Armenia, Azerbaijan & Nagorno-Karabakh

[davidbfpo]

A good backgrounder on this dispute and the cold, now hot war:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35954969

[OUTLAW 09]

Are we heading for a flare-up between #Russia and #Georgia in #SouthOssetia as well?
https://twitter.com/tassagency_en/st...06928526893056 …

Russian Army TV headline: "South Ossetia has found a way to join Russia"
https://twitter.com/zvezdanews/statu...08516347740161 …

BREAKING: #Azerbaijan says it is prepared to attack #Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno #Karabakh, if fighting continues - Reuters

Drone footage allegedly shows an Azeri strike on an Armenian position in #NagornoKarabakh - @JohnArterbury
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st6bshQjtPU …

MORE: #Azerbaijan's military claims to have used TOS-1 'Heavy Flamethrower System' in combat in #NagornoKarabakh.
http://az.azeridefence.com/azerbayca...ini-ise-saldi/ …

Armenia Warns Of ‘Full-Scale War’ (2 hrs ago)
http://www.azatutyun.mobi/a/27653685.html

Air Force Freak ‎@AlRFORCEFREAK
#RUAF Il-76 78815 Gvardeyskoye, Crimea -Pskov

Russian-supervised saboteurs plotted bombings in three Ukrainian regions, - Donetsk Pol
http://24today.net/open/649235

[OUTLAW 09]

If fighting continues Azerbaijani rocket&artillery troops ordered to inflict devastating blows to Stepanakert&other occupied cities

[OUTLAW 09]

Putin intoxicated by his war cult presses for "referendum" in S.Ossetia
https://twitter.com/ukrainik/status/701268368012083200 …
& war in #Karabakh
https://twitter.com/GorseFires/statu...14821020033024 …

Breaking: Fighting now at the #Armenia-#Azerbaijan border in the #Tavush region.

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia`s #Putin’s mysterious moving border
http://www.politico.stfi.re/article/...der/?sf=lknzbg …

Another Russian proxy war this time focusing on Turkey........
Turkey President #Erdogan: "#Karabakh will surely be returned to its rightful owner #Azerbaijan one day."

An apparent Azerbaijani drone buzzing near RT correspondent.
pic.twitter.com/pPJwfzXXHV
http://twitter.com/MuradoR
BUT WAIT he was just in Palmyra........SO just how did he know to hussle back to Russia to be here now????????

From same RT reporter......
Armenia artillery position minutes before Azerbaijan shells fall
pic.twitter.com/wyAo2TgIE5 http://twitter.com/MuradoRT/status/7...124097/video/1 …
http://caucasus.liveuamap.com/en/201...ore-azerbaijan …

Unconfirmed #Azerbaijan use of #Israel Harop #UCAV/loiter munition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmHCQg5sveA …

[davidbfpo]

I was struck by the usual map the BBC uses which shows Nagorno-Karabakh being an enclave within Azerbaijan, which suggests vulnerability.
Link and a useful update too:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35964213



Then elsewhere I read that the 'frozen' war actually meant Armenia took considerable territory so the enclave was not surrounded.
Link and again a useful commentary:https://theconversation.com/how-war-in-nagorno-karabakh-could-spread-and-become-a-major-problem-for-europe-57241?

[OUTLAW 09]

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is too dangerous for both EU and U.S. to ignore >>>
@BryzaMatthew https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...6c5_story.html …

[davidbfpo]

The first shows the terrain and the road that links Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, albeit from one position:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35967341

The second is interesting, the BBC's explanation:

A BBC team visited one of the artillery positions of the Karabakh Army and spoke to the soldiers there

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36019192

I noted the sleeping quarters are a concrete bunker; the connecting trenches to the artillery positions are very wide and have timber revetments. The artillery - not sure what type - are in freshly dug positions. One soldier says they had only been there a day before being shelled, so I expect the artillery were moved in as the crisis developed.

[davidbfpo]

A non-military article 'What the people of Nagorno-Karabakh think about the future of their homeland' drawing upon a 2013 opinion poll in Nagorno-Karabakh, which provides much of the context. Even if the map shown fails to show the full extent of Azerbaijan's lost territory.
Link:https://theconversation.com/what-the-people-of-nagorno-karabakh-think-about-the-future-of-their-homeland-57535?

[OUTLAW 09]

There has been an exchange of artillery and tank fire between #Azerbaijan and #Karabakh forces during last night.

[AdamG]

Armenia and Azerbaijan, technically at war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region despite a cease-fire brokered by Russia 22 years ago, are beefing up their arsenals just seven months after the worst fighting in two decades. Armenia has acquired Russian-made Iskander ballistic missiles, while Azerbaijan says it's tested combat drones produced with Israel and is in talks with Pakistan to buy high-tech weapons.
"We have a much more serious arms race," said Zaur Shiriyev, an academy associate at Chatham House in London. "It will significantly increase the chance of future outbreaks."
The rearmament is raising the stakes should tensions flare again between Russian ally Armenia and Azerbaijan, close to NATO member Turkey, after the two neighbors spent almost $27 billion on defense in 2005-2015. The conflict, within striking distance of a BP Plc-led oil pipeline, is once more showing signs of boiling over as talks mediated by Russia and the U.S. run aground and uncertainty mounts after Donald Trump's election as American president.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/s...114-story.html