Article Page
An Online Journal of Independent Views & Discussion
Archive Page established June 7, 2013
www.TheIndependentDaily.com
Editor@TheIndependentDaily.com
Name, Website, All Contents copyright 2011-15, Warren-Hill Productions
Published in Northern Arizona, USAhttp://www.TheIndependentDaily.commailto:editor@TheIndependentDaily.comshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1

The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

Companion Read to our editorial on Nagorno Karabakh (below)


By, Bruce Janigian, Special to: http://TheIndependentDaily.com


(Distinguished international attorney, Bruce Janigian, who led a US team of presidential election monitors in the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, found the election standards and rigor to exceed anything he observed in the USA, which, by the way, also has its elections monitored by the OECD.  Janigian offered his comments to this journal. -Ed.)

 

“Interestingly, what our State Department has to say regarding Nagorno Karabakh is yet another unjust intervention and incitement in the region: ‘The U.S. remains actively engaged in advancing a peaceful settlement of the conflict. Cooperation among the U.S., Russian, and French mediators is excellent. The United States does not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent country, and its leadership is not recognized internationally or by the United States. The United States supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan…’


“This could actually be characterized as inciting a war! The region has been calm after this little nation freed itself against the onslaught of far superior Azeri forces over twenty years ago. Now as the little children grow in this new and free republic, free because of all the brave farmers who fought to protect their homeland and their faith, the mighty United States gives ammunition to Azerbaijan. Both figuratively and literally.  Israel is busy selling arms there, including advanced US weapons.  Read the full article, here.


“What about respecting self determination or peace and stability? The US position is as callous and two-faced as our help to Iraq and Syria.  Azerbaijan has oil and lots of it, and Nagorno Karabagh has only farmers living as they have (and where they have!) for millennia. Suffer the children. US policy is made by investment bankers and oil concerns working with intelligence agencies that care not a whit.


“The lies by which we characterize the past (such as failure to officially recognize the Genocide of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey) seem designed to avoid admissions of culpability and responsibility for past misdeeds and to send the signal that more grief may be expected from those powerful, irresponsible and unrepentant.


“The State Department report seems to be saying that we should be pleased that cooperation among the U.S., Russian, and French mediators is excellent.  The pawns on the chessboard be damned.


“The real story here is contained in Persona Non Grata: End of the Great Game by Avery Mann, which was well reviewed in this publication.  A 15-minute video also gives the picture"


(Editor’s Note: The earlier review of the book referenced above, Persona Non Grata, has been placed at the conclusion of our editorial regarding NKR following. Mr. Janigian’s referenced video can be found here at Youtube.com.)



Nagorno Karabakh: Christianity Under Attack

Joseph Warren

http://TheIndependentDaily.com


Two years ago during a conversation with a Muslim correspondent – a New York-based physician – he remarked that “during the first time we Muslims ruled the world…” and went on to make his point regarding some fact in history. But, what came after the first clause of his sentence was lost in the backspaces of my mind as I considered the seemingly innocent utterance preceding everything else.


First time? There hasn’t been a second time, to my knowledge. So, if there were no collective stated (or otherwise) design on a second time, why would he not have said, “When we…”


Two years later with the burgeoning rise of Islamic State I think I more clearly understand what he meant: People – nations – have always had designs on controlling part (or all) of the world – the United States, Germany, Britain, Spain and even Portugal; China does today, and so does, most importantly, Islamic State (IS), as we speak. And while most Muslims outwardly criticize IS, I believe that many silently harbor a hope that the movement will succeed.


How much of the world’s geography constitutes the “World” to them, though, is the question. Is it the Middle East, as we define it today? Does it include part (or all) of Africa? Some or all of the former Soviet Block regions? Are the Americas on their short list of countries to control? And if so, What will happen to you, America’s Christian population?



What is Nagorno Karabakh?


A geographically small, sparsely populated region within Azerbaijan near the Armenian border. It is a self-declared state; an upstart designed to provide a sovereign nation to those whose occupancy of the 1600+ square miles constituting Nagorno Karabakh – Armenians of Christian faith – a safe-haven amidst the growing presence of Islam that is Azerbaijan, a country of about 9 million Muslims representing more than 98% of the Azerbaijani population.


It is hotly contested and has been embroiled in civil war since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the founding of the fledgling state. It is a petri dish by comparative size to Azerbaijan, on which the outcome of the next few decades – the struggle between Christian and Muslim - will be decided. How Nagorno Karabakh will look in 10 years will tell us much about the future of our world.


It is, in my opinion, a challenge to Christianity unlike any other before it.


Yet, interestingly enough, so little seems to come to the surface in the popular media regarding this country of about 150,000 predominantly Christian people whose break-away following the collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in a war – an ongoing and deadly skirmish  - that continues today, all these years later: Karabakh’s Christians battling for the sanctity of a small piece of mountainous land against Azerbaijan’s Muslims.


It is nearly (or perhaps, is) a tale of biblical proportions, written in today’s world of geopolitical turmoil and within the feverish growth of radical Islam seeking to control larger and ever-larger swaths of the earth’s domain, radicalizing farther into the fabric of conventional Islam, converting otherwise religious pragmatists to those who profoundly hate.


Nagorno Karabakh gives us a look into the future of today’s Muslim movement. A chance to observe a modern-day re-telling of the epic conflict between the duality inherent in mankind: good versus evil; truth opposing lie; survival challenged by adversity. And if we do nothing, we may observe the crush of a large handful of Christians whose only goal is to live without strife and without Muslim influence, in a separately aggregated geography their claim to which extends back for thousands of years.


Interestingly, here’s what our State Department has to say regarding Nagorno Karabakh: “The U.S. remains actively engaged in advancing a peaceful settlement of the conflict. Cooperation among the U.S., Russian, and French mediators is excellent. The United States does not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent country, and its leadership is not recognized internationally or by the United States. The United States supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan…”


It’s a view reflected largely by Russia and France, as well, and lately affirmed by France’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Monnier, commenting on the upcoming election in Nagorno Karabakh, with the customary dismissal only an imperialist state whose occupation of “Other People’s Lands” (which continues today in Africa and elsewhere), may.


According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, more than 8-in-10 of the world’s population subscribes to some form of religion: More than 31% are Christian. 23.2% are Muslim. And all others fall off severely from there terminating with just 0.2% world Jewish population.


73% of the Muslim population lives as a majority in regions around the world. One such region is in the former Soviet Union centered on Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iraq, and other predominantly growingly intolerant Muslim countries.


Who is encompassed in this web of Islam? Armenia and the small, Christian declared break-way republic known as Nagorno Karabakh. And, most importantly, it is here that the outcome of the world’s Muslim drive to capture dominance in the world – to whatever geographic extent – will be tested. This is the small playing field on which the test of faith and fortitude will be played to a conclusion, either much to the chagrin or pleasure of the followers of Muhammed.


*


Our policy toward Nagorno Karabakh must change. It must be reflected in the proceedings of the OCSE, Minsk Group, responsible for the resolution of this conflict – a battle that has cost far too much in innocent lives. We must come to embrace Karabakh as a legitimate state supported by popular view and endowed with the inherent and historic ability to declare its independence and seek sovereignty in an otherwise quickly disintegrating region of the world.