Azerbaijan has resumed attacks on Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani attack came less than a month after Secretary of State Antony Blinken lifted restrictions under Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act. Blinken did it in the background of the July 4th holiday to avoid attention, Michael Rubin wrote in his article on the 1945 portal.

Blinken's move may be diplomatically convenient, but it violates the intentions of Congress: Section 907 allows for exceptions only if Azerbaijan refrains from resolving conflicts militarily, which Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev scoffs at. While Aliyev has a free hand, and it would be unfair to blame Blinken for his decision to attack the Armenians, Blinken must also acknowledge that Aliyev is responding to every concession offered with more violence. Blinken may not pull the trigger, but his policy was tantamount to putting a loaded gun in front of a repeat offender.

The dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia may seem complex and irrelevant to broader US security interests. Neither is correct.

President Joe Biden took office promising to return to diplomacy and recognize the Armenian Genocide. While Biden made good on his promise, Blinken tarnished it with his Article 907 waivers despite Aliyev's continued instigation. The latter concluded that he would not suffer any consequences for his actions. On the air of Azerbaijani television, he insulted the American co-chairman of the Minsk Group, Andrew Schofer. Blinken's subsequent silence was deafening.

Obviously, Aliyev interpreted Blinken's actions as a green light for aggression. The diversion to Ukraine and Taiwan convinced Aliyev that he could resume the offensive. The decision ends a long history of violence against Armenians that appears to have been motivated more by racist and religious hatred than by simple frustration with a diplomatic dispute. After all, there is no other explanation for Azerbaijan's destruction of the Julfie cemetery, which is a cultural crime on par with the Taliban's destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas. Although the Armenians are guilty of neglecting some cities, such as Aghdam, abandoned by the Azerbaijanis during the First Karabakh War, this is nothing compared to the destruction of Julfa, or the removal of Armenian inscriptions from centuries-old churches in order to propagate the fiction that the Armenians are alien to the area. . This is akin to efforts to de-Judaize Jerusalem.

Blinken reveals himself to be the most naive secretary since Frank Kellogg. Perhaps it's time to change tactics. Artsakh, like Taiwan, has a unique centuries-old history. Today, the people of Artsakh are wondering why the United States supports Taiwan but ignores Nagorno-Karabakh. At a minimum, the time has come to cancel the exemption from Article 907 for Azerbaijan. Congress may revise its interpretation of Section 907 to apply to Turkey due to Ankara's support for Azerbaijan's military aggression.