Imagine that the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan had flared up any time from 1995 until about five years ago. The details might be different. But the West — the EU and the US — would be in the frontline of efforts to stop it. The intervention would be partly out of direct self-interest: the Caucasus is a vital east-west highway for oil, gas, and influence. Broader considerations would be the danger of escalation, the humanitarian costs of fighting — and the need to set an example. Western leadership depends on credibility. If you can’t stop a small war, you have less clout when it comes to bigger issues.
OP-ED
Edward Lucas: Black flowers in a black garden
A view shows aftermath of recent shelling during the ongoing fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, in the disputed region's main city of Stepanakert on Oct. 6, 2020.
