Satik Seyranyan on the air of “Pressing” program guest USA It’s Arthur Khachikyan, Ph.D. in political science at Stanford University։

The main theses of the interview are below.

• We saw that a few days ago, the West threw Zelensky aside after inciting, using and slandering. Trump announced a few days ago that Ukraine needs a new leader. Let the Armenians see what is happening… The price of Ukraine: 10-15 million refugees, a destroyed country, 1-1.5 million victims, a destroyed, impoverished, crushed country, loss of Donetsk and Lugansk, possibly also Kherson… And we lost Artsakh and 5000 boys… This should be a lesson. But there is a difference: they are arming Ukraine, even though they don’t have that weapon anymore, but in any case they need Ukraine, we don’t.

• The US, the global superpower, has been defeated by Iran and the Houthis for the second time. The influence of the United States and the West in our region is changing dramatically. There will be no return to the Middle East it once was for decades. The US will not restore its bases in that region, Israel is also worried. Saudi Arabia was attacked by the Houthis, the US could do nothing to help its ally. The role of Iran is increasing sharply, the role of the USA is decreasing, the borders of some countries may change, the future of Iraq is unclear, they are already talking about the possibility of destabilization in Saudi Arabia, it is not calm in Syria and Turkey either, Palestine continue to destroy. We live in a cynical region, 5 less than the Great Eurasian War:

• The Makkah agreement was reached after Iran had been attacking Saudi Arabia for several months. Some analysts see this as an agreement to contain Iran, others to contain Israel. But we saw that this alliance did not provide real help to Saudi Arabia. Being a rich country, Saudi Arabia was left unprotected. And what will happen to us if we decide to leave the EAEU? It is necessary to think.

• In a few weeks there will be an election in the USA. For this, Trump tried to stabilize the price of diesel by signing an agreement with Russia. Of course, it didn’t help much. the price of diesel dropped by only 5 cents… Trump will lose the Senate, and if he loses the Congress, the impeachment process will begin against him.

• The situation in Europe is not stable. You saw what is happening in France, when the schools are in terrible condition, not repaired, but France provides huge funds to Ukraine. Macron’s approval rating is 13-15%, as is Merzin in Germany. 

• Everyone wants to end the war in Ukraine, but they don’t know how.

• Russia says: take sides. You cannot take advantage of our subsidies and go to our enemies. And Russia says that the Armenian people should express their opinion regarding EU membership. Russia also considers it pointless to keep a military base here in case of such a position of Armenia. But if the military base is removed, Armenia may fall into the hands of Saudi Arabia or Zelensky. It would be right for our people to express their opinion, even through a referendum. The problem is that we are going against the flow. Throughout our region, the influence of the Europeans and the US has declined dramatically, but we are moving in their direction. We need to build and develop relations with Iran and Russia, but we are going in the wrong direction:

• Societies of both Russia and Ukraine are tired of the war, so many victims, ruins… but behind Ukraine are countries that do not allow that war to end, the goal is to continue to weaken Russia. The tragedy is that after so many victims, destruction and sanctions, the parties are not ready for serious concessions. This is a continuation of the tragedy that started back in the 90s. The way to end this is to return to Europe’s system of collective security. No country would allow NATO expansion. They have been doing this for years, taking action, and finally Russia said STOP, only when they got Georgia and Ukraine:

• In Europe, they talk about destroying Russia as if it were 1939. They forget that Russia is a nuclear power and has 5,500 warheads. I hope that the time of adventure leaders will be over in Europe next year.

• When Putin patted Pashinyan on the shoulder, it meant: friend, you will not harm anyone here, decide where you are going. 

• What was the point of fighting with Russia when you knew that nobody in Europe was waiting for you? You fought reality for a fairy tale. Who was forcing you, who was preventing you from implementing the 2017 campaign by Armenia? signed CEPA, to smile and benefit from both EAEU and Europe. This is diplomacy that this government is unable to implement:

• Europe, you make beautiful “pilgrimages”. don’t lie to us, say, for example, will there be visa-free (visa-free regime) or not? Deceiving and provoking an entire nation, making 120,000 people refugees is not a good thing. There was no need to come to the Yerevan “Eurovision” (the summit of the leaders of the European countries held in Yerevan in May, – SS), make promises and withdraw, make pilgrimages… say yes or no exactly… stop lying.

• I have the impression that Aliyev wants to attribute his victory in Artsakh only to himself, when it happened with the support of Turkey, Israel and Pakistan. Maybe with this story related to the hijab tension, Azerbaijan wants to say that we are no longer Turkey’s younger brother state, but an independent, powerful, independent state… Maybe Aliyev also wants to separate religion and state, unlike Armenia, when the government interferes in the affairs of the Armenian Apostolic Church. For Aliyev, the hijab story has become a way to neutralize external influence. Turkey and Azerbaijan will overcome this crisis, “one nation, two “state” concept will continue to operate.

• Armenia is returning to the Middle Ages. According to our Constitution, the state cannot interfere in the affairs of the church. And this person is writing a report about destroying the church, and this is only because the Catholicos is talking about Artsakh, our cultural and historical heritage and memory. This is an attack ordered by Baku. Society must resist. It seems that people are slowly realizing that we have handed over Meghri, now what, are we going to hand over the church as well? If the people do not resist, Azerbaijan will present new demands. 

• They give us drugs so that we don’t feel the pain of tearing Armenia into pieces and handing it over:

• There is no one-sided peace, the weak do not get peace. Some people don’t know this. They also say about the Armenians of Western Armenia that you are to blame for the genocide. Now they say to Shaki’s wife: it is your fault that the Azerbaijani shot you. In other words, it is your fault that they are slaughtering you. this is what they say:

• Azerbaijan has not abandoned the concept of “Western Azerbaijan”, and since they see that there is no resistance here, they continue to advance their demands. Pashinyan only shouts with us, with Aliyev he is a weak, scared person. There are people who cut a lion in the kitchen of their house and become a baby vulture outside. We became another dictatorship under the sovereignty of the West: 

• What will Pashinyan answer to Putin during the upcoming meeting in Moscow, will he leave the EAEU, will he go to the EU, will he submit an application? I think Pashinyan will watch what will happen in the war in Ukraine, but he has already seen what happened in Iran. It is possible that he will try to woo the Russians with his tricks, but the Russians are offended, they don’t trust him for a long time and they want our people to say what they have to say.

Details in the video.

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