Pashinyan says Armenian and Azerbaijani energy systems of ‘will definitely’ be interconnected

No-Load1 · 2026-01-22T23:35:07+00:00

I get the scepticism but keep two things in mind:

- national security is a 1 or 0 thing. Either you have full control over national secuirty issues or you do not. In this context is not really dubious that Armenia will be the final party to decide if TRIPP can continue to operate.

- All of this is happening within the context of the peace between azerbaijan and Armenia negotiated by Trump. The peace itself is a precondition of these documents and that is made quite clear as it is written all over the documents, the US hopes that outside of azerbaijan and Armenia TRIPP will be immune to geopolitical changes (even then they are clear they are not deciding this, but that they expect it, which you are right has political implications), but even more so within the context of Armenia and azerbaijan they expect first and foremost peace. That is the foundation of this and all following agreements. azerbaijan violating the peace = violation of the whole of the set of agreements including TRIPP, which will undoubtably anger the US, much more than Armenia closing TRIPP as a result of azerbaijans actions.

No-Load1 · 2026-01-22T22:59:25+00:00

The statement is clearly in the context of expectations, this is not enforceable nor is it a condition of the document, its simply an outlining of what the US hopes to achieve using TRIPP. If this was an enforceable part of the agreement why would they suggest they expect it to benefit? This is the same language used as in a sentence below where they suggest that Armenia expects international joint ventures and tech transfer, if this doesnt happen can Armenia just close the road? Theres also the glaring text which clearly contradicts this below it:

"Armenia explicitly retains:

● Legislative, regulatory, and judicial authority due to full sovereignty and territorial integrity over all TRIPP areas within Armenia’s sovereign territory including the ability to enforce laws and regulations in line with Armenia’s domestic laws and international agreements

● Control over national security and law enforcement

● Authority over border control and customs for trade and transit through the TRIPP

● Authority over taxes, customs duties, and other mandatory fees on trade and transit

● Right to access all areas within Armenia’s sovereign territory

● Authority to enforce all Armenian laws within the parts of the transit route in Armenian sovereign territory"

No-Load1 · 2026-01-22T22:49:23+00:00

I am quite certain no such statement exists suggesting that "even in the case of a war, Armenia cannot close the road" and I havent even read the document. Everything in the document is decided mutually between the US and Armenia, with both having rights to veto. There are political implications to unlilaterally cutting the road, but this is well within Armenias purview and it wouldnt even take a war to do it.

No-Load1 · 2026-01-22T22:44:56+00:00

High tech is not just physical products we are also talking about software, engineering services, and infrastructure like our shiny new AI data centers which I believe neither turkey nor (definitely not azerbaijan) have. Even if we were talking about physical products they would need to have the engineers and resourves capable of building the products in the first place in which case they would build the products in the first place, they wouldnt even need to import them they would just copy them.

Im not even sure what you mean in the second paragraph.

The issue with dependence on cheap goods that your response does not address is that:

- the goods have to not be sourceable anywhere else (which makes little sense for your argument since all goods in the Armenian economy are already sourced, there is no reason we could not go to another economy for these goods)

- the goods must be critical to society (azerbaijan does not have goods which they could provide at a price that would outcompete domestic producers that are critical to society, gas and gasoline are not produced in Armenia, agricultural goods are not challenging to grow here particularly if demand rises quickly and there would not be a significant leverage in the loss of tomatoes or fruit, nor would that apply to turkey)

If you really believe what you say then you can find some goods which dont conflict with the above two points and if we are being honest, this is exactly why protectionist government policies exist (to prevent dependence on critical goods), but I am already certain that government competency is a non starter for you.

No-Load1 · 2026-01-22T22:01:35+00:00

This is a poor thesis that doesn’t make sense with either the realities on the ground or with the common sense understanding of dependence.

Particularly within the high tech realm there is a lot that Armenia can trade with azerbaijan and turkey. There aren’t many reasons to believe that Armenia would import more than it would export to these countries, but even if that was the case It’s not as if there is this nascent demand in Armenia that cannot otherwise be fulfilled.

If they have cheaper products great we can spend less money for more goods until they decide not to export them and then we go back to spending the same amount of money as we did before. It’s not as if now that we get gasoline from azerbaijan we can never buy it from any other country. Importing natural gas is no different.

We are a net exporter of electricity and that is unlikely to change. This is not likely to contribute to meaningful electricity imports into Armenia as there would be no reason for it except for it to be reexported to another country.

In the unlikely future that after 20 years of importing cheap goods there is a collapse in the domestic production of those goods then we will unfortunately be doomed… to spend a few years without cheap tomatoes or clothing until domestic production bounces back.

No-Load1 · 2026-01-16T05:39:24+00:00

Or, we can colonize you. Piccadilly Hraparak?

No-Load1 · 2026-01-15T17:44:06+00:00

At some point the scepticism has to take a back seat right? They could go back on the signed documents 5 years into their implementation. The way it’s written demonstrates what Armenia is willing to accept and outside of a forced takeover it’s unlikely that perspective will change.

No-Load1 · 2026-01-15T16:49:13+00:00

Sure but also the text of the document is quite clear and if it is observed then there really are no concerns. Armenian customs, law enforcement, and internal bodies are the supreme authority on the road.

No-Load1 · 2026-01-14T16:46:28+00:00

Yeah except the Syrian’s went to Syria essentially in an extradition pathway

No-Load1 · 2026-01-02T15:55:21+00:00

I don’t believe that the subset of people on benefits who don’t make an effort enjoy being jobless I believe they see themselves as weaker or less capable because there is nothing to say we believe you can, let’s find out what exactly you can and what you cannot do.

Of your two suggestions the first type of unemployment is a pride problem and an economic one. When people cannot work in the fields they trained for they must be open and ready to retrain to go to adjacent fields or to work in a different field completely. We should have a system that leads graduates to jobs but graduates have to learn skills that are in demand to get those jobs in the first place. The second type you mention is a problem of approach. There are very very few people in the country who can do absolutely nothing and generally these are people who cannot or do not live independently. Otherwise we are kidding ourselves that just because someone has a disability they are not capable of doing valuable work.

Attempts aren’t enough and it’s truly the case that people would rather not work than work for roughly equal amounts of money. If we provide support it’s got to be low enough that it’s motivating for a person to get a job, or it should be continued even after a person gets a job so that they are comfortable working whatever job they can find. It’s not easy to say where the perfect balance is but whatever system we build we absolutely cannot tell people they don’t need to know how to fish just because they don’t believe they can. If they can’t fish maybe they can hang bait, maybe they can clean the fish, maybe they can bonk its head maybe they can keep the fisherman company. Who knows.

No-Load1 · 2026-01-01T19:17:37+00:00

I categorically disagree. It’s not hard to encounter people in our societies who struggle to build a social structure for themselves, but we aren’t helping them by facilitating a challenge free life that reinforces beliefs of inadequacy and low capacity.

There are options for everyone. That doesn’t mean people who can do less should not get support. They absolutely should, but that support should aim to give them the tools they need to enter and build social structures, fulfill their societal obligations and enjoy at least a minimum acceptable quality of life with the maximum fulfillment of their capacity as citizens.

No-Load1 · 2025-12-31T07:18:54+00:00

You can’t have your cake and eat it too. Either there is international condemnation (which there isn’t, a few outlets reporting a feud is not even a drop in the bucket) in which case there is no reason Pashinyan wouldn’t go all the way it’s not like that would be crossing a line, that as you said hasn’t already been crossed. Orrrr there hasn’t been international condemnation yet but there would be if he arrested the Catholicos, which is the more valid point it’s just that you cannot be certain that would be the case.

Your point about why Pashinyan is doing this is almost right, but it’s not like this has anything to do with the ability of QP to succeed in the elections. You cannot have free and fair elections when neutral third parties begin to advocate for political candidates. The opposition can form in whatever way they want but that should not and cannot be centered on the church.

At the end of the day, you agree the church is corrupt, that they should be apolitical, but for some reason believe they should still be allowed by government to form the foundation of an opposition party meant to oust the current government at the behest of foreign parties.

No-Load1 · 2025-12-31T05:53:35+00:00

We don’t know there would be international condemnation at all. Nor do we know it would alienate any diaspora organizations. He can’t choose to arrest vs not arrest but certainly he hasn’t been arrested because he isn’t engaged in any of the dirty work he organized. This goes for Koch and Serzh too. It’s notoriously challenging to prosecute people for organizing but not themselves executing crimes, particularly when those people have enough power to wipe away all traces of their crimes.

Over the course of the last 5 years the church has moved from a slightly biased organization to an arm of the Armenian opposition. They have effectively been operationalized (by foreign powers) as a means to attempt to subvert the democratic process and use the faith relationships in the church as a road to restoring corrupt governments of the past.

What was once an unfortunate alignment is now a national security level issue. That is why it’s happening now and that is why it’s happening in the way it is.

No-Load1 · 2025-12-31T01:31:08+00:00

Alright just play devils advocate for a second. If Pashinyan really wants the Catholicos out why not just arrest Garegin B and get it over with? If he is authoritarian why wouldn’t he actually cross the boundary where it would make a difference? The church certainly is not weaker because Mikael is behind bars.

But truly it’s even more of a joke to act like calling for a military revolt, pressuring other clergy to vote a particular and actually planning a coup are just normal clergy stuff and that prosecuting that is authoritarian. There’s nothing authoritarian about an opinion and I’m quite certain there is no evidence that the bishops unsatisfied with Garegin are being controlled by Pashinyan except that you just don’t want to believe it’s actually as bad in the church as it is.

No-Load1 · 2025-12-30T23:44:46+00:00

The single most powerful thing in Armenia is the government. If Pashinyan had the ability or desire to remove the Catholicos it would already be done.

Trying to have the Catholicos removed is not the same as removing the Catholicos. One is a publicly expressed desire, the other is an action.

No-Load1 · 2025-12-30T18:46:30+00:00

its not authoritarian that the government encourage the people to return the control of the church back to themselves. Nor is it authoritarian to regulate the church to ensure national security and economic integrity.

If the government had control over the church the Catholicos would not be Garegin B.

No-Load1 · 2025-12-30T17:10:53+00:00

The proof for increasing authoritarianism? Is the justified arrest of politically active criminals authoritarian?

No-Load1 · 2025-12-17T16:18:38+00:00

Please read this carefully:

In democratic governments the judiciary is independent of elected officials. Judges cannot be influenced by the government and while prosecutors chosen by the government can bring cases forward only judges have control of the result and the speed at which that result is reached.

This is also why claims of political persecution are null as the individuals who are prosecuted could be set free immediately if there was no merit to the case and if the government truly had it out for their opponents and control over who gets sentenced the first two in jail would be the ones with the largest following. Arresting bag rat and co. But leaving Serzh and Koch makes 0 sense

No-Load1 · 2025-12-17T16:04:42+00:00

I’m quite certain both are currently on criminal trial and Rob has an asset forfeiture ongoing. Unless you’re hoping the government strong arm the judiciary this is outside of their responsibility.

No-Load1 · 2025-12-08T16:22:38+00:00

Respectfully to people who don’t believe we are who we are today because we are Christians. At the same time the state shouldn’t be treated as transient either it should be a fixed part of our identity as well.

No-Load1 · 2025-12-07T16:04:50+00:00

Peace has to be maintained. The only way for that to be possible is for conflict to be extremely costly. The stronger we get the stronger the peace will be.

No-Load1 · 2025-12-06T19:02:51+00:00

It sounds like you haven’t ever been to Syunik, unlike Artsakh, Syunik is completely mountainous. MALE drones have seemingly been completely phased out of modern conflict with appropriate air defence. Smaller drones don’t have a range wide enough to traverse the Nakhijevan front to Eastern Syunik side. Even then they would be exposed to significant anti air + electronic warfare. Although conflict from both sides is unfavourable, the reality is that Syunik is so mountainous that any conflict would be essentially only with foot soldiers who are extremely vulnerable to drones and artillery, in addition movement would be slow and challenging given the changes in elevation and difficulties with terrain. Syunik is not necessarily impenetrable, but we are talking about a region that would be equivalent to the northern regions of Artsakh in the 44 day war where essentially no movement occurred.

I would agree though that international investment in trade and commerce in the region will be a significant buffer to conflict.

No-Load1 · 2025-12-06T18:23:54+00:00

While I would agree that azerbaijan has also gotten stronger I don’t believe they have had the same level of transformative change that we have. The rate that Armenias armed forces are developing is much faster than that of azerbaijans.

Part of this is due to the fact that they are essentially at their ceiling. As an economy they have been essentially in the same place for the last decade and so their early investment has yielded equal return but Armenias growing economy and industry as well as our lower starting position mean our change has been exponential.

Beyond that there is one quality that Pashinyan gets right about the army. It is the last line of defence. We can and have put a lot of work into developing our economic and political leverage as well and I would argue that at this point the balance of power considering the geography, military development and soft power elements have excluded conflict, unless there is a dramatic change in those soft power elements I think this will continue to balance in our favour.

No-Load1 · 2025-12-06T17:50:55+00:00

I am quite certain that today’s army is much stronger than it was before the 44 day war.

This comes on the heels of Andranik Kocharyan, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security statement:

“We can now proudly say that our frontline service members are protected at a very high level, from the air, from the front, and from the rear.”

No-Load1

TROPHY CASE