Some Thoughts on the Iran - Armenia Relationship

I just finished reading Vartan Gregorian's memoir. Gregorian, currently the president the Carnegie Corporation, served successful stints as the president of Brown University and the New York City Public Library. Gregorian is an Armenian from Tabriz, Iran, a town I had not heard of until moving to Armenia. There are many Armenians in Iran. The Persian Empire ruled over parts of modern day Armenia from the early 16th century to the early 19th century.

The modern day relationship between Iran and Armenia is complicated. Armenia, blockaded by Azerbaijan to its east and Turkey to its west, depends heavily on Russian goods (transported through Georgia). Armenia also imports goods from Turkey via Georgia. Armenia has turned to Iran to balance out its dependence on Russia, but also to protect itself from future Georgia-Russia conflicts. Oil rich Iran serves as an important energy partner. None of this makes Washington happy. And while the Iranian government can be accurately accused of being a authoritarian state that kills protesters and spews antisemitism, Armenian's relationship with Iran is really not that different than so many of America's relationships with some of its shady oil partners (Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Nigeria)

I have been enlightened by reading Pepe Escobar's work. If you are interested in energy politics and it profound effect on international relations you may also like him. He writes insightful pieces for Asia Times and has a series of short video pieces for the Real News Network.

Here is an example of him breaking down the Moscow/Tehran relationship

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=4078

And his most recent article on understanding the petropolitics of the Nabucco pipeline in my neighborhood.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/KJ03Ag01.html