AMID US BUDGET CUTS, HOW MUCH WILL BE LEFT FOR ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN?
Giorgi Lomsadze
EurasiaNet.org
Aug 3, 2011
Now that the US debt ceiling drama has ended, can Washington start
mulling the truly pressing economic question; i.e. how much money
to dish out in aid to the Caucasus' legendary foes, Armenia and
Azerbaijan?
Colossal foreign debt may be encouraging congressional parsimony, but
one big Armenian Diaspora lobbyist, the Armenian National Committee
of America (ANCA), still hopes to cut as large a slice as possible
for Armenia from a trimmed-down 2012 foreign aid package. The ANCA
recently called on Armenian-Americans to lobby for approval of $60
million in economic aid instead of the recently approved $40 million
and for "at least" $10 million in military assistance.
Rival Azerbaijan should get nada in economic aid, the organization
argued, because, first off, it is rich anyway, spoilt by hydrocarbon
wealth, and, secondly, because it (allegedly) threatens Armenia and
the Armenia-dependent breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Azerbaijan, for its part, does not often display the Diaspora lobbying
muscle which its rival enjoys (Azerbaijan's strategic location and
energy resources tend to be active lobbyists by themselves), but it
has praised a congressional panel for not including Nagorno Karabakh
among the recipients of American foreign aid for the prospective 2012
foreign aid bill.
Both countries, however, have been more than equally matched in their
latest assessments of each other. Commenting on Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan's recent controversial statement about the prospects
for reclaiming Mount Ararat from Turkey, Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev noted that something may be missing in the Armenian leader's
brain. Sargsyan retorted promptly that Aliyev's words were the words
of a madman.
US foreign aid for both Azerbaijan and Armenia comes with conditions
attached; maybe it's time to make a presidential anger management
course one of them?
From: Baghdasarian
Giorgi Lomsadze
EurasiaNet.org
Aug 3, 2011
Now that the US debt ceiling drama has ended, can Washington start
mulling the truly pressing economic question; i.e. how much money
to dish out in aid to the Caucasus' legendary foes, Armenia and
Azerbaijan?
Colossal foreign debt may be encouraging congressional parsimony, but
one big Armenian Diaspora lobbyist, the Armenian National Committee
of America (ANCA), still hopes to cut as large a slice as possible
for Armenia from a trimmed-down 2012 foreign aid package. The ANCA
recently called on Armenian-Americans to lobby for approval of $60
million in economic aid instead of the recently approved $40 million
and for "at least" $10 million in military assistance.
Rival Azerbaijan should get nada in economic aid, the organization
argued, because, first off, it is rich anyway, spoilt by hydrocarbon
wealth, and, secondly, because it (allegedly) threatens Armenia and
the Armenia-dependent breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Azerbaijan, for its part, does not often display the Diaspora lobbying
muscle which its rival enjoys (Azerbaijan's strategic location and
energy resources tend to be active lobbyists by themselves), but it
has praised a congressional panel for not including Nagorno Karabakh
among the recipients of American foreign aid for the prospective 2012
foreign aid bill.
Both countries, however, have been more than equally matched in their
latest assessments of each other. Commenting on Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan's recent controversial statement about the prospects
for reclaiming Mount Ararat from Turkey, Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev noted that something may be missing in the Armenian leader's
brain. Sargsyan retorted promptly that Aliyev's words were the words
of a madman.
US foreign aid for both Azerbaijan and Armenia comes with conditions
attached; maybe it's time to make a presidential anger management
course one of them?
From: Baghdasarian