Filthy Azerbaijan

Filthy Azerbaijan

asbarez
Monday, August 20th, 2012

BY GAREN YEGPARIAN

Gasp, what a horrible thing to say, right? How dare I call a country
filthy? Isn’t that at worst `racist’ and at best `uncool’?

These might be the thoughts of someone who is a bit too paranoid about
words, and a bit too imbued by the (otherwise necessary) caution
surrounding the use of words and language in the U.S.

But consider the ecological ravages of the Soviet Union that plague
all the former Soviet countries. Azerbaijan is no exception. Isn’t
this filth?

Now consider the ongoing ecological damage caused by the oil industry
in Azerbaijan, something we don’t hear/read too much about since it is
connected to the benighted, super-powerful, Exxons, BPs, and LUKoils
of the world. Isn’t this filth?

But lest we forget, there’s the going-on-three-generations control of
the country by the Aliyev clan and its cronies. Under various family
members’ names, multi-million dollar properties are owned worldwide.
They also launch themselves into various businesses, the traditional
way of laundering ill-gotten gains – just ask the descendents of
Mafiosi, turn of the previous century Jewish mobsters, or 19th century
Irish hooligans. There’s a lot of oil money going into the Aliyevs’
pockets, and it’s not happening because they’re out there drilling new
oil wells. Isn’t this filth?

But corruption isn’t limited to the ruling, governmental elites, or at
least not in their governmental roles. We have the example of Hamid
Hamidov. Besides being the minister of `Emergency Operations’, he has
been linked to bribery scandals in the world of boxing. There’s the
case of a $10 million payment to the World Series of Boxing which
seemed to have been made to secure advantages for Azerbaijani boxers!
Isn’t this filth?

But it’s not only the big-shots who engage in reprehensible behavior.
As everyone learned recently, Olympics event tickets were being
scalped by Azeris in London. These were tickets that had been issued
to Azerbaijan and were prohibited from sale. Yet somehow, they made it
onto the streets were an undercover journalist exposed this abuse.
Isn’t this filth?

Maybe we shouldn’t complain. With Azerbaijan consistently ranked even
worse than Armenia on corruption indexes, we can be sure that morale
in and commitment to that country will continue to be weak. Probably,
that is so much the case that if the belligerent `president’ of
Azerbaijan’s, Ilham Aliyev, ego gets the best of him and he is
foolhardy enough to once again start a hot war with the twin Armenian
republics, his forces will once again be trounced despite the billions
he’s been spending acquiring ever more arms of ever greater
sophistication.

While my heart goes out to the poor souls suffering in the filth that
currently constitutes Azerbaijan, at some point, they do have to take
charge, rise up, and take out the pig-with-lipstick who is enjoying
wallowing in the filth with which he and his father (Ilham and Heydar
Aliyev) have filled the country.

Let’s help our neighbors create a better life. It can only redound to
our benefit in the long run.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress