Azerbaijan is the new colonial cow being milked by Britain. 15 British oil companies have set up shop, and are siphoning Iranian oil from the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan. It would be nice if Azerbaijan received some benefit from this oil exploitation (or even Iranians) – but once again the British have installed a puppet dictator to assist them in their milking process.

Mr. Aliev, Azerbaijan’s President, installed himself in power in a rigged election in 2003 – upon the death of this father (a former KGB officer).

 The tale of how Britain gained full access to Azeri oil is a sordid one.  There are several reports of how BP executives working for Lord Browne spent millions of pounds on champagne-fuelled sex parties to help secure lucrative international oil contracts.  The company also worked with MI6 to help bring about changes in foreign governments, according to an astonishing account of life inside the oil giant.  

Les Abrahams, who led BP’s successful bid for a multi-million-pound deal with one of the former Soviet republics, today claims that Browne - who was forced to resign as chief executive recently after the collapse of legal proceedings against The Mail on Sunday - presided over an “anything goes” regime of sexual license, spying and financial sweeteners. He also claims that Home Secretary John Reid was arrested at gunpoint on a BP-funded foreign trip for being out on the streets after a military curfew had been imposed.  

Mr. Abrahams tells how he spent £45 million in expenses over just four months of negotiations with Azerbaijan’s state oil company. Armed with a no-limit company credit card, he ordered supplies of champagne and caviar to be flown on company jets into the boomtown capital, Baku, to be consumed at the “sex parties. The result is an almost mirrored reflection of how Iran was exploited for decades by the Brits before Iran’s democratic government was established and Iranian Oil nationalized in the 50’s. Oil gets extracted and a pittance in royalties is handed over to the “locals”.

For the poor idiots running Azerbaijan any cash from these oil companies is more than they ever had – but the reality is they are being skimmed. Azeris are being hosed. The Brits who to a large extent were behind the rise of the Mullahs in Iran are at work again, this time with the aid of the Russians. I think the greatest retribution Iranians can exert on the Brits for engineering the rise of the Mullahs and the theft of Iranian freedom would be to simply get their assets in Azerbaijan nationalized with the Brits kicked out of the region.  This would really hurt – where it really matters! Let them pay a price for what they did to Iran and Iranians. 

Beyond revenge against the Brits, Iranians do actually have other vital reasons for wanting Azerbaijan’s liberation: As Iran and Azerbaijan sort out many transnational issues, it is vital that Iran have a legitimate partner at the negotiating table. A non-representative dictatorship, as in the Aliev regime, can not be such a partner. There are serious matters including the future of the Caspian basin’s hydrocarbon resources and how they should be shared. And there is the real issue of protecting the Caspian Sea’s environment.

These matters must be dealt with, and dealt with quickly. Thus Iran has a vital interest in Azeri democracy. Azerbaijan was part of Iran not so long ago. There are in fact more Azeri’s in Iran (18 Million), then there are in Azerbaijan itself (8 Million). There are business links, there are transportation links (with Iran actually serving to connect disparate sections of the country [such as Naxcivan] to the rest), and there are cultural links.  Iranian Azeris care about freedom and human rights in their neighborhood.  

BP’s recent financial report announced a huge swell of in their net income with record profits. As British (North Sea) Oil diminishes, clearly BP is increasingly dependent on Azerbaijan as a source of income. Azeri ‘liberation’ would really hurt the regime’s puppet masters – the Brits.  Azeri liberation is a very achievable target. It is a relatively small country, with a small population. Azeri’s are highly educated and understand their rights and the need for freedom.

There is also pervasive corruption, fueling popular anger. Thus it has a solid base of freedom seekers. There have been regular demonstrations, broken up by Azerbaijan’s brutal internal secret police. With Georgia now under siege, there is NO immediate ‘Western’ facility that can come to the rescue of a troubled regime.  

The time for liberation is NOW.