Prestigious journal published anti-Armenian piece by “stealth lobbyist” for Azerbaijan

PanARMENIAN.Net - A storied American magazine has published a column by a “stealth lobbyist” for Azerbaijan calling on arch-enemy Armenia to shut off a major power supply.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists did not disclose Brenda Shaffer's well-documented pecuniary ties with Azerbaijan in her March 5 essay arguing that Armenia should close its only nuclear power plant, the Soviet-era Metsamor near Yerevan. But regional media have reproduced the argument, while highlighting the gravitas of the Bulletin and ignoring the conflict of interest, Eurasianet says in an article.

"To Caucasus watchers intrigued and depressed by the way Baku uses its oil wealth to buy praise and influence abroad, Shaffer is infamous. A senior advisor at the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, she has defended Azerbaijan’s human rights record and endorsed regime change in neighboring Iran," the article reads.

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project in 2015 dubbed Shaffer a “stealth lobbyist” for Azerbaijan. The year before, the New York Times came under fire for publishing an op-ed by Shaffer about the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict without disclosing her ties to Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR.