It was interesting to read “At the Crossroads”. First, the discussion paper is informative, and secondly (and most importantly), its message and motivation are close to me. The text makes a very good impression, with the right combination of restraint and emotionality, objectivity and understandable partiality.
The analytical part is quite effective and convincing. However, from the part of the “prescription” (“how to treat the patient”), I still expected from Ruben – taking into account his professional experience – something more accurate and concrete, something technocratic, if you’d like. Presently, the recommendations look somewhat in the spirit of “against all bad for all good”. That is, the pain points were convincingly defined, the “points of support” (strengths of the Armenian ethnos), too, but I personally did not get enough of a specific treatment program.
Furthermore, for me (and, I think, for the Western audience), two huge cases of apophasis will be problematic. Namely, the issue of resolving the conflict with Azerbaijan and, of course, Russian postcolonialism. The reasons why the authors decided not to enter these minefields are clear to me, but without analyzing these two topics, any serious discussion about the future of Armenia is incomplete.
And a question arises: why didn’t the authors immediately release the book in French? In France, it is to find a wider response than anywhere else.
Thanks to the authors, this was a useful read.
