Today is a big day for James Baker. In recent days the press has cast him as an elder statesman and lauded him as a would-be savior of Iraq, and this morning the Iraq Study Group, of which he is a co-chair, released its widely anticipated report. When night falls on the Potomac, the United States Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (USACC), where Baker serves on an Honorary Council of Advisors, will host a private reception and dinner to honor Mehriban Aliyeva, the first lady of Azerbaijan ( ).
The first lady has an impressive resume. Her humanitarian achievements, , include Inauguration of new objects in Azizbayov district of Baku, visiting the people damaged during the accident took place at Baki Soveti metro station, and officiating at the solemn opening of the Baby House 1. On the international front, she has visited Rome and toured the Colosseum.
Aliyeva is also a member of Parliament and is reported to harbor higher political ambitions. That's significant because President Ilham Aliyev who inherited power from his father in a crooked election in 2003 has been fingered (though not named) as the recipient of bribes from a Virgin Islands registered firm with the delightful name of Oily Rock.
When the Oily Rock scheme was hatched, Ilham was head of , Azerbaijan's state oil company.
In an indictment related to the case ( ), Ilham, his father, and two other senior [Azerbaijani] officials were collectively offered or given cash payments of millions of dollars, Oily Rock stock, and gifts of things of value. The final category is alleged to include $600,000 worth of jewelry and a gold-and-mother-of-pearl-encrusted triangular photo frame worth more than $100,000. If Ilham is eventually dragged into the case by U.
S. prosecutors and hence becomes damaged goods, rumor has it that the Aliyev family a cabal of thuggish hacks who have long dominated Azerbaijani politics would like the First Lady to take charge of the country.
Some institutions might be embarrassed about hosting a reception for Aliyeva.
On November 24, her husband's regime shut down ANS, Azerbaijan's first private radio and television company, which carried shows produced by the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. A week earlier, Congresswoman Janice Schakowsky of Illinois had urged Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to demand that the Azerbaijani government make progress on human rights. International human rights organizations report that over the course of this year the human rights situation in Azerbaijan deteriorated significantly, she wrote.
Freedom of the press has virtually disappeared as journalists are being arrested, beaten and intimidated. The issue of political prisoners is worsening as more and more people are being detained on politically-motivated grounds.
However, the USACC which works to facilitate and encourage trade and investment in Azerbaijan, with the support of ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil Occidental, and other oil giants has a long history of crassly covering up the regime's abuses.
(Baker and other prominent members of the group, including Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, had oil-related business interests in Azerbaijan.) In November of 2004, the Chamber hosted a high level delegation from Azerbaijan. Members included Ali Hasanov, from the Office of the President, who expounded on his government's efforts to build and protect .
. . civil society, [a] transparent election system, and human rights.
When Ilham Aliyev was elected in 2003, he inaugurated his reign by killing at least two people and arresting hundreds more. The day after his election, Richard Armitage, then U.S.
Deputy Secretary of State and an ex officio board member of the USACC, phoned Ilham to congratulate him on his strong showing.
But if hosting Mehriban Aliyeva is all in a day's work for the USACC, the Washington trip is a big political coup for the first lady. In addition to the reception, she is scheduled to meet later this week with Laura Bush, and the state-controlled press back home is full of tales of how she is making much benefit for glorious nation of Azerbaijan.
The last time Baker made such a prominent appearance on the national scene was in 2000, when he helped George W. Bush win, by hook and by crook, that year's presidential election.
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