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Joern Haufe / dapd via AP, file
The $350 million Flame Towers are due to be officially opened in the center of Baku, Azerbaijan, later this spring. A secular dictatorship with a long border with Iran, Azerbaijan is one of the few remaining countries than can act as a reliable listening post for America and Israel.
A Soviet-legacy oil nation is emerging as a hotbed of global espionage as tension escalates between Israel and Iran.
Azerbaijan, which links Russia to the Middle East, has strategic importance as a bridgehead for the West in its war of diplomacy with Tehran.
A secular dictatorship with a long border with Iran, it is one of the few remaining countries than can act as a reliable listening post for America and Israel, turning its capital, Baku, into a hotbed of intelligence activity.
“Like Casablanca in World War II, Baku is now also a center of monitoring Iranian mischief,” Ariel Cohen, senior research fellow at the Washington-based Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, part of the Heritage Foundation, told msnbc.com. “This is understandable taking into account visa-free regime of travel between the two countries and aggressive Iranian intelligence tactics.”
NYT: US defines first move in new talks with Iran
Recent events have lifted the lid on some of the international maneuvering in Baku. In March, Azeri security services arrested 22 people they say were trained by Iran to carry out terrorist attacks against the US and Israeli embassies.
In January, two accused of plotting to kill teachers at a Jewish school were also held.
'The Israelis are more subtle'
Most experts agree there are many Mossad agents in Azerbaijan working for Israel.
“The Iranians act in the open, they want everyone to know that they are here,” Dr. Arastun Orujl, director of the east-West Research Center in Baku told Britain's Times newspaper. “The Israelis are more subtle, like the Americans. But in the end everyone knows they are here, too.”
Iran lawmaker: We can produce nuclear weapons
So why does Azerbaijan matter? Not only does its geography make it an ideal place for the U.S. and its allies to face down Tehran, but its political history entangles it in the current tensions with Israel.
Millions living in northern Iran are ethnic Azeris, theoretically binding the two nations. But Azerbaijan has allied itself increasingly with Israel and the West as it uses its oil wealth to leverage its global standing.
“It was one of the first countries to back America after 9/11,” Gerald Frost, director of the Paris-based Caspian Information Centre told msnbc.com. “It is as politically helpful to the West as its position close to the Middle East will allow. America needs to pay it close attention.”
While the country has made concessions to the West, it remains a dynastic dictatorship under the rule of Ilham Aliyev, who inherited power from father Heydar Aliyev, a former Soviet leader who reinvented himself as a nationalist during the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ilham took over in a 2003 election described by Human Rights Watch as “fraudulent” and which it said was “followed by protests that turned violent, plunging Azerbaijan into a human rights crisis from which it has not recovered”.
David W Cerny / Reuters
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev answers questions during a news conference in Prague, Czech Republic, on April 5.
Israel last year established a factory in Azerbaijan making parts for its military drones, and has supplied the country with $1.6 billion worth of military equipment.
The BBC reported Russia President Vladimir Putin "surprised Western leaders" in 2007 by offering to let America use its radar base in Azerbaijan to defend Europe against any missile attack from Iran.
Cohen says Iran has been trying undermine Azerbaijan's secular position in the hopes of turning it from a dictatorship into a theocracy, echoing the transition of countries such as Libya and Egypt that now appear destined to be ruled by conservative Islamists.
Mark Perry, in a Foreign Policy article titled "Israel’s Secret Staging Ground", claimed Obama administration officials now believe that the security cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel is actually "heightening the risks of an Israeli strike on Iran".
Azerbaijan has denied it would allow the U.S. or Israel to launch airstrikes, although Frost noted that it could provide associated support since it already allows the U.S. military into its airspace to reach Afghanistan and to evacuate injured troops.
While ties with Israel deepen, the future relationship with the United States is less clear because Washington does not currently have an ambassador in Baku. The last holder of the post, Matthew Bryza, left last year after his appointment was not confirmed by Congress, a decision Frost believes is likely to have been influenced by America's powerful Armenian lobby.
Cultural boom
Meanwhile, its strategic importance is being echoed in a cultural boom. Baku is enjoying a Dubai-style explosion of luxury hotels and designer fashion stores. "It is all very glitzy, very much reflecting the way Azeris want to be seen as an establish European-style country rather than a backwater," said Ben Illis, co-author of a new Time Out guide to Baku, which is due to be published next month.
It has launched a major tourism advertising campaign, and its ambitious bid to host the 2020 Olympic games found its way onto the IOC shortlist.
This spring is expected to see the unveiling of the $350 million Flame Towers – three glass-sided skyscrapers up to 620ft in height inspired by the country’s ancient association with fire. Human Rights Watch says “thousands of residents” have been forcibly evicted to make way for some of these projects.
However, billing itself as tourism destination may be a challenge for a country that still has a very poor human rights record and still is often confused with Kazakhstan, home of comic creation Borat.
An unlikely litmus test of its political ambitions will come next month when it hosts the Eurovision Song Contest, a live music competition beamed across Europe that is a byword for kitsch (it was once won by a transsexual representing Israel). Baku's bitter enemy, neighboring Armenia, pulled out of the contest in disgust when an Azeri duo won last year.
David Mdzinarishvili / Reuters, file
Eurovision Song Contest 2011 winners Eldar Gasimov (2nd left) and Nigar Jamal (2nd right), who are known as Ell-Nikki, are greeted by fans in Baku. Their victory means Baku will host this year's competition.
"This will perhaps be a good indication of how far the regime is prepared to go to further its relationship with the west," said James Nixey, of British think tank Chatham House.
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Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
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Little mention except at the end of the story about the Azeri's warmongering against Christian Armenia, how the border between those two corrupt countries is a sniper-killing zone. But, to be honest, Armenia is little more than a puppet of Russia, the most Russified of all the post-Soviet republics, an economic disaster. Maybe the right-wing Christian fanatics should take notice, for the Armenian's sake. Aliyev uses Armenia as a fear-of-war tactic, keeps the Azeris distracted away from the corruption and embezzelments. He's followed George Orwell's 1984 script very well. And how many mansions in Dubai does that dictator have? All built with money fleeced from Oh yeah, they belong to his family, not him.
Well, first of all this article has quite sarcasm and irony toward Azerbaijan. Is this because of definite jealousy to Azerbaijan's fast growing wealth and of course presence of OIL? Yes, Azerbaijan not just has the OIL but it also was able to UTILIZE this oil, or sell it right in proper, time, thanks to so much criticized "dynasty leader" Heydar Aiyev! He was the one one who initiated "Big Oil pipeline" project through country-allies on the west, that came in right time in right place, and helped not just transport Azery Oil to west, but also Russian and other Caspian oil!
Ok let's say You do not care about it much! Then we go back to article and bring some truth: Yes, North of Iran used to be Azerbaijan a hundred years ago, so does the western neighborhood territories. Yes, Azerbaijan, ones were the SIZE OF Kazakhstan or even nowadays IRAN, but due to political games of the Soviet regime that the country used to be under, it got to its current size.
Yes Money is wealth and power for anyone. Even though Azerbaijan had abundant natural resources in all those lands he used to Own, it was not utilized and being as poor as it was I kept losing their lands. Now look at the people in Azerbaijan! It takes a VISIT and EYEs to see the truth. Look at all the population of Azerbaijan, if all those foreign luxury cars and newest electronics everyone owns is not an indication of wealth then what is? The point is, yes Azerbaijan has and sells the Oil, and yes Ilham ALiyev is the son of Heidar ALiyev, so called “dynasty leader”, but they not just putting all that comes from Oil sells in their own pockets and keeping everyone else in poverty and killing opposition rising, such in many SEstrern Post USSR DEICTATOR regimes, but Azerbaijan government and oil and business boom provided generous jobs, build spectacular buildings, built and renovated almost most of the multi-million major cities.
Yes, there are organization, such as Human Rights Watch, that all they do is set up some Scandal Accusations to feed themselves further on grants and justify their existence. Lucky they that they still operating in Azerbaijan, bring example of some more eccentric countries in Central Asia, where they would not even could be set close to start they "anti-country criticism"
My conclusion would be Great job to Azerbaijan and its government, and wish many more years of prosperity and word-wide recognition to Azerbaijan, and may we be able and willing to educate ourselves little more each day, despite all the ordered articles for some people’s requests!
And the women are beautiful there.
Surely it is fair to mention when any country is the subject of human rights concerns? That applies equally to the west.
I doubt the people of the west have been subjected to what these people have in recent history. The fact that a person is proud of their country may be something people in the West should emulate rather than attempt to minimize. The Marshall Plan insured the West succeeded through deficit spending that we now pay for. Azerbaijan owes no one and therefore they are better off for it. They suffered, and now they can reap the benefits without paying the interest for generations to come.
What Azerygirl doesn't tell you is that not everything is so peachy in glorious Azerbaijan. Before slamming "Soviet regime" she should thank it and Russian Empire for Azerbaijan"s existence. Ask yourself why more Azerys live in Iran than in Azerbaijan itself. Answer: Azerbaijan used to be part of Persia until Russian Imperial Army beat the crap out of Persian one and added Northern Azerbaijan to its territory. The Communists eventually made Azerbaijan into Soviet Republic which became independent after the breakup of the Soviet Union. So I would not go as far as saying that Azerbaijan owes nothing to anyone. The biggest problem is that mostly Armenian populated Nagorny Karabakh was incorporated into Azerbaijan and that resulted in a bloody war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Karabakh's status which is currently in limbo. Both of them consider Kharabakh their historical territory and aren't willing to make ANY compromises. Azerbaijan also managed to lose close to 15% of its OWN territory currently occupied by Armenia because Armenians proved to be superior militarily. What article doesn't say is that Baku spends a huge part on its oil revenues on its military because Ilham Aliev is HELL BENT on returning occupied territories and Karabakh. The rest of the economy is starved of resourses. What really helps Aliev is that a lot of unemployed Azeris, close to 2-3 millions of them in fact if I am not mistaken, picked up and left for Russia to look for jobs there instead of making trouble at home. The war with Iran would be the worst thing that could happen to Azerbaijan. Where do u think all the Azerbaijanis from Iran would go if all hell breaks loose? You got it. STRAIGHT UP NORTH!. I sincerely doubt Azerbaijan can handle this. I actually feel sorry for Aliev. He wants to be friendly with the West and Israel and he desperatery hoping they would not start a war in his backyard. Talk about being between the rock and a hard place. I remember his daddy very well, he was a world class asskisser, but I don't think it is going to help his sonny at all. So not everything is rozy in Azerbaijan and Human rights Watch, I believe, is the least of their worries.
PS: If you want to listen to REAL Azerbaijani artist look up Polad Bulbuloglu (hope I spelled it right in English) on YouTube, not these two snotty teenagers. Polad has more talent in his pinky than these two kids in their whole bodies. I think he is an Embassador to Russia now.
Here is a link! Check it out. He actually wrote the music to this tune. The song is in Russian even though written by the Azerbaijani, judging by the name. It's called "Call Me".
if Israel is giving out 1.6 billion in military equipment and probably using low wage workers to make parts for their DRONES, why do we need to give them MILITARY AID?
good question!
So they can sell it to our enemies.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/israel-accused-of-selling-us-secrets-to-china-1510406.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOphj0HIIP8
I wonder if those Iranian missiles they are worried about so much in Europe can reach their nuclear power plants, just sitting there like sitting ducks. Better get a missile shield around your glass house before you go throwing stones
Nuclear power plants-- the BEST war target of all time. FAR more "collateral damage" than from one lousy stinking Hiroshima sized nuke. As effective as Rome salting the fields of Carthage, to be rid of them for good
The winds blow East to China and the nukes will come West.
So Azerbaijan has a strong-man ruler (as opposed to the US which has a sissy-man office holder). End result, they have a growing economy, and a talent contest where a TRANS-SEXUAL can win! Imagine what would be the result if they had a nice, peace loving moslem leader - no singing contests, and the talent contest would be for who can hit the transsexual with the biggest stone. Sometimes, a dictator is not the worst case situation. Ask people in Egypt and other "arab spring" countries, where the Islamic Brotherhood has taken control, whether they are better off before or after.
I thought Obama was a Chicago-style thug. Which is he, a sissy or a thug? The talent contest is a European one, not an Azerbaijan one, and was won by a tranny representing Israel.
Please...give a college grad a job...hire a proof reader. "official opened"
And herein lies the problem. Obama, despite all his rhetoric, is not willing to exercise a military option against Iran and is concerned that Israel will. The real 'risk is not in stopping Iran but in failing to do so. Apparently, Mr. Obama has decided to opt for a policy of "containment" and take the risks that come with it to our national security, rather than sticking by his promise that he will not allow Iran to build nukes while he is President. Thanks, once again, Mr. Obama for lying to the American people about your true intentions merely so you can attempt to get reelected. I guess your political campaign is more important than our national security.
Why should we exercise a military option against Iran?
We (meaning the West) should exercise a military option against Iran because a nuclear Iran is wholly unacceptable. We should, however, exhaust all other options first. Most, if not all, Middle East countries do not want Iran to become a nuclear power.
To answer your question I will remind you of what Mr. Obama has said on a number of occasions, including his speech at West Point.
If terrorist are allowed to get their hands on nuclear weapons/materials there can be no doubt they will use them.
Which I agree with . And the reality of that happening is exponentially increased with a nuclear armed Iran. Which means it is in our national security interest to stop Iran from building nukes.
Add to that the fact that an Iran with nukes allows the Iranian leadership to engage in blackmail behavior and/or conduct military operations (under the protection of nukes) that it might not otherwise be able to do and perhaps you will begin to get the picture.
More hasbara uh King. PATHETIC. Do you read minds for a living? Give me just one thing to prove Iran is building nukes. Didn't think so.
Well, looks like someone wants this government to fall. All this attention to that hotbed of espionage will tell every terrorist organization in the area that the country is the next target. An abusive government that's tied to the US will soon become something else that will look at us as enemies.
Maybe the same people that took the oil from Iraq wants to control the oil in Azerbaijan.
Good guess Jibaro. Israel already gets oil from Iraq. We paid Haliburton and Bectal with are tax money to build a 42" pipeline from Kikurk to Haifa harbor. We don't get Iraqi oil, why should Israel. Israel wants to build a pipeline from Azerbaijan to Israel but they need to take out Syria to do this. Israel knows if they mess with Syria Iran will go after them. This is why Israel is yelling at the US to attack Iran so they can be another rich oil country in the mid-east. Read on the net "If Americans Only Knew" to find out how bad Israel is.
that would be as effective as going to a creationist website to learn about science....
My goodness! Let us just tell everyone just exactly what we do and how we go about doing it. Isn't there anything 'secret' anymore? I know, I know............perhaps this is just old news but, let's just talk about it some more. Gives the media something to really report about..............gee!
Well, here's another clue for you all. (no, the walrus is not Paul).
Often times things are leaked to the media for tactical or strategic reasons, as opposed to some enterprising journalist digging up a story.
USA is a bunch of spying bastards who spy on their own people,,blaming other nations for what we do worst of all of them. Blame them for terror,, we are terror on the world, blame them for 9-11 when our government knows. blame them for making Nukes when the USA is the only country who has used one and will again when the time is right and I wouldn't put it past them to hit their own cities so they can blame that on others too.. it's called do as I say, not as we do in America today with all this governments corruption and greed for war..
It's the corporations who use lobbyists to hand out cash and contributors of cash to campaigns who really run things.
More aluminum foil for your hat, sir?
Azeris also better watch out for Russia; they could be smacked down like Georgia was in 2004 if they get too warm & fuzzy with the West. The only 'warm & fuzzy' they'll be left with is the Bear banging down their door with an RPG.
Israel must have order the US military into the gulf to begin the genecide of the Iranian people. Now that Isael has control of the most powerful millitary in the world they will use it to launch low yield meclear weapons on Iran. Israel is the most dangerous terrortist nation in the world at this time and our government fully supports Israel terrorism. We all know that the Israeli people will not suffer any loss of lives once they start the war but once again the 18 to 24 year old uneducated citiznens of the US will fight and die for the Israel. Our troops have been fighting and dying for Israel for the last 11 years and it looks like we are on track for never ending wars to protect the Israeli scum.
Hey Gary, what the hell is a meclear weapon? And how does this actually work?
Sometimes countries must make difficult decisions when who to ally itself with.
In this case it is Azerbaijan, a nation run by a dictator.
As the news article stated " it is one of the few nations in the region we can rely on for our security in the Middle East.
Perhaps over time as the nations economy expands and western influence increases so will freedom for it's people.
What alternative do we have ? the answer is none at this time.
This sound like that movie Rinky Tinky Wonder Toy.............no wait, Dinky Stinky Soldier Something or other.
I was really exited to see that flick, went to it and got the best nap I had in a long time.
Great! Lets give them a few billion dollars and get them involved in the regional war Netanyahu wants to start.
ya and I heard they the democracy in the world , but that do not matter they are our allies , not like Syria , what a bunch of Hypocrites
this area of the world is going radical Muslim and there is nothing the USA can do. the USA may have in many ways encouraged this transformation, this is not going to work out for us. Syria may stay as the quaint butcher shop it has been because Assad is a bigger murderer than the radicals against him, Egypt is going to the brotherhood (a disguised radical Muslim bunch), Iran is a theocratic dictatorship radical Muslim country (that's the worst of them all by the way), Afghanistan will ultimately be Taliban radical Muslim, Saudis are radical Muslim dictators hiding behind reform promises and US weapons. the rich Arab countries don't really want any part of this radical stuff but they may have no choice.
joe camp-237-- you talk like somebody knows alot about these countries but evidently somewhere down the , line you are miss informed . Assad probably the only country in that region next to Lebanon that allow Christians to practice their religion freely , and I do not know where you got that Iran is a radical Muslim they a Shiites Muslim and they are not that radical , on the other hand our Friend the Saudis are the ones that promote all the radicals in the world and they finance all their movement , they still finance Alquida till this day buddy, Hell they do not allow their women to drive or vote, and they do not allow you to wear a cross or bring bibles into their kingdom , Even during the first Iraqi war , President Bush had to to the ship of shore to attend a mass , so do not give that crap about all these countries , just because they our crony's its OK for them to be that way ,
thanks for the correction but it sounds like your basicly agreeing with me. assad's father killed 45 thousand of his own people, did he not? iran and the revoluntionary guard are not radicals?
ya joe camp - 23-- How many people we killed in Iraq , because they shooting at our troops and boobie traps and all kind of killing , Well that's exactly what happened in Syria Assad dad had all of these Muslim brotherhood killing innocents people and then they hide between their supporters just like the Iraqi did in Fulluja and we did ? We SEND THE AIR FORCE AND HEAVY ARTILLERY , Same deference buddy , when you have to protect your civilians from these rebels that killing and raping , you do what you have to. and do not listen to our Media they have lost their honesty long ago ,
my turn-530. are you saying assad is a hero? i am not on the ground over there so i don't know for sure but journalists from around the world (many dead because of the syrian events), state department personal, diplomates from other countries don't agree with you and say assad is a murderer of his own people. i've have heard NO report that rebels are killing or raping civilians.
Realy joe camp-23-- our own ambassador admitted to that and these reporter that got killed , they went into Syria illegally and were impeded with the rebels , the same rebels from Libya beacuse that french reporter was hugging an Alquida commander , and human right watch confirmed the rebels were killing civilians , oh sorry you have to hear it from CNN AND OTHERS , well sorry buddy you are not because our friends the Saudis paid lots of money to them , i wonder what happened to honest reporters , and all these rebel that armed to teeth they show shooting at some buddy and nobody shooting back at them , I Wonder what and who they are shooting at. and if Assad so so so brutal why does not he just use his air force and bomb the hell of out of all these rebels , just like other countries do ? DOES that ring the bell for you buddy .
Assad is fighting Western inspired Al Qaeda terrorists. We use them for business purposes.
You make the most sense of any poster here!
What! Are you looking beyond CNN and Fox to other media sources outside the big 6 US MSM. That's not fair!
Armenia did not pull out "of the contest in disgust when an Azeri duo won last year" as the author carelessly writes. Armenia pulled out of Eurovision after President Aliyev declared "First, our main enemies are Armenians of the world and the hypocritical and corrupt politicians under their control."
This is exactly the kind of hate speech that Ahmadinejad himself spews about Jews. Why the double-standard, Israel?
All this to stay ahead of what AIPAC is feeding the dangerous mic...
@!$%#in sad and what a sick way to live...
speaking of yourself , I see
Armenia has much more cultural importance for the west. Are we able to help both nations??
Iran is surrounded by enemies, why not strike them now?
Iran has no interest in striking it's surrounding neighbors, not now and nor for the last 2000 years.
It is up to that "little Democracy ally" of ours to get us dragged into WW3.
Journalist Seymour Hersh has revealed that the Bush administration secretly trained an Iranian opposition group on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorists. Hersh reports the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command trained operatives from Mujahideen-e-Khalq, or MEK, at a secret site in Nevada beginning in 2005. According to Hersh, MEK members were trained in intercepting communications, cryptography, weaponry and small unit tactics at the Nevada site up until President Obama took office. The MEK has been listed as a foreign terrorist groups since 1997 and is linked to a number of attacks, spanning from the murders of six U.S. citizens in the 1970s to the recent wave of assassinations targeting Iranian nuclear scientists. Hersh also discusses the role of Israeli intelligence and notes the Obama administration knew about the training, "because they have access to what was going on in the previous administration in this area in terms of the MEK, in terms of operations inside Iran." His new report for The New Yorker blog, "Our Men in Iran?," comes as nuclear talks are set to resume this week between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Another AIPAC branch office. They won't have to change the stationary
Our little MidEast Ally has uses for what is left the United States
http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/article/american_enterprise_institute_admits_the_problem_with_iran_is_not_that_it_w/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=30150
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2012/02/24/Hezbollah-brushes-off-Israeli-threat/UPI-95801330106171/
Israel
as Arms Dealer:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/israel-accused-of-selling-us-secrets-to-china-1510406.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOphj0HIIP8
We have a history of bedding with dictators and in some cases, killing them later on. Perhaps with this country there are too many competitors.