Even though both Russia and the European Union had the power to realize the long-awaited Baku–Yerevan peace agreement, they failed to make it happen. Instead, the United States proved that, as a global superpower, it is capable not only of bringing two enemy sides to the same negotiation table but also of gaining maximum benefit from this process in favor of its strategic and economic interests, German political scientist Alexander Rahr said in an interview with APA.
He emphasized that the United States is rapidly becoming the main geopolitical player in the region: “Washington is taking strategic control in the South Caucasus and demonstrating that, in the global geopolitical balance of power, the U.S. holds a stronger position than both Russia and China. However, this does not mean that Trump will expand NATO into the region.”
According to the German political scientist, one of the key points in the process regarding the Zangezur corridor is Armenia’s consent: “This corridor opens up new opportunities for Armenia in terms of expanding its political, economic, and transportation ties with the West. Russia’s dissatisfaction with this is natural, but Moscow is already deprived of real tools to prevent it. Geopolitically, it is overly focused on the war in Ukraine. Although Iran opposes the expansion of U.S. influence in the region, in practice, it does not have the capacity to stop this process. Meanwhile, Trump played a well-orchestrated 'chess game' with unique strategic moves in this matter.”
Touching upon the activities of the European Union (EU) monitoring mission deployed on the Armenia–Azerbaijan border, political scientist Rahr stated that Europeans will insist on the importance of having their position taken into account: “However, Trump is clearly showing them the geopolitical reality – their place is not at Washington’s decision-making table, but on the periphery of the political order, under its feet. The peace agreement signed in Washington caught the European Union completely unprepared.”
