By Farman Aydin, AzerNEWS

The endless interest of the West, and especially the United States, in the South Caucasus is no longer a secret to anyone. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the USA, which tried to penetrate the region, created new means of leverage for it.

For many years, USAID has played the role of an obvious broker of Western capitalism. Its inexhaustible financial resources have always included the poor countries in which it is interested. Considering that in the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia are post-Soviet regions and have always been of interest to the West, USAID's active activities in these countries can be linked to this.

However, unfortunately, USAID's activities are not always based on the principles of humanism. Of course, the organisation that implements the soft power policy of the United States has always exerted political influence against small states under the guise of humanism and tried to interfere in their internal affairs.

USAID and its impacts on national consciousness

The collapse of the Soviet Union created a serious political vacuum in a number of countries. Some countries, which took the concept of democracy as a delicacy, did not feel the poisonous substances in it. In this way, the United States, which has introduced itself to the world as a harbinger of democracy, was able to easily spread to countries with problems related to national and ethnic minorities, political parties, media, education, social and many more.

Since the mentioned problems directly affect the national consciousness, the financial institutions of the USA, such as USAID, have always acted liberally in this field. For some reason, the US, which spares millions of dollars, instead of helping people suffering from hunger and poverty in Africa and the Far East, spends more money on solving problems related to political parties, ethnic minorities, and a number of issues that are not relevant to institution’s core mission.

Of course, if we take a somewhat realistic approach, we can say that there are always big interests behind such assistance - that is, it would be kind of naive to think that the United States does this assistance for free.

USAID implements programmes in everything from agriculture, health and education to governance, democracy and human rights. The institution is mainly financed from the state budget, has representative offices in more than 80 countries and programmes in more than 100 different fields.

USAID's report released in 2021 shows that during 2019-2020, Georgia received 252 million dollars, and Ukraine received 808 million dollars, and programs implemented in various fields were financed. Today, the destruction in Ukraine due to involvement in the war, and the fragile nature of stability in Georgia is in sight.

History is a living witness - Middle East and South Caucasus axiom

Today, USAID's policy in the Middle East is continued in the South Caucasus through Armenia based on a similar scenario. As a blind beggar of the West, the Yerevan administration, which is ready to endanger the region, has put its mouth on the financial faucet of the United States and surrendered all its destiny to the responsibility of the West.

However, there is enough information about other activities of the White Helmets in Syria under the name of humanitarian aid. For example, British journalist Vanessa Beeley, who investigated the causes of the civil war in Syria, said that the "White Helmets" organisation operating in Syria was supposedly engaged in humanitarian activities. During the investigation, it was revealed that this organisation received financial support of 150 million dollars from various funds of the United States until 2000, and from the funds of the Soros, Clintons, and Rockefeller brothers in 2013-2016. The members of the organisation trained the rebels in Syria and were taught the technologies of sabotage. Currently, the collected materials related to the criminal activities of this organisation have been submitted to the Hague court.

These processes are currently being carried out in Armenia. US non-governmental organisations continue to increase their financial assistance to Armenia. The point of interest is that after Azerbaijan liberated Garabagh from the occupation, the amount of aid surged, which gives rise to the expansion of certain thoughts, specifically financial aid, to the activities of those who live with a sense of revenge in Armenia. According to the document signed between the Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan and the head of the USAID mission in this country, John G. Allelo, the amount of aid has increased from 120 million dollars to 250 million dollars. According to the signed document, the allocated funds will be directed to improving the social condition of the population, increasing the defence capacity, and ensuring energy security.

The joint military exercises of the US and Armenian servicemen in July, the arrival of two US Boeing C-17 military transport planes loaded with ammunition to Yerevan's Zvartnoch airport in August, and other facts indicate that the region has entered a dangerous period. The US is trying to control states in this region through destabilisation.

USAID head Samatha Power's statement about allocating 100 million dollars to the people who voluntarily left Garabagh and their opinion that they need help clearly reveals the hypocrisy of US policy. Why did the Azerbaijanis who left their homes and came to Baku as a result of the military aggression of Armenia in the early 1990s escape the attention of USAID? For some reason, the Khojaly genocide, the killing of children, women, and the elderly in Karabakh did not interest USAID. On the other hand, in the early 1990s, the United States declared that it recognised the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and on the other hand, it adopted a law prohibiting "direct aid" to Azerbaijan. The more armed Armenia tries to destabilise and acts as a "representative" of the interests of foreign countries, the more it will suffer poverty and degradation.

Today, considering its destructive activities in various countries, national governments have kicked USAID out of the country. Over the past 5 years, USAID has been withdrawn from Belarus, Russia, Turkmenistan, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Bolivia, Congo, and other countries. Azerbaijan does not need help. Although Armenia is an independent state, it remains a puppet state for organisations like USAID.