing to give away Artzakh (Karabagh) to Azerbaijan and by not
joining the Turkey-NATO sphere of influence. That is why he described
Armenia as `on the way to nowhere.’
If one is astute and `reads between the lines,’ here is what Heffern
said or implied in his presentation that night:
– The U.S. will continue military assistance to Azerbaijan.
– The U.S. will do nothing to change the status quo of Turkey’s border
closure until Turkey decides otherwise.
– The U.S. will not ask Georgia (a major U.S. aid recipient) to
facilitate trade routes for Armenia.
– The U.S will continue to exert pressure on Armenia until it stops
all trade with Iran, even as Turkey continues to do billions in trade
with Iran and spurn U.S. sanctions.
– The U.S. wants Armenia to spurn Russia and eventually join NATO
(even though the U.S. will never offer any security against Turkey and
pan-Turkism).
It is actually Ambassador Heffern and the U.S. State Department who
are on the road to nowhere.