POLITICS
Israeli expert: “Official Washington often neglects true and genuine friends and allies”
Baku, January 8, AZERTAC
The first week of the New Year was marked by another wave of baseless attacks and lies against Azerbaijan, running from Washington. Following the threats of a possible deterioration of relations with Baku, voiced by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Labour, Democracy and Human Rights Tom Malinowski, the song was taken up by the notorious henchman of the Armenian lobby, avid Kramer, former head of the Freedom House and current senior director for human rights and human freedom at the McCain Institute for International Leadership, House David Kramer. Some American media have recently published series of anti-Azerbaijani articles and statements by marginal journalists and politicians who do not fully appreciate and understand the strategic importance and significance of the Azerbaijan Republic for official Washington. I am sure that these marginal journalists and politics do not fully understand the importance of Azerbaijan both from geopolitical and strategic standpoints.
These comments came from independent Israeli expert in international relations, doctoral candidate at Haifa University, Arye Gut.
"I have more than once stated that the current US administration does not have any clear and sequenced foreign political strategy in both the Middle East and the South Caucasus. If you look at most of the projects of the American intervention strategies designed to lead these countries to “democracy and respect for human rights", we will see that they failed miserably, causing a huge moral and material damage to these countries and peoples. It is enough to mention examples of Libya, Iraq, Syria, where we can observe a complete political fiasco of American foreign policy strategy in the Middle East," Gut said.
According to the Israeli expert, “the US State Department and the structures that are working closely with the State Department did not seem to notice and do not realize that today Azerbaijan is the undisputed leader of the geopolitical and geo-economic region of the South Caucasus." Post-Soviet Azerbaijan has already proven that it is no more a weak and dependent geopolitical substance, it plays a key role in the South Caucasus. Pragmatic approach of Azerbaijan, religious tolerance, multiculturalism and tolerance of Azerbaijani society, constructive relations with its neighbors in the region, where diplomacy is much more complex than in many other parts of the world - all of these factors played a role in the formation of such successful development of independent Azerbaijan. It is worth to emphasize the pragmatic, flexible and forward-looking vision of the foreign policy by the Azerbaijani leadership in a very complicated, difficult, controversial and fragile region, which is the South Caucasus.”
According to the analyst, today many experts, including the US, recognize the fact that the current administration of Barack Obama is the most unsuccessful administration in American history. According to Gut, today the US expert community often express certain value judgments about the "Obama's foreign policy strategy." Opponents of President Obama noted the failure of the current American administration and predict problems for the United States.
“It is hypocritical, tactless and unworthy to accuse Azerbaijan of violating human rights, the country, which more than 22 years is suffering from the aggression and occupation by Armenia. 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been occupied by Armenia, more than 1 million people became refugees. Why do the US State Department not see the aspirations and desire of Azerbaijan to cooperate and strengthen the strategic partnership with the US and Euro-Atlantic structures?” Gut said.
According to the Israeli expert, the United States must admit that Azerbaijan is the only Muslim country that supports peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan and actively participates in this mission.
According to Gut, it is easy to accuse Azerbaijan of violating "human rights and democracy" and ignore the situation in Syria, Iraq and Libya, where, bloody radical fundamentalists came to power under the slogan of democracy and human rights and with the support of US have arranged a real civilizational fault, where representatives of the same religion kill one another, just because they belong to different directions of the same religion.
According to the Israeli analyst, the aforementioned marginal US politicians incited to anti-Azerbaijani hysteria in the US and world media, they are calling for sanctions against Azerbaijan. "The lack of professionalism and lack of strategic thinking as of some representatives of the State Department, as well as representatives of civil society once again confirms that the current US administration has no clear and serious foreign policy strategy in the region.”
The experts said that Israel, the most reliable and loyal ally of Washington in the region, recently faced a lack of understanding by the various representatives of the US administration, which lead to the heavy interstate crises between Tel Aviv and Washington. Unfortunately the representatives of the US State Department in recent years often neglect real friends and allies given Azerbaijan’s strategic relationship with Israel, its enormous contribution to Europe's energy security and active involvement in fight against international terrorism.
"Azerbaijan is pursuing a policy of multiculturalism and tolerance, showing the world that despite the occupation of the part of its territories by Armenia, Azerbaijan is a true example of dialogue between civilizations and the place, where representatives of all peoples and faiths live peacefully," said the Israeli analyst.