Unfortunately, the former Soviet leadership and civilized world remained indifferent to this conflict, the barbarity of the Armenians and the terrible plight of the Azerbaijanis.

The Maoists had brutally killed or maimed security personnel and innocent civilians, not even sparing children and the old, and had tried to muzzle the free press through their barbarity and intimidation.

The reports mention how common it is for a woman to be raped by groups of up to 20 men or in front of her family, and have to endure the most appalling acts of barbarity and torture.

And even when that is accepted, when the sheer number of people clamoring to get to Europe s shores makes it all but impossible to deny the barbarity driving them to flee, a third smokescreen goes up. Some, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, claim that the conflicts generating these refugees rage only in Arab countries that are being bombed by the West.