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The New York Times: Azerbaijani authorities blackmail US because of
rapprochement with Moscow
16:23 10/01/2015 >> SOCIETY
The Azerbaijani government's growing hostility toward Washington the
journalist Joshua Kucera writes in an article published in The New
York Times, analyzing the latter events taken place in Azerbaijan.
In the article Kucera writes that since gaining independence from the
Soviet Union Azerbaijan has been a strong partner of the United
States. It has worked with Washington to break Russia's energy
monopoly in the region by supporting the construction of oil and gas
pipelines to Turkey. It is a key transit point for military cargo to
and from Afghanistan. And the government in Baku has forged close ties
with Israel, based primarily on the trade of weaponry and oil.
The author recalls that a 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable described
Azerbaijan's foreign policy as characterized by "pragmatism, restraint
and a helpful bias toward integration with the West." "But as Russia's
dramatic new foreign policy changes the strategic landscape across
Eurasia, Baku appears to be recalculating whether its ties to the West
really are advancing its own goals," Kucera writes.
He points out that the attack on RFE/RL followed months of extreme
anti-Western rhetoric. Top Azerbaijani government officials have
accused the United States ambassador to Baku of "gross interference"
and former Foreign Minister Carl Bildt of Sweden of being an American
spy. In early December, the president's chief of staff, Ramiz
Mehdiyev, published a 13,000-word article claiming that the C.I.A. was
contriving regime changes in the post-Soviet space (the so-called
color revolutions). It also called Azerbaijan's human rights activists
a "fifth column" of the United States.
"Human rights activists have criticized American and European
governments for being too soft on Baku. Washington has called the raid
on RFE/RL merely "cause for concern." In spite of Azerbaijan's dismal
human rights record, it has been awarded prestige projects like the
chairmanship of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers in
2014, and it will be hosting the European Games this summer," Kucera
writes.
Anti-American rhetoric from Baku is not unheard of, but its recent
intensity, seemingly unprompted, and its reliance on Kremlin talking
points suggest a shift toward Moscow. "It's a measure of the
Azerbaijani government's disdain of Washington that the raid on RFE/RL
was conducted just days after Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with
President Ilham Aliyev on the phone," the author notes and reminds how
in an interview in December, Ali Hasanov, a top presidential adviser,
was asked why the government began to so sharply criticize the United
States but not Iran or Russia, answered that the latter don't
criticize Azerbaijan.
In this situation Azerbaijan's mimicry of Russian rhetoric and
rapprochement with Moscow is an implicit threat to Washington: Give us
what we want, or we'll go over to Russia. The United States doesn't
need to give in to this blackmail.
http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2015/01/10/new-york-times-azerbaijan/
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/opinion/azerbaijan-snubs-the-west.html?_r=0
rapprochement with Moscow
16:23 10/01/2015 >> SOCIETY
The Azerbaijani government's growing hostility toward Washington the
journalist Joshua Kucera writes in an article published in The New
York Times, analyzing the latter events taken place in Azerbaijan.
In the article Kucera writes that since gaining independence from the
Soviet Union Azerbaijan has been a strong partner of the United
States. It has worked with Washington to break Russia's energy
monopoly in the region by supporting the construction of oil and gas
pipelines to Turkey. It is a key transit point for military cargo to
and from Afghanistan. And the government in Baku has forged close ties
with Israel, based primarily on the trade of weaponry and oil.
The author recalls that a 2009 U.S. diplomatic cable described
Azerbaijan's foreign policy as characterized by "pragmatism, restraint
and a helpful bias toward integration with the West." "But as Russia's
dramatic new foreign policy changes the strategic landscape across
Eurasia, Baku appears to be recalculating whether its ties to the West
really are advancing its own goals," Kucera writes.
He points out that the attack on RFE/RL followed months of extreme
anti-Western rhetoric. Top Azerbaijani government officials have
accused the United States ambassador to Baku of "gross interference"
and former Foreign Minister Carl Bildt of Sweden of being an American
spy. In early December, the president's chief of staff, Ramiz
Mehdiyev, published a 13,000-word article claiming that the C.I.A. was
contriving regime changes in the post-Soviet space (the so-called
color revolutions). It also called Azerbaijan's human rights activists
a "fifth column" of the United States.
"Human rights activists have criticized American and European
governments for being too soft on Baku. Washington has called the raid
on RFE/RL merely "cause for concern." In spite of Azerbaijan's dismal
human rights record, it has been awarded prestige projects like the
chairmanship of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers in
2014, and it will be hosting the European Games this summer," Kucera
writes.
Anti-American rhetoric from Baku is not unheard of, but its recent
intensity, seemingly unprompted, and its reliance on Kremlin talking
points suggest a shift toward Moscow. "It's a measure of the
Azerbaijani government's disdain of Washington that the raid on RFE/RL
was conducted just days after Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with
President Ilham Aliyev on the phone," the author notes and reminds how
in an interview in December, Ali Hasanov, a top presidential adviser,
was asked why the government began to so sharply criticize the United
States but not Iran or Russia, answered that the latter don't
criticize Azerbaijan.
In this situation Azerbaijan's mimicry of Russian rhetoric and
rapprochement with Moscow is an implicit threat to Washington: Give us
what we want, or we'll go over to Russia. The United States doesn't
need to give in to this blackmail.
http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2015/01/10/new-york-times-azerbaijan/
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/opinion/azerbaijan-snubs-the-west.html?_r=0