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Russia, US Trade Diplomatic Blame over Instability in Karabakh Crisis

An Azeri serviceman checks on ethnic Armenians leaving Nagorno-Karabakh through a checkpoint on the entrance of the Lachinsky corridor, which connects the Nagorno-Karabakh region with Armenia, in Lachin, Azerbaijan, 25 September 2023. EPA/ROMAN ISMAYILOV
An Azeri serviceman checks on ethnic Armenians leaving Nagorno-Karabakh through a checkpoint on the entrance of the Lachinsky corridor, which connects the Nagorno-Karabakh region with Armenia, in Lachin, Azerbaijan, 25 September 2023. EPA/ROMAN ISMAYILOV
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Russia, US Trade Diplomatic Blame over Instability in Karabakh Crisis

An Azeri serviceman checks on ethnic Armenians leaving Nagorno-Karabakh through a checkpoint on the entrance of the Lachinsky corridor, which connects the Nagorno-Karabakh region with Armenia, in Lachin, Azerbaijan, 25 September 2023. EPA/ROMAN ISMAYILOV
An Azeri serviceman checks on ethnic Armenians leaving Nagorno-Karabakh through a checkpoint on the entrance of the Lachinsky corridor, which connects the Nagorno-Karabakh region with Armenia, in Lachin, Azerbaijan, 25 September 2023. EPA/ROMAN ISMAYILOV

Moscow and Washington have accused each other of destabilizing the South Caucuses region, as thousands of ethnic Armenians fled their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh over ethnic cleansing fears.
"We urge Washington to refrain from extremely dangerous words and actions that lead to an artificial increase in anti-Russian sentiment in Armenia," Russia's Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on the Telegram messaging app on Tuesday.
Antonov's comments follow the US State Department spokesman saying on Monday that Russia had shown it was not a reliable partner after Armenia blamed Moscow for failing to intervene in last week's capture of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijani forces, said AFP.
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Armenia had relied on a security partnership with Russia, but relations between the two countries have frayed badly since President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
"I do think that Russia has shown that it is not a security partner that can be relied on," US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
Thousands of ethnic Armenians fled the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh by Monday after their fighters were defeated by Azerbaijan in last week's lightning military operation.
Baku has promised to protect the rights of the roughly 120,000 Armenians who call Karabakh home but many refuse to accept its assurances. Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan blamed Russia for failing to ensure Armenian security.
Washington and a number of its Western allies condemned the Azeri hostilities, which have changed the contours of the South Caucasus - a patchwork of ethnicities crisscrossed with oil and gas pipelines where Russia, the United States, Turkey and Iran vie for influence.
Moscow has said Armenia only had itself to blame for Azerbaijan's victory over Karabakh because it flirted with the West rather than working with Moscow and Baku for peace.
On Monday, US Agency for International Development (USAID) chief Samantha Power and US State Department Acting Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasian Affairs Yuri, arrived in Armenia, in the first visit by senior US officials since the Karabakh Armenians were forced into a ceasefire last week.
From 1988-1994 about 30,000 people were killed and more than a million people, mostly ethnic Azeris, displaced as the Armenians threw off nominal Azerbaijani control in what is now known as the First Karabakh War.
Azerbaijan gained back territory in and around Nagorno-Karabakh in a second war in 2020, which ended with a Moscow-brokered peace deal and the deployment of a contingent of Russian peacekeepers.
Turkey, who backed Azerbaijan with weaponry in the 2020 conflict, said last week it supported the aims of the Azerbaijan's latest military operation but played no part in it.

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World

US Refuses Visas for Iran UN Delegation Members

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech in the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York (File photo/UN)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech in the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York (File photo/UN)
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US Refuses Visas for Iran UN Delegation Members

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech in the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York (File photo/UN)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian delivers a speech in the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York (File photo/UN)

The United States has refused to issue visas for members of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's delegation, including his communications team, for this week's trip to the UN General Assembly, Iranian state media reported Monday.

Pezeshkian will be the highest-ranking Iranian official to enter the United States since the Middle East war began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.

"In an unprecedented hostile move by the US government, (US President Donald) Trump has denied US visas to certain members of the president's high-level delegation, including members of his communications team," state news agency IRNA reported.

The Mehr news agency also carried the story, citing a spokesperson for the Iranian presidency, and added that Pezeshkian will address the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

The US has authorized the Iranian delegation to travel for the UN General Assembly but will, like last year, put restrictions in place.

Iran's delegation will not, for instance, be allowed to purchase luxury goods or other items, the State Department said on Thursday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, part of the delegation to the UN, left Iran on Sunday evening for a stopover in Qatar.

Iran says it has conveyed to the US, via Qatar as mediator, conditions for reopening the strategic Strait of Hormuz oil and gas shipping route, which it has choked off since the war began.

The United States, in turn, is imposing a counterblockade of Iranian ports.

World

100 Leading Israeli Thinkers Warn of ‘Internal Collapse’

An Israeli boy holds a toy gun in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron in March 2024 (AFP) 
An Israeli boy holds a toy gun in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron in March 2024 (AFP) 
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100 Leading Israeli Thinkers Warn of ‘Internal Collapse’

An Israeli boy holds a toy gun in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron in March 2024 (AFP) 
An Israeli boy holds a toy gun in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron in March 2024 (AFP) 

One hundred prominent Israeli thinkers, researchers and former officials have warned that Israel faces a critical choice: become a major power or risk collapse, arguing that while the country has the potential to achieve greater regional influence, its “foundations are rusting.”

The warning emerged from an in-depth study by MIND Israel, a nonpartisan organization specializing in foreign and security strategy. Maariv reported Sunday that the research identified another type of danger alongside external security threats: an existential threat from within.

“If we do not address these foundations, not only will we fail to become a major power, but the entire structure will collapse,” warned Dr. Avner Golov, MIND Israel’s vice president.

The study, involving 100 experts, identified six critical issues requiring urgent decisions: Israel’s regional standing, the quality of its human capital, the relationship between the economy and security, governance and national resilience, demographic changes, and relations with the United States.

MIND Israel President Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin noted that the organization intends to present the issues to the public ahead of elections in late October and encourage voters to question party leaders about them.

Presenting the research, Golov explained that the researchers’ review of history found that civilizations tend not to be destroyed from outside while they remain strong internally.

“Internal processes dismantle them,” he added, citing declining social cohesion, erosion of trust in state institutions, the prioritization of short-term political gains over long-term national interests and an inability to adapt.

Contrasting views

Golov outlined two opposing assessments encountered by the researchers. One held that Israel had survived a global pandemic, social upheaval, the Oct. 7 attack and its aftermath while maintaining a resilient economy, technological leadership and strong security capabilities — evidence, in that view, that the country was moving toward becoming a major power.

The other argued that a process of collapse had already begun, driven by an identity crisis, declining governance and a political emergency.

“We believe both sides are right,” Golov concluded, arguing that Israel simultaneously faces historic opportunities and serious internal vulnerabilities.

Asked what the public should do with the questions raised by the study, Golov urged voters to look beyond questions of governing coalitions and demand concrete plans from political leaders. Key measures, he maintained, should be taken during a new government’s first 100 days.

Turning to security policy, Golov called for an updated version of Israel’s traditional “Iron Wall” doctrine following Oct. 7.

He argued that Israel could no longer rely solely on containing enemies behind defensive barriers but must seek to shape developments beyond them.

“The wall still needs to be strong, but we cannot rely only on that,” he stressed.

Golov also urged Israel not to depend exclusively on the United States and to strengthen regional relationships.

“Alongside the walls, we need bridges,” he concluded.

World

Iran's Guards Threaten to Hit New Targets if US Attacks

Image from a video published by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) of its operations within the naval blockade on Iran.
Image from a video published by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) of its operations within the naval blockade on Iran.
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Iran's Guards Threaten to Hit New Targets if US Attacks

Image from a video published by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) of its operations within the naval blockade on Iran.
Image from a video published by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) of its operations within the naval blockade on Iran.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Monday warned they would attack new targets and deploy new weapons if the US launches further attacks on the country.

Almost seven months into their war, Tehran and Washington remain locked in a stalemate, though neither side appears willing to return to full-scale war, said AFP.

In a statement, a spokesman for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, the ideological arm of Iran's military, said "there will certainly be significant changes in our defense and our counteroffensive" in the event of a new US attack.

"We will introduce new weapons with new capabilities into the battlefield, and the world will be surprised," he said.

"Our targets will not necessarily be the same as before either. We have new targets that have not yet been attacked."

The Guards also said they were prepared for a "prolonged war".

On Saturday, the central command of Iran's military said the US was planning new action against Tehran, according to state television, but it did not elaborate.

Fighting between the US and Iran has eased in recent days after a flare-up at the end of last month, though Tehran continues sporadic attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Both sides are maintaining rival blockades in the waterway in an effort to exert pressure.