Stirring Bad Blood

THE FIVE-YEAR UNDECLARED WAR BETWEEN THE former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh is suddenly a lot worse. Armenia has swallowed one-tenth of Azerbaijan, including the regional center of Kelbajar, trapping thousands of civilians in desperate conditions. The U.S. condemned the Armenian attack. The U.N. Security Council demanded that Armenia withdraw from Kelbajar and reaffirmed the sovereignty of the besieged Azeri state. As heavy fighting continued over the weekend, Armenia welcomed an offer by Russian President Boris Yeltsin to mediate an end to the war — something he and Kazakhstan’s leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, attempted unsuccessfully in 1991.