An unimaginably bleak situation is currently unfolding in the region of Nagorno-Karabkh in western Azerbaijan. Call it a forced exodus or a selective evacuation, but many thousands of people in the area have become refugees over just the past few days.
Last week, the Azerbaijani government took back control of the outlying region in a lethal two-day military offensive. The Azerbaijani military crushed Armenian forces in a 24-hour blitz, forcing the separatist authorities in Nagorno-Karabkh to lay down their weapons and start talks on the region’s “reintegration” into Azerbaijan. Many Armenians aren’t taking any chances by sticking around to see what the results of these conversations look like. So far more than 13,500 people (~12% of the area’s total population) have fled across the border into Armenia since Azerbaijan’s military operation that defeated separatists who had governed the breakaway region for the past 30 years.
This morning at least 20 people were killed and nearly 300 others injured in an explosion at a crowded gas station in Nagorno-Karabakh, as tens of thousands of people rush to escape Azerbaijan. As Armenians are being ethnically cleansed or involuntarily relocated, keep in mind that the apartheid Israeli regime has been supplying Azerbaijan with 70% of its military arsenal, in addition to surveillance technologies and spyware. Azerbaijan also allows the corrupt and barbaric Israeli regime free use of its airbases.
Side Items
Philly EBT Innovation: One of the more infuriating things about the social safety net in the US is that many people who rely on food stamps aren’t allowed to use them to buy nutritious foods. The US Department of Agriculture stipulates that hot food can’t be purchased with SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits. But two graduates from the University of Pennsylvania are opening a convenience store and legally avoiding these bogus regulations surrounding food stamps to present healthy, hot food options in a nonprofit corner store. It’s a great concept and I’ll be curious to see if this sort of endeavor spreads to other cities
Menendez Excuses: Sometimes, the crusty clowns just want to keep running the show. Bob Menendez, the senator representing the below-average state of New Jersey made a statement yesterday after being accused of corruption and bribery. The man claimed that he’s been withdrawing thousands of dollars in cash from his savings for the past 30 years…because of his “family’s history of facing confiscation in Cuba”. Fortunately, my days of blatantly lying to get myself out of sticky situations are behind me, but I still recognize a seasoned vet when I see one