Thread 🧵: Rep. Pallone's amendment to the FY22 Foreign Aid Bill blocking FMF & IMET security aid to Azerbaijan is an important step towards ending US support for Baku amidst its assault on Armenia.

But it's not the end of the road. Here's what it means, and what's next. 1/17 What the Pallone amendment accomplished was block the allocation of foreign assistance to Azerbaijan with regards to two specific funding programs: foreign military financing (FMF) and international military education and training (IMET). 2/17

Today the US recognized China’s deliberate & systematic violence against Uighurs as genocide - the first country to do so & the only time it has acknowledged an ongoing genocide.

While long overdue, I hope this sets a precedent for atrocity prevention.

nytimes.com/2021/01/19/us/… The identification and recognition of atrocity crimes is central to the process of prevention.

While the administration’s classification of genocide was politically motivated (and the timing very deliberate) - hopefully other states will be prepared to follow suit.

This comment by an @amnesty researcher is absolutely unacceptable - claiming Azerbaijan’s actions don’t qualify as “aggression.”

Let me give you a better word then to describe the dehumanization & systematic targeting of a group on the basis of their ethnicity - genocide.

https://twitter.com/kozlovsky_en/status/1350759310935142401

If you’re wondering what he’s referring to, it’s the law related to the permissibility of starting war - jus ad bellum.

He claims that because this principle only applies to international conflict, it can’t apply to Artsakh because it is legally considered part of Azerbaijan.

In 1951, Israel began issuing govt bonds marketed towards the diaspora to fund development initiatives.

Within 6 years, bonds were funding 35% of Israel's national development projects.

Today, Israel's annual bond sales exceed $1 billion.

Armenia should learn from this model. Armenia has never had a sustainable long-term approach to diaspora investment.

That's not to say Armenians aren't sending money to Armenia.

In 2013, remittances (personal transfers) from the diaspora to Armenia amounted to 20% of the country's GDP.

But today, it's barely 11%.

"Azerbaijan has oil, we don't."

Let's stop looking at that as a weakness. It's an opportunity.

We downplay our value because our lands aren't rich with resources.

Our land is sacred. We should never exploit it.

Armenia can be a renewable powerhouse.

Ecological nationalism. Armenia has the potential to become a self-sufficient carbon-neutral country. We already have a developing hydroelectric sector, w/ geothermal & solar in development.

We already export electricity. Investing in renewables and exporting that energy could also be an income source.

There are elements of the “opposition” in Turkey & Azerbaijan that oppose their dictators but promote anti-Armenian hatred.

Regardless of their calls for reform, as long as they’re guided by their hatred of us & refuse to reconcile w/ their past they will never know freedom. I say this not because Armenians are the center of the universe, but because the way the Armenian issue has been dealt with in Turkey and Azerbaijan is representative of how authoritarianism manifests itself in both countries.

Thread 🧵: The question of refugees has characterized much of the debate over Artsakh's status.

But that conversation has focused exclusively on Azeris displaced as a result of their govt's war, while ignoring the 400,000+ Armenians forced from their homes in Azerbaijan. 1/16 For the Armenians displaced from Azerbaijan (Baku, Sumgait, Kirovabad) and Artsakh, many had no choice but to leave Armenia because of the dire situation the country was in as a result of Azerbaijan's war. Many left to Russia in search of economic opportunities. 2/16

The latest from @SecPompeo on Artsakh:

- Calls on "all parties" to respect int'l law
- Urges "all sides" to re-engage w/ the OSCE process
- Commits $5M in aid to assist "people affected by fighting"

Another vapid statement that fails to hold Az. accountable for its aggression. The statement continues to draw a false equivalency between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In doing so, it fails to condemn Azerbaijan's war crimes and its role as the aggressor.