An Opinion on Article by US Senator Steve Daines for Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Deal
Prominent American lawmaker Steve Daines and US Senator (Rep-R-Montana) has made a strong argument in The Wall Street Journal in relation to the urgent signing of a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan showing how such a peace agreement could have a series of ripple effects throughout world politics and the economic environment.
The article written by Senator Daines titled “A Peace Deal for Armenia and Azerbaijan” is more than a mere appeal to diplomacy. It would act as a strategic plan to curb the instability in one of the most volatile regions on the planet, undermine the Russian influence and provide a new gateway between the East and West through the Middle Corridor.
After continual failure to resolve the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan (within Garabagh region being its central part) over periods of decades, Daines states that the relations between the two countries are on the verge of collapsing. All previous peace initiatives, he says, were either politically or financially lukewarm or hampered by the indifference of the world community. The senator, however, gives credit to the Trump administration to pick up the discourse with a mix of diplomatic realism and strategic brinksmanship, which would he term as peace through force.
In this regard, the existing political momentum where both Yerevan and Baku seem to have the same goal of ending a deal is a rare and precious chance. The personal trips by Daines, who accompanied members of the Trump team, to both capitals have also shown that the American entry is serious.
Daines offers a bitter criticism of the role played by Russia as a so-called apolitical mediator in the past. He feels that Russia has used its presence in the region not in order to end the conflict but to maintain the conflict so that Russia benefits. He views the present peace process as a moment of reckoning where both Armenia and Azerbaijan are shedding the shade of Moscow and making independent choices in accord with the western interests.
He pays special attention to the Central Corridor, which is a trade route between Central Asia and the West passing through the South Caucasus. As the world is becoming more competitive in terms of oil markets with China and sanctions on Russia and Iran, the corridor will offer a much-needed alternative avenue to transiting energy and other goods.
And both Armenia and Azerbaijan are in a critical position in terms of Eurasian supply chains, and both have natural resources aplenty; this is why Daines sees the region becoming a significant hub in terms of trade and logistics, making the West less dependent on its adversaries.
The value of peace in the case of the United States and its allies extends well beyond diplomacy, as Daines presents it. In his words, the peace deal is not a regional solution, but a historical moment of establishing new power balance within Eurasia to side more with the democratic and market-oriented partners.
There is nothing ambiguous about what Daines said. He asks both the Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to get the opportunity and sign the agreement. The resultant agreement will alter the geopolitical rank orders, he proclaims and the effects would be felt decade after decade.
When the rest of the world may have this or that conflict in the geopolitical spotlight, Senator Daines is an example of where a real military confrontation can be solved with peace rather than military action.
Azerbaijan always talks about peace now it’s time for Armenia to take step for the peace in the South Caucasus.
