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[Order a copy of Robert Spencer’s forthcoming book, Muhammad: A Critical Biography, by clicking here.]
[Make sure to attend An Evening With Frontpage Editor Jamie Glazov in Los Angeles at the Luxe Hotel on June 18, 2024: Register HERE.]
The Qur’an is clear: “And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is all for Allah.” (8:39) This amounts to an open-ended declaration of war against those whose religion is not “for Allah,” and since the beginnings of Islam, Muslims have energetically waged that war. In our age, the key flash points of that war, the front lines of the global jihad, can be found in Israel, Nigeria, India, and a state where the jihad is little understood and seldom recognized as such: Armenia.
The 1,400-year history of jihad is one long tale of military aggression, territorial expansion, ethnic cleansing, cultural appropriation, and enslavement. In a few places it was rolled back, but for the most part the jihad has been an illustration of what Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev said of socialism as he sent troops into Czechoslovakia in 1968: “What we have, we hold.” In the case of Islam, this is due in large part because of its utter ruthlessness in dealing with conquered populations; once Islamic rule has been consolidated, there is little left with which to mount a resistance.
That ruthlessness is on abundant display these days in Armenia. In the fall of 2023, Azerbaijan forced over 100,000 Armenians to flee from Artsakh (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh), an Armenian enclave that is only part of Azerbaijan because Stalin made it so. When both Azerbaijan and Armenia were part of the Soviet Union, Stalin decided that Artsakh would be part of Azerbaijan, despite its long Armenian history and Armenian population, as part of his strategy of keeping tensions high among Soviet republics. This prevented unity among the occupied territories and justified an ongoing Soviet military presence.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the border was not corrected, and so tens of thousands of Armenians lived in Azerbaijan. But no more. And now the Azerbaijanis are systematically erasing all traces of an Armenian Christian presence in the land they have ethnically cleansed. International Christian Concern reported last week that “the 2024 annual report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) underlined the ongoing Azerbaijani destruction of Armenian Christian heritage in Artsakh. This comes as USCIRF recommended that the State Department name Azerbaijan as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ (CPC), a designation under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), which applies to ‘countries that commit systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.’”
Like the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, this is a religious conflict that is widely misunderstood to be a dispute over land. Just as the Palestinians and their allies will not accept the existence a Jewish state of any size, because they believe that the entire region is Islamic land, so also the Azerbaijanis and their allies (which include Turkey) will not accept any Armenia of any size. As is always the case with jihad, a victory is only a prelude for more aggression: Azerbaijan and Turkey have already begun to make new territorial demands against Armenia for a corridor that will link the two countries. The ultimate goal is to create a Turkish-dominated Islamic bloc stretching from Istanbul to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan; Armenia is the only non-Muslim entity standing in the way, and so it must be destroyed.
Why, then, is Armenia not generally recognized as the primary jihadi target that it is? Primarily because the global jihad is still widely ignored, denied, and misunderstood. Few people, and none of them are in the U.S. State Department, recognize that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a jihad. This analytical failure has deformed the American response to this conflict for decades, and continues to do so. The Israelis themselves have never demonstrated any serious awareness of the fact that they’re dealing with an enemy with whom there can be no lasting negotiated settlement, and ultimately no peaceful coexistence, no matter how many concessions they make.
That may be one reason why Israel is allied not with Armenia, but with Azerbaijan. The Israeli government is not infallible, but its friendship with Azerbaijan is an understandable exercise in realpolitik: Azerbaijan is continually at odds with the Islamic Republic of Iran, which of course would love above all else to destroy Israel. So for Israel to aid Azerbaijan and try to force Iran to have to worry about something other than how to go about eradicating the Jewish state is simple common sense, at least for the short term.
In the long run, however, it could be disastrous. Azerbaijan will accept Israel’s help as long as it is useful, but as it continues its jihad against Armenia, it demonstrates that it is committed to principles that are ultimately incompatible with its alliance with Israel. Will Azerbaijan give up Israel or Islam? Anyone who is aware of the history of Islam and the trajectory of nations that relax Islamic rules and appear more secular for a period will not bet that Azerbaijan will ultimately give up Islam.
Meanwhile, free people everywhere should recognize the uniformity of the Islamic jihad threat against Israel, the United States, Armenia and elsewhere. The motivating ideology behind these threats is the same in each case, and is the same as the ideology that has fueled 1,400 years of jihad. One day, the free world may recognize that it faces a common jihad threat, and unite against it for the defense of humane values. That recognition, however, is not on the horizon.
Dear Mr. Spencer : Thanks for your books, and this article too ! It’s sad that monsters like Lenin and Stalin still influence the world, so long after their demise. As for Islam, let’s see if Israel will let Iran acquire the A-Bomb, as the Biden junta seems ready to allow. Pakistan, India, N Korea, now Iran and who knows who else – pretty soon a nuclear war somewhere seems inevitable – or even a nuclear 9-11.
Robert,
I love the Armenian people. How much money are you personally sending them?
About time someone remembered Armenia who have been at war with islam far longer than Israel. However, for some strange reason they are usually ignored by all the pages I browse compared to Israel while the Armenian Genocide was well before the nazi one and despite the lack of Turkish industrial methods they still hit the million easily and went far beyond which in my mind makes it a worse genocide. If anyone thinks that I am disrespecting the WW2 Jewish genocide here, then they do not know me .
Turkey, in a prime example of muslim newspeak totally denies it and compensation for lives and land lost. I am a Constantinoplian irredentist and i want Turkey out of Europe forever and Sancta Sophia redeemed but can you see it? Even the Arabs hated the Turks because of their excessive cruelty which was why there were no longer any (live)Turks in the area of the UK mandate after WW1. Arabs and Turks might hate each other but they hate us more.
It’s my understanding that “The Young Turks” were the main perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide… at least that’s how the History Channel’s “Apocalypse World War 1” portrayed it.
They said the murderous campaign of genocide was a cover for the horrendous military disaster where Enver Pasha’s idiocy got tens of thousands of his soldiers slaughtered in battle, and then blamed the loss on the Armenians.
I may be mistaken, and will stand corrected as needed.
Turkey was massacring non muslims well before the CUP and had been doing so throughout their history since conversion to islam. They were always extremely bloodthirsty and cruel (as the arabs actually described them) and once muslim had an automatic excuse to do so ad lib which they took to with zeal. The CUP merely upped the level during the war in the eastern campaign and they massacred civilians whether they advanced or retreated from Armenian territory, no one knows the death toll as Russia was never that good at collecting statistics (IIRC people and even land ownership was managed at local level) before WW1 and wiping out whole families totally removes them from ever existing. This total extermination method is traditional Turkish behaviour and why only attractive young females survived in lowland Greece and why lowland Greeks now are Turkish genetically and often still have theri habits.
T E Lawrence provided a nice look at theTurkish “hobby”.
The rubbish movie “The Water Diviner’ has the Turks as decent humans while the Greeks whom they had massacred for centuries were the villains. When you check to see what they really did to allied prisoners of war, *how many of them survived intact?) you know them for what they: typically barbaric muslims.
No you are right. Enver began a campaign in the Mts. of eastern Turkey in the middle of the winter. It was a first class disaster. Since some Armenians naturally welcomed the Russians as liberators they had to be punished. Inc. thousands serving in the Turkish army. Sent to penal battalions
You are so right. The Christian countries did not have the same mentally as Muslim countries after WWI. Otherwise they would have ethnically cleanse Turkey by sending the Turks back to the Asian steppes where they came from i. e. Turkmenistan. But France and the UK had to think of their own empires where they had millions of Muslims presiding
“One day, the free world may recognize that it faces a common jihad threat, and unite against it for the defense of humane values. That recognition, however, is not on the horizon.”
This thought is cognate with “proposition nation” theory, and perhaps that is why it is not on the horizon. Men will fight for family, brother, nation and preservation of those things. Ideals, not so much.
I disagree. I believe it is on the horizon in Europe. The question is, are they too late?
It is sad for me to accept that the past has been obliterated so successfully from the public’s minds. Only a few people seem aware of what happened to the Armenians, Assyrians, Jews and Greeks in 1915. In publishing my mother’s personal experience (fictionalized, but well-researched), I revisited my family’s past. As a result, for unknown reasons to me, today I must confront google.com (for refusing to address its copyright infringement of my work) and a London publisher (who breached our contract). The book is The Infidels by Joe David (for more details), www.bfat.com. This book is not only an easy read that honestly examines a horrible genocide that seems to never end, but it also examines a world devoured by madness.
Joe David
Depraved psychopathic murderous berserk violent hate-filled Islam has been a scourge on humanity for 1400 years.
Enough already.
Islam is the enemy of America and the West and India and China … etc.etc.etc.
Islam needs to be eliminated.
I read that the Armenians like Meat in every meal going Plant Based is irresponsible and wrong
There’s no excuse for Israel to ally themselves with Azerbaijan, and they will be sorely disappointed in the outcome. The same thing happened with Russia. Israel thought Russia was an ally, and Israel refused to help Ukraine. And look what happened. Russia is now one of the most important Hamas supporters. As I said, there is no excuse for such a narrow-minded perception of self-interest. Especially from a country like Israel, which is or should be a beacon of freedom and democracy for the whole world.
Not everyone in Israeli politics or the IDF is sensible always and although it seems obvious to us not to do so, no one there in beleaguered Israel would not consider an olive tree branch even from a muslim country, viz Egypt who while not waging war and hence directly threatening Israel do not qualm about secretly helping Hamas. But that is still a sufficient peace pro temp.
It is impossible for any non muslim country to have a true and worthy treaty with a muslim country as the latter simply cannot be trusted as they all NEVER keep their word. But some commerce and interaction can occur so long as the Israelie constantly recall the fable of the snake as that describes theri actions best.
Azerbaijan to Israelis is the least of Israel’s problems while in Israeli eyes Christian Europe should be helping Armena (no chance with muslim oil money running so many EU politicians not to mention the WEF world plan). So, despite my criticism above and before it is not that easy to criticize an Israel with its large numbers of idealistic Leftist fools still having an effect upon policy.
There is n0 excuse at all for powerful countries like the UK, Canada, US, Australia (sort of), EU etc to ally with Islamic interests but they do.
I agree with you. Israel is taking a bad gamble on weakening the developing alliance between Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Armenia and Georgia are in the line of desructive jihadi fire. next. As bastions of Christianity they miraculoslyn survived centuries of resisting attempred total muslim domination in the region.
Armenia’s only real hope was Russia, not immediately-neighboring Iran.
However, the Armenian leadership missed the opportunity of trumpeting vociferous loud
support of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Yes. That’s what happened, and it’s not clear if they can fix it.
Only Russia can/could/would consider saving Armenia, but the Armenians’ leadership continue to support the anti-West “West.” Likely it’s because they’re funded by bribes from the usual suspects.
If Armenia does not make an appeal to Pootler soon, the nation will cease to exist.
Capitulating to Putin carries a list of dangers.for the future.
One of the territories that has always gotten a raw deal from everyone has been Kurdistan. The Kurds live in parts of Iran, Turkey and Iraq. Parts of it border Armenia. Maybe some deal could be worked out where Armenia and rebels in Kurdistan join forces, form a country or a confederation and stand against the Jihadis in Iraq Turkey, Azerbijan and Iran.
The Kurds have always been capable fighters, not insane, and could possibly get along with the Armenian Christians. Plus they would be our allies if we got the right President in November. Trump, are you down with that?
Turkey has never admitted its culpability for the Armenian Genocide in WWI. Bush 1 promised the Kurds aid and then reneged during Gulf War I
Long past time for these two peoples to get along and fight for their freedom.
Or I could be dreaming. Just sayin’.
IIRC (and I mean it) the Kurds are still sunni muslims and any relationship with Jews or Christians will end when they are no needed and I would not turn my back on them thereafter.
I agree that they have had a bad deal with all muslim countries but I cannot feel pity for any muslim except perhaps the Yazidis who have a religion contaminated by islam but not yet ruled by it and seem to have parts of several other religions contained within their own (Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity, Judaism) and have long been treated as heretics/infidels by the Sunni and the Shiites. They are the only ones worth saving IMHO.
Kurds cannot get a break because their tribal interests conflict with the wants of corrupt politicians across the Left-Islam alliance. Kurdish territory sits on oil, gas, and an array of mineral resources, but also includes land that would be fertile with access to water flowing from Turkey, Iran, etc. …
And yes, they are Sunnis, which makes them ultimately problematic, but real politic and self-interest always trump religion, which is why they’ve got a long history of not being Full Islam as a tribe.
Funny how being persecuted tempers the supremacist and genocidal urges of even the most wicked ideology. But that’s what’s going on.
Giving the Kurds a nation of their own would work for a period as long as adults ran the international show and kept the pressure on them to see to their national and tribal interests. Once that pressure failed, a radical Islamic group would take over and it would become another Muslim cesspool and terror state – even if the majority rejected the “extreme” behavior following from Islam.
I wish the Kurds well – like any other human beings – but there is no possible future in the near term in which anything good will happen for them – because the criminal traitors in charge of burning us to the ground won’t allow it.
The Kurds were the butchers in Ottoman Turkish service in each of the genocides of Armenians.
However, some sort of uneasy Israeli-Kurdish-Armenian-Assyrian alliance might be feasible.
Well, the Kurds in history have always raided Armenian villages plundering and kidnapping women for the purposes of rape and killing. My Armenian grandfather used to tell me stories about the fact that most Armenian villagers were armed and ready to defend themselves of such imminent raids as it was always expected.
One wonders if it is possible to have an Armenian-Kurdish holy alliance against Turkish-Azery agressions when Kurds until today claim in their land demands most of Armenia including the capital city of Yerevan. Armenia is desperate for regional alliances but it would have to be a constructive and not a destructive one for all those involved.
Admit it or not the clash of civilizations -Islam vs the rest of the world- is here. It has been here since the dawn of Islam. And it is not going away until one side wins. Nobody know this better than Muslims. Sadly Christian world has forgotten its own history. As well as some Jews. The world is pregnant to a very volatile future. The next Holocaust will be many time over than the WWII. Young people buckle up. You are going to relive the brutal life of your ancestors.
Phenomenal article followed by a phenomenal thread of comments.
About Russian alliance…
Russia has controlled Armenia during and after the soviet era initially via Armenian communist party members in the then Soviet Union that sold Armenia and its resources such as minerals to the Soviets for their personal profit and status; and currently via Armenian Oligarcs stationed in Russia that have supported the first three presidents of Armenia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in making sure that Putin’s national interests prevail in the caucuses in return for Putin’s promise to provide security for the nation of Armenia from its unfriendly neighbors such as Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Much to Putin’s dismay, now Armenia has a populist president, Nicol Pashinyan who is trying to become independent of the non populist Armenian oligarchs under Putin who in turn is sabotaging Armenian security by forcing Pashinyan to comply to his orders via his Armenian oligarchs in Russia. Russia failed to provide security that it had promised in an agreement with Armenia after the collapse of the Soviet Union even though it still has some Russian mickey mouse troops in Armenia as a show of support. Currently Azerbaijan has already invaded parts of Armenia and there has been no Russian intervention of any sort.
Putin seems to have distanced himself from Pashinyan and came closer to Aliev the Azeri president.
Of course Aliev ethnically cleansed all 120,000 Armenian residents from their ancient homeland of Nagorno Gharabagh just recently without any opposition from Putin.
This has whole thing has enticed Armenia to look towards the West. Of course the West sized up Armenia to see it they use it as another Ukraine by creating anti Putin opposition but it looks like Armenia’s has no interest or desire to be used in that manner.
The future of Armenia is left only in the hands of native and diaspora Armenians.
Armenians have always believed in miracles as it is a Devine miracle that Armenia exists as it is today.
Very true! Im Armenian and I stand with Israel. I believe our battle is similar snd the devil keeps us apart. Praying for my people in Armenia to see the truth about Islam: end-goal and stand with Israel as mutual believers of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…not Ishmael.
It is most sad that Israel is supporting a Muslem nation like Azerbaijan. It looks to me a convenient arrangement Oil for arms..
I would not be at all surprised that Russia is getting access to Israeli arms technology