On the contrary, the phrase that this is a temporary suspension is somewhat disconcerting. I hope that in this case, too, it will turn out that nothing is more permanent than temporary.
I hope also that Menendez will never again be on the American political scene. His place is in the dock. He should also have been there a long time ago. I’ll talk about this later, but for now, let me remind you that this time Menendez and his wife Nadine Arslanyan were accused of bribery “in connection with their corrupt relationships with three businessmen from New Jersey.” Bob and Nadine are charged with three counts: conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion through the abuse of official position. During the searches, over $500,000 in cash, gold bars, and luxury cars were seized from him and his wife. Senator Menendez provided “sensitive government information” and otherwise assisted Egypt, the indictment says.
Simply put, he was ready to serve representatives of another country for money, acting to the detriment of US national interests. And here I remind you that back in 2015, Menendez was accused of corruption due to his relationship with ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen. Prosecutors then accused Menendez of accepting nearly $1 million in campaign contributions and lavish gifts. The investigation believed that due to fraud with state health insurance, taxpayers were defrauded of at least $9 million.
Senator Menendez was also accused of criminally promoting Melgen’s interests in the supply of port equipment to the Dominican Republic. US media sources claimed that Menendez was trying to get the equipment inspected for free at the US border. Yes, he pleaded not guilty and the charges against him were dropped in 2018. But later we all heard new facts of his corruption.
The influential newspaper The New York Post has already reported on them. The article stated that Menendez’s wife sold $400,000 worth of gold bars. How many gold bars did the couple have in total, if they were still found during a search, despite the fact that the senator’s wife long ago got rid of most of them?! In any case, with such a “track record”, Menendez’s return to the political arena is simply unthinkable.
But a show trial of him with prosecution and confiscation of property, so that everyone else thinking about the same kind of “business” would be discouraged, looks quite logical. Let me also remind you that Bob Menendez has a reputation as one of the most committed and consistent Armenian lobbyists in the United States. And now there is every reason to suspect that he provided his services to the Armenian side far from disinterestedly.
It remains only to find out how many bars of gold or millions of dollars in cash such a service by Menendez was worth, such as the draft legislative amendments he recently presented, providing for holding Azerbaijan accountable “for aggression and alleged war crimes against the Armenians of Armenia and Garabagh,” as well as stopping the export of military equipment in Baku. I think that the Armenian diaspora has clearly not been stingy here.
Moreover, Bob, the supporter of the US Armenian lobby has done something nice for them before. He was deeply concerned that football players of the so-called “Martuni Avo” club, who dared to trample the flag of Azerbaijan in 2021, were detained at the Lachin checkpoint. They were later released. At the same time, even in the Republic of Armenia itself, there were those who recognized the correctness of Azerbaijan’s actions. But Menendez was not interested in all this. He simply fulfilled the order. At that moment, he was thinking about personal enrichment, not caring about the national interests of the United States. The national interests of the United States dictate the maximum development of relations with Azerbaijan, as the leading state in the South Caucasus. But the fact of the matter is that because of Menendez, Washington is risking relations not only with Azerbaijan but also with Türkiye, a NATO member and the most important state in the region.
Yes, it was Menendez who blocked the delivery of American F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye. He was full of compiled and biased nonsense. And now, as we can see, time has put everything in its place. “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged”, Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan – Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan, wrote on this occasion in social network X (formerly Twitter).
I think it is right to point out that the proverb, according to which one should honour the commandments before reading sermons, has come true. And all biased politicians who are used to smelling Armenian brandy a mile away and who are generally trying to make money on the anti-Azerbaijani campaign of lies should bear in mind this truth.
Caliber.Az
