Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Deal Stumbles Once Again

Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev’s surprise rhetorical attack on Armenia is raising doubts that a peace deal between Baku and Yerevan can be reached anytime soon. Both sides in recent months had given indications that the peace process was making progress and a settlement could be close at hand. But then Aliyev, in a January 7 interview with Azerbaijani journalists, scrambled expectations, launching a verbal broadside against Armenia and its leaders, characterizing the country as a “fascist state.” In all, Aliyev used the term…