THEIR SHOW MUST GO ON?
By Elmar Chakhtakhtinski
October 10, 2012
A Context for the Upcoming International Internet Governance Forum
in Baku
Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev (left) and Syrian dictator Bashar
Assad (right) with their spouses
Aliyev dynasty in Azerbaijan, similarly to Assad dynasty in Syria,
can not and will not ever conduct any meaningful reforms. And not
only because they have been failing to do so for a few long decades.
Although that by itself should be enough to dismiss the big pile of
“analytical reports” and articles prepared by the apologists of the
corrupt dictatorships among domestic and foreign “experts” (with the
latter simply being a bunch of thinly veiled lobbyists). After all,
doing the same thing over and over – like pursuing the policy of
“friendly engagement” with proven tyrants and thieves – and expecting
different results (reforms?) is the clinical definition of insanity.
Or, more likely, it is the sign of intellectual dishonesty on part
of those who promote those “expectations”.
But in addition to this practical observation, there is a more
fundamental reason why such regimes would never change. Opening up the
society for real political or economic freedoms that might lead to
the emergence of forces outside the regime’s complete control means
a practical suicide for them. That is because their entire modus
operandi is based on such immoral and repressive mechanisms, and
the ruling elites have committed so much theft and grave injustice –
that there is no chance left for them to ever govern or even coexist
with competing power centers within an open society.
For these are not some traditional monarchies with long-established
legitimacy, simply trying to modernize their institutions. Neither
do they represent, anymore, a legacy of some failed ideological
experiments like communism, theocracy or extreme nationalism,
struggling to evolve into something better. No, these regimes have no
distinct ideology and no true “great cause”: everything they claim to
stand for is a pure lie. “Nationalism”, “modernism”, “militarism”,
sporadic “religious tendencies” demonstrated by the leadership or,
on the opposite side, their “staunch secularism” – whatever vision
they find expedient to pretend to follow – it has nothing to do with
their real aspirations. Their only goal is as simple and primordial
as prolongation of their rule so that they and their descendants and
clans can rob the rest of the population and trample their rights
and freedoms perpetually, as long as the heavens and the earth exist.
[Police%20and%20Heydar%20Aliyev.jpg] They claim to be a “Republic”,
but in reality they are nothing but dynastical neo-feudal formations
with elements of organized crime syndicates. Even the term “state”
is a stretch when applied to their operations, more resembling the
ways of mafia than of a normal government. Their true power is based on
deceit, fear, and pervasive corruption. Such concepts as “legitimacy”,
“will of people”, “equality before law”, “responsible governance”,
let alone “democracy” and “respect for human rights”, are foreign to
them. But they get increasingly better in imitating the institutions
that are supposed to be based on those ideas. Why bother with all the
trouble of building the real thing when you can simply lie about it?
Thus, they hold fake elections and write fake laws to be applied
by fake courts. They might even have such phony posts in their
“governments” as “human rights commissioner” or “ombudsman”.
But what is written on paper has little bearing on how things work
in real life. They join modern international conventions, alliances,
leagues – but in domestic affairs they do not respect any of the
agreed norms and proclaimed values of those organizations. Their
signature on international treaties regarding the respect for human
liberties and responsible governance means as little as their words
and promises at home.
[Morningstar%20bows%20to%20Heydar%20Aliyev.jpg] US Ambassador to
Azerbaijan, Richard Morningstar, begins his tenure by bowing down
to the statue of late Azerbaijani dictator Heydar Aliyev (father of
current dictator Ilham Aliyev)
The impostor-president inherits throne from his father and runs
a pseudo-republic, where his children formally (albeit secretly,
until discovered by some brave journalist) own the country’s largest
gold mines, phone companies, and banks. And informally, he and his
gang of minister-oligarchs also control and plunder everything else
from oil revenues to state budget to military expenditures, without a
hint of accountability to anyone, let alone to the ordinary citizens
(those poor “voters” that never get a chance have their votes cast
and counted freely and fairly). Some of the ruling family members
and their closest associates also become members of the fraudulent
rubber-stump “parliament” with 90-95% of “votes” in their favor, and
with the rest of parliamentary seats sold for million dollar bribes
like lucrative trading booths in a medieval street bazaar.
Meanwhile, everyone who dares to oppose them and presents a danger to
their otherwise unchallenged power – gets beaten, jailed, tortured,
deprived of income and property, blackmailed, exiled, and occasionally,
when needed – killed. The scale and brutality of crackdown might vary
between different regimes and at different times, depending on the
intensity and scale of dissent being suppressed. And as they learned
to simulate the positive attributes of normal, free countries, they
also master the art of disavowing their own dishonorable behavior by
either shamelessly denying it outright or employing an army of paid
lobbyists and apologists who rationalize and justify their actions.
[Azerbaijan_Free_Speech.jpg] In any civilized country with a minimal
rule of law, people with the record of power abuse like Ilham Aliyev
and Bashar Assad (even before the current war crimes and mass murder
committed by the Syrian regime) would have been sent behind bars long
time ago, along with most of their family members and cronies with
whom they conspire and share the loot. They realize this and that
is why they never dare to pursue real reforms. That is why they get
ever more tyrannical and corrupt: they have to – this is the natural
course of their rule. And when challenged – they either have to flee
or choose to murder citizens en masse to save themselves.
Then why in the world these crooked dictators would ever willingly,
short of a direct pressure or explicit threat, change their ways and
ruin the very thing that keeps them in charge? They have nothing to
show for but this inflexible repressive system built around the cult of
their family and a hungry army of their equally corrupt minions with
whom they have to continue pillaging the country in order to sustain
their grip on power and obscene life styles. That irreversible cycle
and the baggage of the crimes and injustices they perpetrated does
not leave them with any appetite or capacity for a change, ever.
[Fsa.jpg] They know it, their people know it, the West knows it and
everyone who cares to know – knows it very well. All of the facts
mentioned above have been documented, exposed and spread in worldwide
media coverage. But still, while they pretend to be something very
different from what they really are, the rest of the world, not knowing
how else to deal with them, pretends to believe in their crude theater,
expresses hopes for illusive “reforms” and occasionally even praises
them for phantom “progress”.
That seems to be working well for them and for the world … until
the s..t hits the fan and there comes a point when people can’t stand
it anymore, blood gets spilled and the great powers are caught in
a desperate search for “urgent response”, sanctions, no fly zones,
and military interventions.
http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3734&Itemid=48