The events in Osh, which following the above principles are of absolutely no interest to anyone, can serve as an excellent proof of this. And though the military base “Manas” is necessary for transportation of troops and cargo to Afghanistan, this is not the only way. We have already witnessed direct evidence of it before, when Marshal of the Polish Sejm, acting presidential candidate of Poland flew to Afghanistan via Armenia. One might just as well flow to Kabul via Azerbaijan. So, in this respect, the appeal of Kyrgyzstan is almost null. And if so, no one will interfere in the Kyrgyz-Uzbek showdowns.

Let us also comment on the visit of the Turkish Foreign Minister to Kazakhstan, who had allegedly gone there for talks to resolve the ethnic conflict. In passing, Davutoglu and Saudabayev for some reason decided to discuss the Karabakh conflict, which, by and large, is none of the business of either of these countries. However, as the OSCE Chairman, the Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan probably believes he has to intervene in all conflicts. That is to intervene to the extent the world powers would allow.

As for the OSCE Minsk Group, the co-chairs once again reiterated the statement, which has remained unchanged for several years now. That is, as always, they expressed serious concern over the use of force and senseless loss of lives in the conflict zone. “Such incidents are unacceptable violation of the ceasefire agreement of 1994 and contradict the pledge of the parties to abstain from the use of force or threat of force.” By the way, in international practice the term “unacceptable” means “alas, we cannot do anything and agree with all....”

And, naturally, the co-chairs urge the parties to exercise restraint in their actions and public statements, and prepare their society not for war but for peace, stressing that there is no alternative to the peaceful settlement of the conflict and war can never be a solution. “We call to cooperate with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office and take no steps that could hinder monitoring the situation in the conflict zone.”

Nobody argues that mediators had to issue a statement, but not as insipid and useless as all the previous ones. They could at least, for the sake of justice, name perpetrator of the incident so as not to give Baku a handle to once again blame Karabakh for all. But again the intermediaries decided, as they believe, “not to add fuel to the fire”. It is also true that if there really starts a war in Karabakh, OSCE will have its share of fault in it, as with its statements and “shuttle diplomacy” it never brought the perpetrators of violence to justice. And the hypothetical war may grow into a real one, as no one needs tranquility in the South Caucasus, especially the United States and Russia. Assurances of the desire for peace somehow do not inspire with belief. And whether Ilham Aliyev will share the fate of Mikhail Saakashvili is yet uncertain. As for the Armenian side, it should always be ready and respond adequately to the “provocations” and sorties of the commandos. Moreover, what happened on June 18 was not a provocation, but a well-planned operation. Simply, as always, Baku had overrated her strength, somehow hoping that after the very first shot the Karabakh side would surrender.

There is still much obscurity in this long story. Did Medvedev know what Aliyev had prepared for the final breakdown of talks? This, together with the offer of Gazprom to purchase 2 billion cubic meters of Azeri gas, immediately following the above-mentioned incident, must put the Armenian side on their guard. Against this background, the closure of a small office of the British Petroleum in Baku passed almost unnoticed. It is still early to talk about decommissioning of the BP in Azerbaijan, but given the disastrous state of the company after the accident on the Deepwater Horizon and enormous fines that the company has to pay, one can assume that it is probable. After all, not for fun is Azerbaijan gradually shifting from supply of oil to natural gas.