While we’re focused on Ukraine, a brutal dictatorship in the South Caucasus is testing the world’s resolve: Since Dec. 12, Azerbaijani operatives have blocked the only road, known as the Lachin Corridor, connecting the Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous enclave to the outside world. It is a test. Failing it will invite a slaughter that will shame humanity.
At the moment, 120,000 besieged Armenians in the enclave, also known as Artsakh, have been cut off from food and medicine. Schools, kindergartens and hospitals went without heating gas for days at the height of winter. One patient has already died due to complications from the blockade, and an Armenian child in critical condition is unable to get to the Armenian capital of Yerevan for lifesaving treatment. The blockade — which drew an unusual statement of concern from Pope Francis and was condemned by the United Nations, European Union, U.S., France and Canada — aims to compel mass flight from an ancient center of Christian civilization.
Indeed, since seizing parts of Nagorno-Karabakh in a 2020 war, Azerbaijan has repeatedly tested the world’s willingness to look the other way as it batters Armenians in Artsakh and strikes at Armenia proper, a scrappy young democracy just up the road.
