The current crop of both Russians and Iranians have proved they can fight and are ready and able to prove it again, Declan Hayes writes.

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Although this article is primarily about NATO’s ongoing attempt to slice open Russia’s soft underbelly, let me thank NATO mob boss Mark Rutte and Iranian commentator Prof Mohammad Marandi for making this task much easier.

The first thing to note about Rutte’s quip that Lavrov has been Russian Foreign Minister since the time of Jesus is that there is nothing new or novel in it, and I have previously used almost identical quips myself here, here and here. The second thing to note is, to coin Reagan’s quip about his own relatively advanced years, that Lavrov, who is a mere 75 year old stripling (when compared to Israeli warlord Benjamin Netanyahu, who is five months older), is still old enough to have first-hand experience of the implosion of the Soviet Union, which bordered countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, Iran, Mongolia, Norway, Poland, Romania, and Turkey, all of which are now being used, together with Azerbaijan and a number of other former Soviet republics, as NATO bases to undermine Russia.

In as much as Lavrov’s experience can help Russia deter those moles and, as long as he can act as a mirror to show the rank ignorance of the likes of Liz Truss and Mark Rutte to the world, long should Russia retain his services, just as NATO retained those of Kissinger, France retained those of Talleyrand, Imperial Germany retained those of Bismarck and the Islamic Republic of Iran still retains those of Marandi, to whom we now turn.

Although Marandi is a very frequent and very solid media performer, he has recently changed his tune in one key respect by naming those countries, particularly Azerbaijan and the Gulf States countries, which have been fully complicit in NATO’s recent attacks on Iran. Marandi’s comments are important as they show that the Iranians have a better idea than Westerners generally credit them with of the challenges they face from NATO’s toeholds in the Caucasus and, though Russia’s military should take due note of this, so too should Lavrov and any other Russians, Koreans and Chinese, who might belong in the Tehran reading club I previously proposed.

Let’s briefly recount the catalysts regarding the most recent deterioration in Azeri-Russian relations as I see them. Following the arrest of an Azeri crime gang in Yekaterinburg, the Azeris retaliated by arresting a number of Russian journalists and, as shown here, filming themselves deliberately torturing and humiliating the Russians.

To further compound matters, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is not only joining in the Azeri attack on all things Russian but, to add insult to self-inflicted injury, attacking the leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which traces its roots to the Apostles Bartholomew and Jude and, as such, Pashinyan is attacking the core of what it means to be an Armenian.

Even leaving aside that Azerbaijan is a key hub in NATO’s wars against Russia, Iran and the Palestinians and leaving aside that Israel first tested its cutting-edge missiles and drones against the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh, Baku’s cultural jihad shows the same intolerance we see towards the Orthodox Christians of Ukraine and the Christians, Alawites and sundry other twelvers of Syria. It has, in other words, the paw prints of NATO and Turkey and Israel, in particular, all over it.

But then, as Marandi has shown, Tehran and Moscow are probably aware of all this and much more besides. The problem is what to do about it and that is where Lavrov and diplomacy come into it. Lavrov’s job is to build bridges between Russia and countries that want to do business with Russia and who feel that the adventures of Masha and Mishka, as well as the stories of Dostoyevksy have, like the poems of Pamia Abbas and the youthful thespian experiences of Lavrov himself, the same sort of ethereal and intrinsic values NATO’s Iraqi victims Rutte previosuly mocked had before Rutte’s NATO thugs raped and slaughtered them. So, if Rutte and his Yankee doodle daddy, as well as his unfortunate brother HIV AIDS took from us far too early, feel that Lavrov should shuffle off the international stage, that just leaves the spotlight on the armed forces of Russia, Iran, North Korea and whoever else might like to tool up and saddle up with them for a fight Azeris will have to eventually fight and die in alone.

Although that is not a pleasant thought for the gangsters who run Baku, there is an easier alternative, albeit one they will not avail of, and that is to talk respectfully to Lavrov and to Marandi and that is not so much because of their grey hairs or their grey matter but because jaw jaw is not only better than war war but because the current crop of both Russians and Iranians have proved they can fight and are ready and able to prove it again, and at Azerbaijan’s considerable expense, if that is what it takes to put manners on Aliyev, Rutte and the rest of NATO’s chorus girls.