Friday’s White House joint declaration between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia former Soviet states embroiled for decades in a brutal territorial dispute bears strong imprints of growing US influence in the strategic South Caucasus, which borders regional heavyweights Iran, Russia and Turkey. Symbolic of the latest geopolitical reconfiguration is the move by Armenia, Russia’s traditional ally, to give Washington exclusive development rights to the Zangezur transit corridor in the country’s south, a 27-mile stretch. Now rebranded as the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), Azerbaijan has long coveted access to the land corridor to connect with the Nakhchivan enclave (located within Armenia), Baku’s only border with its ally, Ankara. Another sign of the unfolding power dynamics........

© Free Press Journal