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The Washington Post: â€œThe biggest losers wonâ€™t be Americans or Azerbaijanis, but Armeniansâ€

19 December 2011 10:21 (UTC +04:00)

In the great modern novel of Washington dysfunction, this is a small subplot. But the failing nomination of Matthew Bryza, out of public view and without so much as a committee vote, offers a vivid example of how the larger U.S. national interest can fall victim to special-interest jockeying and political accommodationâ€, said the article â€œWhen special interests block national interestâ€ by The Washington Postâ€™s Fred Hiatt.
The campaign against Bryza was started by the Armenian diaspora groups in the United States, Hiatt said. â€œWhen Obama first nominated Bryza in 2010, two Democratic senators with Armenian American constituencies, Barbara Boxer (Calif.) and Robert Menendez (N.J.) put a â€œholdâ€ on his nomination, preventing a Senate vote. Obama sent Bryza to Baku with a recess appointment and renominated him in January. The two Democrats continued to oppose him â€” never mind his performance on the job. Consequently, the administration never pushed for him. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, never scheduled a hearing. Meanwhile, the administration pushed hard for ambassadorial appointments with Republican opponentsâ€.
â€œThe biggest losers in all this wonâ€™t be Americans or Azerbaijanis (who, by the way, enjoy about twice the per capita income of Armenians), but Armenians â€” poor, isolated and once again victims of a power play that has nothing to do with their well-beingâ€, the newspaper wrote.