Russia And Turkey Both Won The War Between Armenia And Azerbaijan

But Russia is just hanging on, while Turkey has aspirations of empire.

Azerbaijanis celebrate Nagorno-Karabakh victory and peace settlement (dailysabah.com)

Look first at the headline:

On Monday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia signed a settlement to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, surrendering the disputed territory and acceding to other demands to stop the devastation of Armenia’s army by Azerbaijan’s drone-heavy armed forces.

Okay, so Armenia lost, had to give up a disputed province, and is standing down, taking time to lick its wounds, while Azerbaijan consolidates its hold on newly-won territory. Simple, right?

No. It’s anything but simple. The geopolitics of the region would give scholars of pre-WWI Europe a headache. Armenia gives up control of Nagorno-Karabakh, but is allowed a safe corridor for access to Armenian communities therein, and Azerbaijan is allowed a safe corridor for access to Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani exclave otherwise completely isolated from Azerbaijan itself.

Russian peacekeepers will be guarding access to both Armenian and Azerbaijani exclaves — areas geographically separate from the nation (similar to Danzing’s separation from Nazi Germany) — for five years. (BBC.com)

Both corridors are to be guarded by Russian peacekeepers for five years, after which Russia will ostensibly…