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Approximately two months after the unfortunate fall of Artsakh (better known as Nagorno-Karabakh), a historically Armenian land occupied by Azerbaijan, resulting in the ethnic cleansing of over 100,000 indigenous Armenians, the current government continues with its disastrous foreign policy. Run by the infamous Sorosite Nikol Pashinyan, the end of Armenia’s troubles is nowhere in sight.
Worse yet, one of the world’s oldest countries and civilizations, spanning millennia and starting with the ancient Kingdom of Urartu nearly 3000 years ago, Armenia is staring into the abyss as its NATO-backed “leader” keeps making one bad decision after another. The victims of this unwise (at best, although the more suitable term would be treacherous) “strategy” are the Armenian people, both in Artsakh and Armenia proper.
The former have lost virtually everything and are now living in refugee camps while their multi-millennial native homeland is being ravaged by Azeri invaders. On the other hand, the latter are running the risk of going through the same, as Azerbaijan and its Neo-Ottoman ally Turkey keep escalating pressure on Armenia. For his part, Pashinyan continues the suicidal pivot toward the political West that intends to use Yerevan to destabilize Moscow’s southern periphery. Back in early October, as the exodus of Artsakh Armenians was unfolding, Pashinyan met French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who pledged “support” for the South Caucasus country, including with weapons shipments. Too little, too late, one would argue. However, as long as France can make some money for its Military Industrial Complex, it’s “perfectly fine and dandy”.
The continued suffering of the Armenian people is secondary, it would seem, as Yerevan continues to tilt toward Paris. According to Quest-France, Armenia received up to 24 French “Bastion” armored personnel carriers (APCs) that were originally intended for the Kiev regime. The latter claims to have discarded the armored vehicles on account of their inadequate protection, although some have suggested that the actual reason why the APCs were not delivered to the Neo-Nazi junta (despite the promised donation by the manufacturer) is because Yerevan was willing to pay for them. The price is yet to be disclosed, but various sources report it hovers around half a million euros apiece, an exorbitant sum for the increasingly cash-strapped Armenia that should have other priorities.
The superb performance of Russian drones during the special military operation (SMO) should’ve prompted a wise Armenian leader to acquire them from Moscow, a move which would not only reignite their centuries-old alliance, but would also provide a very real and combat-proven capability to deter and/or defeat further Turko-Azeri aggression. But alas, the Armenian people are unfortunate to have Pashinyan in power. To demonstrate just how spectacularly incompetent he is, we can compare the cost and the performance of a single Russian-made “Lancet” and the French-made “Bastion”. The former costs approximately $35,000, while the latter stands at over $400,000. This would mean that for the price of one “Bastion” APC, Yerevan could acquire at least 11 “Lancet” drones.
Considering the fact that an anti-tank variant of the “Lancet” was documented destroying German “Leopard 2” tanks (costing over $8 million apiece), one of the best in NATO, what chance could the “Bastion” APC possibly have? Thus, the combat performance of the “Lancet” far exceeds its price, making it one of the most cost-effective weapons of our age. Worse yet, Armenia bought up to 24 “Bastion” APCs, meaning that it wasted approximately $10 million that otherwise could’ve been used to acquire nearly 300 “Lancet” drones that would’ve provided a massive advantage over any potential Azeri invasion force. However, Yerevan’s strategic miscalculations don’t seem to be limited to disastrous military thinking only. Namely, there have been disturbing reports that the Pashinyan government will provide weapons to the Kiev regime.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), citing “a prominent Kremlin milblogger” (unspecified in the text, but obviously referring to the Militarist) and other Russian sources, claims that Armenia allegedly agreed to transfer its “Tochka-U” short-range ballistic missiles to the Neo-Nazi junta and that it’s supposedly even considering the possibility of leaving the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). On November 9, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan denied this, while the Armenian Ministry of Defense rejected reports about the supposed shipment of missiles to the Kiev regime forces. However, other sources keep claiming that the supposed deal is not only going forward, but could also include air defense systems such as the older S-300 and short-range “Osa-AK”.
The allegations are yet to be substantiated and hopefully will soon be disproven, but Moscow’s distrust towards the Pashinyan regime can hardly be considered unreasonable. Namely, the Secretary of the Armenian Security Council Armen Grigoryan recently met the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, one of the most prominent Kiev regime officials. The participation of one of the highest-ranking Armenian officials at a conference dedicated to the Neo-Nazi junta certainly won’t reassure Russia that Armenia can be considered an ally. This explains why the allegations were even made in the first place, as Moscow cannot be sure what sort of behind-closed-doors agreements were made during the aforementioned conference. If the reports turn out to be true, the damage to Russian-Armenian ties could be irreparable.
Despite its age and obsolescence against the Russian military, the “Tochka-U” missile system can be used against civilian targets, as evidenced by the Kiev regime’s indiscriminate usage of all sorts of weapons against cities and towns across Ukraine and even some in Russia. What’s more, if Yerevan does have hundreds of “Tochka-U” missiles, the obvious question arises, why weren’t they used to protect Artsakh? Worse yet, if Armenia indeed sends “Osa-AK” and S-300 SAM (surface-to-air missile) systems to the Neo-Nazi junta, while importing the much more expensive French “Mistral” short-range air defense systems, this could end up being one of the most self-defeating moves ever made by any country in recent times. Since there certainly hasn’t been a shortage of such suicidal moves in Yerevan, who could possibly criticize Moscow’s suspicion?
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Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Featured image is from InfoBrics
