Feb 10 2024
Yerevan /Mediamax/. A senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Michael Rubin believes that neither the U.S. nor Europe does enough to consolidate relations with Armenia.
“Armenians relied on Russia for protection against Turkey. The alliance between the two countries was of both heart and mind, yet within just two years, Putin’s arrogance and incompetence have flipped Armenia. Armenians resent how Putin greenlighted Azerbaijan’s 2020 aggression and ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh to avenge Armenia’s turn toward democracy,” Rubin writes in his article “Russia is making mistakes beyond Ukraine. Why won’t the US take advantage of them?”
The author claims that “today, Armenia is among the most pro-Western countries in the South Caucasus, while Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Georgia all pivot to Moscow or Beijing.”
“Alas, neither the U.S. nor Europe does enough to consolidate its gain: providing Armenia with the economic infrastructure and partnerships and military support it needs to send the remaining Russian troops packing. Had the Senate not rejected a mandate for Armenia in 1920, the Soviet Union could never have consolidated its control over the region. Washington should not make the same mistake twice, sacrificing a pro-Western country to the autocracies surrounding it,” Rubin writes.
Mediamax notes that in September 2023, Michael Rubin wrote that the United States should back Armenia in saying no to any corridor to Azerbaijan and Turkey.
“If the White House is serious about protecting Armenia, it will consider stationing its own forces, at least on a temporary basis, in southern Armenia,” he wrote.