If you just heard about Nagorno-Karabakh this week, it& #39;s OK not to have an opinion. Sit this one out, it won& #39;t hurt.

And to reiterate my opinion: an effort by Azerbaijan and now Turkey to shift the military balance on the ground can only succeed at the cost of hundreds or even thousands more dead on both sides. It is macabre at best.

Azerbaijan& #39;s *best case* scenario here is to make very small military gains that it thinks will improve its negotiating position, albeit at the cost of dozens of dead, including among its own.

The improvement is a mirage though, bc it also hardens resistance to concessions.

The *worst case* is that the fighting spirals far beyond the line of contact, in which case both parties have the capacity to annihilate each others& #39; civilian centers, not only near the line of contact but far beyond, all the way to their respective capitals.

*Iranian-backed Christians