August 28 was a day full of “discoveries.”

We not only found out that Nikol Pashinyan openly identifies himself with the Armenian government. After his now-famous words “I am the government,” the Prime Minister lashed out at James O’Brien, visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in the Joseph Biden administration, who has recently written an article about the “Washington arrangements.”

Not even O’Brien’s description of Pashinyan as a “courageous, far-sighted leader” spared the retired diplomat from attack.

Pashinyan is so courageous that he declared:

“First, let’s note that Mr. O’Brien was dismissed during President Trump’s tenure, and now he is tasked with explaining why Trump’s administration was able to do what they could not. If Mr. O’Brien is speaking about Armenia’s vulnerabilities, I must state that Armenia was most vulnerable during his and their tenures. I recall the events of 2021, 2022, 2023: we were never satisfied with the U.S. administration’s response or actions to support the peace agenda in our region.

I will not comment on his emotional assessments. Let him not try to shift the blame for losing his job onto Armenia. Today, Armenia is in the least vulnerable state of its recent history.”

And, as if to “punish” James O’Brien further, shortly after the briefing Pashinyan posted a photo he had received from Donald Trump, captioned with the words: “Nikol, you are great.” (Just days earlier, Ilham Aliyev had posted similar photos.)

We do not know what Nikol Pashinyan raised as Armenia’s concerns (that is, his own, since he identifies himself as “the government itself”) during his closed-door meetings with representatives of the former U.S. administration, including James O’Brien – or whether he raised them at all. Therefore, it is best to rely on the available open-source facts.

In November 2023, speaking at a U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the future of Nagorno-Karabakh, O’Brien stated that the United States and the European Union seek to ensure Armenia’s rapprochement with transatlantic allies and are working on a plan to ensure that.

“The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated that she intends to hold a meeting with the U.S. and Armenia with the aim to bring Armenia closer to their communities. I discussed this matter with the Armenian Prime Minister a few days ago, and we are now working on developing its model.”

He noted that the allies are “halfway there.”

Indeed, about half a year after that speech, on April 5, 2024, the Armenia-European Union-United States trilateral meeting was held in Brussels. In the run-up, government propaganda launched an unprecedented campaign, presenting it as an epoch-making event. The results, however, were – putting it mildly – modest. As we learned yesterday, the Biden administration was deemed responsible.

In July 2024, James O’Brien stated that if the United States “can open a trade route through Azerbaijan and Armenia, Central Asian countries will have access to global markets and reduce dependence on Russia and China.”

In other words, it was O’Brien who was “cooking up” what is now branded the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP) – whether Nikol Pashinyan likes it or not. Of course, it is at least curious that in his article the retired O’Brien concedes that excluding Russia might pose problems – but let’s leave that puzzle to American analysts.

After all, if Nikol Pashinyan was so dissatisfied with the Biden administration, why did Armenia and the United States sign the Charter of the U.S.–Armenian Government Strategic Partnership Commission in Washington just a week before the administration’s term ended? It would have been more logical and politically proper to wait and sign it with the incoming administration.

I recall clearly that on September 14, 2023, the U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Yuri Kim, stated:

“The United States will not countenance any action or effort – short-term or long-term – to ethnically cleanse or commit other atrocities against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Yet, just four days later, 120,000 Armenians were subjected to ethnic cleansing. U.S. officials issued statements, Baku reacted harshly, and by the end of 2023, American criticism had largely faded.

It is reasonable to assume that Pashinyan remembers this episode well. If he considers himself a statesman, however, he has no right to disparage the outgoing U.S. administration – especially the administration for whose re-election the Armenian side was, in effect, campaigning.

Regrettably, this is neither the first nor the last case.

In early January 2021, Nikol Pashinyan published an article titled “The Origin of the 44-Day War,” in which he claimed that Russia was offering to return the seven regions to Azerbaijan “just like that,” ignoring the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Responding to this claim, Igor Popov, the Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, clarified:

“When we speak of Russian proposals, we are referring to the stage-by-stage settlement project, which the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs presented to the parties in its latest version in June 2019. The basis of that project – largely consistent with the Kazan document – rests on fundamental principles, including the return of five regions to Azerbaijan in the first stage and two regions in the second stage, with the simultaneous definition of Nagorno-Karabakh’s status.

Key elements representing Yerevan’s interests in the first stage include the recognition of rights ensuring a full life for the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, participation of Nagorno-Karabakh representatives in OSCE meetings, lifting the blockade, opening borders, and commitments not to use force, among others.

Therefore, claims that Russia proposed returning the seven regions to Azerbaijan ‘just like that,’ disregarding Nagorno-Karabakh’s status, do not correspond to reality.”

In 2021–2022, the role of “chief mediator” between Armenia and Azerbaijan was assumed by European Council President Charles Michel. Since Nikol Pashinyan believes he knows everything better than anyone else and is not in the habit of doing “homework,” he likely did not study the fate of Michel’s previous initiatives. He was probably unaware that Michel had triggered a crisis in relations between the European Union and Georgia when the latter rejected his offer to mediate in a dialogue with the opposition. Meanwhile, Ilham Aliyev does his “homework” and did not hesitate to periodically “put Michel in his place.” Eventually, Pashinyan himself became disappointed with the President of the European Council – I wrote about this in detail in May 2022 in the column Pashinyan “incriminates” Charles Michel and takes us for idiots.

Now it’s Biden’s turn. One of his “sins” is, perhaps, recognizing the Armenian Genocide. 

Next, perhaps, will be European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

You can blame Putin, Michel, Biden, or anyone else. But doing so does not make you a better “dancer” but it makes you unreliable and undesirable to international partners – especially when the author of “Nikol, you are great!” can’t even pronounce the names of Armenia and Azerbaijan correctly a few days later.

Ara Tadevosyan is the Director of Mediamax.