Armenia’s finance minister believes there is no need to talk about the potential risk of a gas price hike in apocalyptic terms. And indeed, what kind of apocalypse is a higher gas price? Of course, it could trigger multiplier effects, driving up prices in other sectors as well. But what problem is that for people whose salaries are set to double on January 1? The finance minister is one of them.
What about those whose salaries are not going to increase? Well, as they say, “independence and sovereignty” require “sacrifices.” Someone has to pay for all this, doesn’t someone? And if the ruling majority were to foot the bill, then who would be left to build this “independence” and “sovereignty”? Ordinary citizens are truly a strange lot. How can they expect government officials both to build independence and sovereignty and to pay for them? That is simply not how it works. The officials are supposed to build them and get paid for doing so, while the bill is to be picked up by the society that will enjoy the fruits of their labor, savoring the ruling majority’s members’ confident public speeches.
And you cannot scare that majority with an apocalypse, let alone surprise it. They have weathered defeat in war, thousands of deaths, the complete loss of Artsakh, and so much more. What is a gas price hike that would make them even blink? Will the economy suffer? Will it be too much for many businesses to bear? Never mind. Azerbaijan is ready to help. After all, our economy is “conflictual” and “anti-state,” just like the Declaration of Independence. If we seek to have an economy that is as little dependent on Azerbaijan as possible, we are provoking Azerbaijan. It is impossible to have an independent state with an economy that is not dependent on Azerbaijan.
Does anyone doubt that all this could be said with a confident, resolute expression? And did anyone ever imagine that, at the highest level of state authority in the Republic of Armenia, the very same “ideas” could one day be voiced about the Declaration of Independence and Artsakh? Surely not. Accordingly, there is no reason to doubt that the same could be said when gas prices rise sharply. It follows that to assume the ruling force, having “politically digested” what happened to Artsakh, will be unable to digest a gas price hike is, perhaps, to misunderstand the political realities.
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Hakob BADALYAN
