From: punditster@gmail.com   
      
   On 2/17/2026 6:02 AM, Noah Sombrero wrote:   
   >   
   >   
   > The Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity - a site visit   
   >   
   Remember the Silk Road?   
      
   The Silk Road was a vast, 4,000-mile network of interconnected land and   
   maritime trade routes. It was crucial for the transmission of ideas,   
   culture, and technology. In 2013, China launched the "Belt and Road   
   Initiative" (BRI), aiming to revive these historic routes for modern trade.   
    >   
      
   > Feb 17   
   >   
   > Julius Strauss   
   >   
   > Last month I travelled with Kim to Azerbaijan, the oil-rich former   
   > Soviet state on the Caspian. There I found workmen laying rail track   
   > and tarmac for one of the world’s most ambitious transport projects,   
   > which aims to bring goods from the mills and workshops of China to the   
   > rich markets of Europe.   
   >   
   > The Caspian Sea - which borders Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan   
   > and Turkmenistan - is now at the centre of a global fight for power,   
   > money, oil and the profitable transit routes from China to the West.   
   > The buildings are broken-down and dilapidated, the railway tracks   
   > underfoot rusting and in need of repair, and the Kalashnikov assault   
   > rifle carried by the young border guard is an older model, it’s edges   
   > worn smooth by years of use.   
   >   
   > You could be forgiven for thinking, then, that this was just another   
   > threadbare and impoverished backwater of the former Soviet Union,   
   > abandoned by its residents, sinking ever deeper into decay.   
   > But the reality could hardly be more different.   
   >   
   > This little corner of Eurasia, an hour’s drive from Nakhchivan City,   
   > capital of the little-known eponymous and semi-autonomous Azerbaijani   
   > exclave at the eastern edge of Turkey, is now a vital jigsaw piece in   
   > a new and enervated great game in the southern Caucasus.   
   >   
   > A whole host of countries - Turkey, Russia, China, Iran, the EU and   
   > the US - are getting in on the act, looking for geopolitical   
   > advantage, more profitable trade routes, a chance to make a quick buck   
   > or, sometimes, all three.   
   >   
   > Not since the end of World War 1 - when the emergent USSR battled with   
   > homegrown nationalists for control of the Caspian region - has it been   
   > so vigorously fought over.   
   >   
   > Indeed such is its allure - and so large the profits that might be   
   > generated - that it has attracted the attention of none other than   
   > that most high-profile and mercantile of property developers, Donald   
   > Trump.   
   >   
   > The route may be barely 42 kms in length but it runs along the south   
   > of Armenia where that country borders Iran.   
   >   
   > As such it controls the main land route providing access from the   
   > Islamic Republic to Russia. But it also connects Azerbaijan proper and   
   > the Turkic states of central Asia - Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,   
   > Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan - with Turkey and Europe.   
   >   
   > If all the hype and the glossy brochures are the be trusted - and the   
   > Azerbaijani and US government are betting that they are - this stretch   
   > of forgotten land could become one of the most important trade routes   
   > on the planet.   
   >   
   > It’s value lies in the fact that it crosses neither Russia nor Iran -   
   > two of the most heavily sanctioned countries on earth - and instead   
   > provides a travel corridor through Azerbaijan - a country that in both   
   > aesthetics and outlook is becoming the Dubai of the Caspian.   
   > Traditionally this has been an area of the world firmly within   
   > Moscow’s sphere of influence. But last summer, despite publicly   
   > insisting that it was primarily interested in its own hemisphere - the   
   > US waded into the region.   
   >   
   > Trump first initialled a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan -   
   > two countries that fought for 30 years - in the White House.   
   > (He claimed to have ended that war. In reality it was won by the   
   > Azerbaijanis, with significant help from the Turks, the Israelis, and   
   > Syrian mercenaries, back in 2023.)   
   >   
   > And then Trump authored a scheme to build what was christened the   
   > ‘Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity’ - what else? - to   
   > try and take advantage of the Zangezur corridor trade route.   
   > Last week Trump’s deputy, JD Vance, followed up visiting Azerbaijan   
   > and Armenia and signing a clutch of security and technology deals.   
   > On two consecutive days in January a small group of us were taken on   
   > an Azerbaijani government press trip - arranged by a PR company based   
   > in London - to visit the new Zangezur corridor.   
   > It was an expensive and logistically complex journey. As the TRIPP has   
   > not yet been built it involved a dozen hours travelling in a minibus   
   > from Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, to reach its eastern terminus.   
   >   
   > As we arrived we saw the weathered remains of the small town of   
   > Aghbend, ethnically cleansed by Armenian fighters in the 1990s.   
   > The next day, again shepherded by government minders and PR agents, we   
   > were taken on a 60 minute domestic flight across Armenian territory to   
   > Nakhchivan, and then a further hour’s drive through falling snow to   
   > reach the western end.   
   >   
   > At almost every stop we were greeted by excavators, road-rollers and   
   > government officials.   
   >   
   > “There are 12 kms of tunnels and 140 kms of road,” Jayhun Yusifov,   
   > head of a technical department, told us as we poked at some   
   > freshly-laid asphalt. “This section alone costs two billion dollars.”   
   > Armenia, perhaps unsurprisingly, is lukewarm about a route that   
   > connects the two halves of Azerbaijan, especially as it runs through   
   > its territory. It also worries that the corridor might impede the flow   
   > of goods to Iran to the south - an important trading partner.   
   > But Armenia has been ravaged by the decades of war with its richer   
   > neighbour. Shoehorned between two enemies - Turkey and Azerbaijan -   
   > and its border with both has been closed since 1993.   
   >   
   > Armenia’s leader, Nikol Pashinyan, has now said he is keen on charting   
   > a path of regional cooperation, even if it means making up with   
   > Azerbaijan, a country that recently humiliated it on the battlefield.   
   > Azerbaijan’s leader, the authoritarian Ilham Aliyev, hinted that if   
   > Armenia doesn’t agree to the building of the corridor he might seize   
   > it by force. But he has also said he would prefer a peaceful solution   
   > to more war.   
   >   
   > The US, for its part, is looking to cash in on the new project. It has   
   > already insisted that one of its companies will build and operate the   
   > new corridor in exchange for unspecified financial concessions.   
   > Perhaps the country most worried by recent developments is Russia   
   > which, along with the EU, still has a military observer mission in the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)