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AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA AND CHEKHOV'S GUN
by Giorgi Lomsadze
EurasiaNet
Oct 14 2010
NY
Azerbaijan this week announced a 90-percent hike in defense spending,
stoking fears that sooner or later all those guns are going to be
put to use.
The $3.1 billion in requested military spending is almost one billion
larger than the entire national budget of Azerbaijan's cash-strapped
arch-rival Armenia. Shaken by an economic crisis, Armenia may be
hard-pressed to match oil-rich Azerbaijan's defense spending, but
few doubt that Yerevan will try.
"Gunpowder is an agency employed by civilized nations for the
settlement of disputes which might become troublesome if left
unadjusted," American writer Ambrose Bierce wrote. Neither guns nor
troublesome conflicts are in short supply in the South Caucasus, as
the 2008 war between Georgia and Russia displayed. Baku said many
times that if Armenia does not surrender the occupied Azerbaijani
territories, Azerbaijan will take them by force. Does the increased
military spending somehow fit into that option? So far, the answers
are few.
From: A. Papazian
by Giorgi Lomsadze
EurasiaNet
Oct 14 2010
NY
Azerbaijan this week announced a 90-percent hike in defense spending,
stoking fears that sooner or later all those guns are going to be
put to use.
The $3.1 billion in requested military spending is almost one billion
larger than the entire national budget of Azerbaijan's cash-strapped
arch-rival Armenia. Shaken by an economic crisis, Armenia may be
hard-pressed to match oil-rich Azerbaijan's defense spending, but
few doubt that Yerevan will try.
"Gunpowder is an agency employed by civilized nations for the
settlement of disputes which might become troublesome if left
unadjusted," American writer Ambrose Bierce wrote. Neither guns nor
troublesome conflicts are in short supply in the South Caucasus, as
the 2008 war between Georgia and Russia displayed. Baku said many
times that if Armenia does not surrender the occupied Azerbaijani
territories, Azerbaijan will take them by force. Does the increased
military spending somehow fit into that option? So far, the answers
are few.
From: A. Papazian