Counter-Currents
2,288 words
Last year, when Armenia and Azerbaijan clashed in the Caucasus, I counseled caution and neutrality for the dissident, as it was yet another tug of war between empires that did not concern us as nationalists and dissidents. Not our circus, not our monkeys.
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15 comments
There is actually a good reason to perform the song in English. Not too many people know Armenian other than Armenians. Therefore, that was helpful for generating support abroad; apparently they could’ve used more of the same since they came out for the worse in that one. Anyway, it did have its moments, even if it wasn’t as high energy as Turkish Laibach there 🙂
And just because I can’t help myself:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/qEbdxfeNAGS3/
But doesn’t the need for appealing to other nations belie their own weakness? While the Azeris benefited from the evil constellation of the US, Turks, and Israelis, they at least pretended not to care.
If the appeal to the public abroad had worked, then it could’ve yielded some diplomatic pressure in Armenia’s favor, or perhaps some aid. One could call it a sign of weakness, but pride can be an expensive thing, and countries on the losing side of a war have had to resort to much more desperate measures than shooting a propaganda video in another language.
The Azeri video reminds me of fury road. I reflexively sympathize with Armenia, perhaps because Garry Kasparov and Tigran petrosian were Armenian, perhaps because they are Christian, perhaps because of their tradition of intellectual genius, I’m not sure which. The Turks are using our weapons, don’t forget.
There’s this old Turkish joke that I heard: a Greek can cheat three Turks. A Jew can cheat three Greeks, but an ARMENIAN can cheat three Jews! That would equal 27 Turks. You’ve got to admire that.
I know that this is a nit-pick, but Kasparov is only half Armenian. He’s an “early lifer”, not that I hold it against him. Does that mean he can cheat eighteen Turks?
Yep, that’s funny, I did that same calculation too!
Among old polish jokes about Jews and Armenians we have one, that even the smartest Jew won’t be able to con the stupidest Armenian.
maybe that is why the young turks dominated by donmeh cryptos tried to exterminate the armenians who are the only ones these people cannot best.
From Orwell:
Trust a snake before a Jew, trust a Jew before a Greek, but never trust an Armenian.
“There’s also the delicious irony of System of a Down, after spending the better part of the past 30 years telling everyone how in-group preference and war are bad, suddenly releasing Blut und Boden 2: Armenian Boogaloo.”
This made me laugh. Also, this behavior, along with making the propaganda in English to tug at Western heart strings seems eerily familiar to the behavior of another group.
Sent this to my millenial son and he said your description of System of a Down as a band from the ’90s and 2000s made him feel very, very old! And, in response, he directed me to the Spetsnaz video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6Vxwb-gJ1Q
Imagine how old I felt writing it.
The Azeris won not because of this stupid video but because the Israelis backed them with drone technology with which they were able to blow the Armenians to kingdom come. As with all modern conflicts, the belligerents had little to do with the outcome, and the outcome was predetermined by more powerful forces.
I disagree. Armenians had good defensive postion, but were handicapped by political mess (Karabakh Clan getting democratically overthrown in Yerevan, purges in the military), rocky cooperation with Russia, all compounded by insufficent economic development.
In contrast, Azeris had used their gas money to modernize the military, maintained reserved, but beneficial cooperation with Russia while avoiding controversies, checked armenian defensive capabilites in 2016 and managed to turn most of their old military surplus planes into suicide-drones (with israeli help). At the same time Ilham Aliyev avoided cucking to USA in “democracy & human rights Inc.” while not getting sanctioned and isolated.
So yes, belligerents had much to do with the outcome despite the (quite restrained) involvement of great powers.
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