Article, based on first-hand experience of the war

Presents a clear-headed but hopeful assessment of what happend & what the diaspora ought to do now.

Rt'ed it a few times already but a number of points are worth repeating, so will quote them below. https://armenianweekly.com/2020/11/12/the-hard-pill-to-swallow-and-the-news-you-need-right-now/

Throughout these 45 days, I witnessed a global Armenian nation united in a single goal: to preserve itself.

What I didn’t see in that time were traitors, defeatists or “sellouts.” Yet over the last two days, everyone else seems to be looking for them.

Some were quick to point the finger at a man whose wife and son are currently manning positions in the mountains of Artsakh for "selling out" the country.

Others will instead blame 25 years of corruption, authoritarianism and wishful thinking.

More still will call out the Diaspora for treating Armenia and Artsakh like vacation spots rather than a real place in need of serious engagement.

There is truth to all of these, and also lies. The reality is that there is enough blame to go around.

Those who engage in finger pointing are just acting out on their grief, as are the rest of us. You have a right to be angry, surprised, vexed, humiliated and depressed.

We just suffered one of the largest calamities to befall our nation in a century.

At a later time, smarter men and women than me will look over the causes and brainstorm what could have been done better. But now is not the time for that. Grieving people do not make rational decisions. [..]

For weeks we had been told that we were holding our own. As the war..

went on, many of us began to internalize the hope that we could actually win this. So what happened? Did Nikol lie to us?

Maybe, but in that case, so did Artsrun, Shushan, Armen, Davit, Arayik and all the soldiers who called home and shared news about the brilliant defense they

were engaging in.

You see…they were not lying. Just as the Fedayi who successfully defended Van and Musa Dagh in 1915 only to see their homes eventually absorbed by Turkey, or those who stopped the Turkish advances in Sardarapat and Kara Kelissa in 1918 only to see the rest of

Armenia swallowed by the nascent Bolshevist state discovered: it is possible to win every battle and still lose a war.

The truth is, we were not beaten by better enemy soldiers commanded by more brilliant officers and strategists. The war we fought could not have been won with

just a little more martial spirit, patriotism or elan. Our greatest enemy was much more mundane: attrition. The Armenian army shot down almost 300 UAVs in 45 days—the largest number in the world by a wide margin.

For every Armenian soldier who fell in battle they took with them

five or six Azeris. But for every drone we shot down, they would simply fly another. For every enemy soldier killed, another imported Syrian mercenary was thrown into the meat grinder to take his place. For every member of the old generation lost to the pandemic, we lost a member

of the young one to the war. Each day of fighting cost Armenia over $30 million.

For context, the total amount of funds raised by the global Armenian community over the course of the war would have paid for about six days of fighting.

This deal was signed when the war simply

became unsustainable for a tiny country of three million which was fighting not just the bottomless pockets of an oil-rich Caspian dictatorship, but one with the backing of a NATO-member dictatorship, access to the latest in Israeli hardware, and endless hordes of desperate

mercenaries, all while fighting a deadly global pandemic under the passive eyes of the world community.

The fact that we held out against the worst dictatorships in this part of the world for 45 days is nothing short of gallantry.

[..] no matter how brave our men, or as well commanded the army, or competent our leadership, ultimately Armenia was caught within a great game played by regional powers yet again.

Those of you who think that this deal was a sellout or somehow the result of being out-negotiated

are missing a point. This deal was made by a man with a gun to his head, probably by someone speaking Russian, who told him the alternative for his nation would be worse.

Our government made a painful but necessary concession to preserve Armenia to fight again another day.

No amount of awareness raising, savvy diplomacy or miraculous intervention by a foreign player could have changed this situation, because, as you’re now coming to realize, the other truth we’ve learned from this is:

There is no justice, and that’s OK.

[..] no matter how priceless, those were just buildings and that was just land. Armenia lives with Armenians.

Ultimately, the only reason why there aren’t 150,000 extra dead Armenians scattered across Artsakh right now is the valiant 45-day long defense of the Armenian Army

against extraordinarily insurmountable odds, and the bowing of our leadership to the new geopolitical reality.

[I]n 1994, we made a collective decision not to compromise as victors. However, we then progressively ignored the real responsibilities that come with defending

this homeland. We took comfort in the thought that military might, bravado and a hope that the international community was invested in historical justice would be enough to maintain the status quo.

But the truth is the world [only] cares about power and influence.

Now that we have come to terms with [that], it’s time to take the steps to ensure our survival.

Here’s how: Forward, repatriation and democracy.

The worst thing that we can do to ourselves now is to encourage more regime change, instability, confusion and infighting.

Despite lackluster development over the past 30 years, the pace of achievements in democratic and economic consolidation has quickened recently

This needs to be encouraged at all costs. While the world may not but be just and democratic, doesn’t mean Armenia should follow suit

If you care about the survival of the Armenian nation, it’s time to dedicate yourself to the development of Armenia.

This means visiting, contributing your knowledge and expertise, investing here, moving here and being a part of this community.

In the coming days, you will be

needed in Armenia more than ever before. Wounded soldiers will need your care, and refugees will need your assistance [..]

That unprecedented level of unity that we’ve built over 45 days to win a war must now be maintained to win the peace.

Armenia was wounded, but not beaten.

This is what those soldiers gave their lives to preserve—and at least in this way, this was a victory.

We have outlived empires. We continue to exist. We continue to survive.

But the lasting victory is for Armenia to thrive.

Grieve now, but tomorrow, we get to work.

/