Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the UN General Assembly, listed the names of Jewish hostages held by Hamas one by one—addressing his tortured compatriots first in Hebrew, then in English. In doing so, he markedly differed from the Prime Minister of Armenia, who, having been granted the same platform, uttered not a single word about the Armenian hostages being tortured in Baku. The notions of national dignity in the two cases are starkly different.
Before Netanyahu’s speech, the demonstrative walkout of several dozen attendees from the hall, accompanied by condemning exclamations, was quite striking. The tensions between Israel and many UN member states are immense, and I believe that even the United States’ unwavering support for Israel won’t deter those countries and organizations from taking action. It is therefore logical to assume that the deadly exchange of strikes will continue—perhaps with even greater intensity.
The continuation of war in our neighborhood is more than likely. How peace is supposed to be achieved in the South Caucasus under such circumstances is highly questionable—even if we disregard all other factors.
In the absence of functioning international law and real guarantors of peace, anything is possible. In the coming months, it’s quite likely that Aliyev will refrain from military escalation—allowing Pashinyan to use the narrative of “peace” as a propaganda tool to secure reelection. This does not mean, however, that Azerbaijan’s leader will cease his aggressive rhetoric toward Armenia, which was on full display at the same UN assembly.
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And after the elections, “peace” will continue only as long as Armenia’s Prime Minister continues his unilateral concessions. The reason is simple: we don’t have a “Mannerheim Line” (for those unfamiliar with the term, I suggest looking it up online), a line on which we could have stopped the enemy.
…During the same UN General Assembly, from that very same podium, Finnish President Alexander Stubb declared that Russia has no right to continue its offensive against Ukraine, and Israel has no right to violate international law. That, of course, is true—but the question remains: who actually cares about international law?
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
