History of one degradation: Paul Goble

I was looking through a biography of Mr. Paul Goble at Wikipedia - what a background, what a career! University of Chicago, special adviser to Secretary of State James Baker, CIA, Radio Liberty...

And now? "Publications Advisor" at Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, prime lobbyist for the current authoritarian government of Azerbaijan, analyst and academician for hire...

Mr. Goble, with such interesting career, haven't you made a smallest fortune to live quietly in retirement?

What a degradation, really!

Cold turkey for Afghanistan

Kabul during winter / Wikipedia

These days, a virtual acquaintance is in Afghanistan and following his tweets, Facebook statuses and pictures from the place, I once again feel a strange feeling that I last had at university and almost forgot how it was.

I had several teachers and university professors who worked in Afghanistan during Soviet times and all of them were longing for that place - talking a lot about it, with something like nostalgia for a lost heaven and perhaps with a guilt for losing that.

I even had an impression that Afghanistan was for them what opium was for drug addicts. All those people - my Farsi teacher who had to fight sexism of Soviet officials, a venerable orientalist who traversed the country with geologists in search of oil and gas, or a former employee of Soviet MFA who authored top secret reports on Afghanistan - they all seemed to have an eternal cold turkey.

Listening to their memories occasionally popping up in boring lectures, I had a feeling I was also getting addicted to that opium – without tasting it. And without seeing, visiting, knowing Afghanistan, I also started to long for it - I didn’t come, I didn’t see, but it conquered me.

Time passed, I finished university and lost contact with my "Afghani" teachers. Frequent media reports about Afghanistan brought nothing but anger against Taliban, Al Qaeda and George W. Bush government, frustration about coalition effort[lessness], amazement at corruption (though we have a lot at home here) and that indescribable feeling seemed to sink completely into oblivion.

However, as I discover these days, it seems it didn’t.

I don't know how much the Afghanistan in my mind looks like the real Afghanistan out there. I don't even know what the Afghanistan in my mind looks like - for the Afghanistan my teachers were addicted to was so faceless, shapeless, vague and unsolid...

And I don't know how to finish this post...

EU urges Azerbaijan to free two bloggers

Adnan Hajizade (above) and Emin Milli (below) / uncredited

AFP (24 August 2010): EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton called on Azerbaijan on Tuesday to free two bloggers whose case has sparked international concern over freedom of speech in the ex-Soviet republic.

Last week Azerbaijan's Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, who were challenging their November 2009 convictions on hooliganism charges.

Ashton "regrets the decision by the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan on 19 August 2010 to uphold the prison sentences against youth activists Emin Abdullayev (Milli) and Adnan Hajizade," her office said in a statement.

The European Union's chief diplomat said "shortcomings of the trial, notably with regards to international standards of fairness and transparency, and its conclusion, send a negative signal with regard to the situation of freedom of expression in Azerbaijan."

The statement added: "The High Representative calls on Azerbaijan to release Emin Abdullayev and Adnan Hajizade."

Media freedom groups and foreign diplomats, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have raised concerns about the jailing of the bloggers, who were arrested after satirising the government with an Internet video that showed a donkey giving a press conference.

Hajizade, 27, was sentenced to two years in prison and Milli, 30, for two-and-a-half years.

The two bloggers were arrested in July 2009 shortly after posting the Internet video, which lampooned the country's docile press and statements by government officials.

The charges related to a scuffle in a restaurant but the bloggers and rights groups say the arrests were politically motivated.

Authorities have said the charges were unrelated to the bloggers' criticism of the government.

News lifted from here

Not repenting, won't be released

Adnan Hajizade in trial / Radio Azadliq

The court today has ruled that Adnan Hajizade, Azerbaijan's famous jailed "donkey" blogger, won't get an early release - a standard practice allowing prisoners to leave prison for good after completing half of their term and in case, if they behave good in confinement.

According to the court, Adnan Hajizade "doesn't accept the court ruling finding him guilty of hooliganism and hasn't repented his guilt." Besides, he has refused to participate in whitewashing of the prison walls.

If you ask my opinion - the reason why Emin and Adnan are in jail is that they refused to whitewash a prison called Azerbaijan.

Matt Ridley: When ideas have sex

From Baku to Benin

Didn't know that Novruzov -  an Azeri-Central Asian surname of Persian and Russian descent was also popular in a great country of Benin! You don't believe? Look below:

Hello Dear,

I am Iyamkpe Ekpeyoung, a Lawyer in cotonou, Benin Republic. Mr. Joerg Novruzov, a gold merchant who was my client died as a result of lung cancer. Now i want to present your namto Mr. Joerg's bank, so that the money left behind by MrJoerg can be transfer to your
account through my help.

The money value US$10.5M was lodged in a local bank here by Mr. Joerg before his death on 23rd November2008. Please send your email address to me through [email removed] so that I will send more details to you.
Tel: [number removed]

Thanks,

Iyamkpe Ekpeyoung.

14th July and French experience

On 14th July – it was the Bastille Day - I was in a reception organized by the French Embassy in Baku and was listening to opening remarks by Madam Hijran Huseynova, a member of the Azeri government and my former department head at the university.

If I were a French diplomat and if not a diplomatic hypocrisy, I would be offended. Because during her opening remarks, Mrs. Huseynova said an interesting phrase – “Azerbaijan is using the French experience in democracy building.”

Azerbaijan? Democracy building? And the French experience? Wow!

And then, that is why Baku’s sky was decorated by grandiose fireworks on 14th July night – perhaps they were celebrating the Bastille Day?

No, it was the 41st anniversary of Heydar Aliyev’s rise to power. Here is what the official website of the late Azeri President says:

July 14, 1969 is a special date in the new history of Azerbaijan. The same day, national leader Heydar Aliyev rose to the political leadership of the republic, was elected First Secretary of Central Committee of Azerbaijan Communist Party. So, a turning point started in the history of Soviet Azerbaijan. Radical reforms and intensive development started in all spheres in the republic. In the complicated circumstance dominated by totalitarian regime, Heydar Aliyev changed Azerbaijan into one of the most advanced republics in Soviet Union. A huge era in the modern history of Azerbaijan is connected to the personality of great leader Heydar Aliyev, to his large construction action.

A moral universe of a modern narcissist.

From a recent column by David Brooks - I used to know such a person, thus it sounded very familiar to me :)

[...] The narcissistic person is marked by a grandiose self-image, a constant need for admiration, and a general lack of empathy for others. He is the keeper of a sacred flame, which is the flame he holds to celebrate himself.

There used to be theories that deep down narcissists feel unworthy, but recent research doesn’t support this. Instead, it seems, the narcissist’s self-directed passion is deep and sincere.

His self-love is his most precious possession. It is the holy center of all that is sacred and right. He is hypersensitive about anybody who might splatter or disregard his greatness. If someone treats him slightingly, he perceives that as a deliberate and heinous attack. If someone threatens his reputation, he regards this as an act of blasphemy. He feels justified in punishing the attacker for this moral outrage.

And because he plays by different rules, and because so much is at stake, he can be uninhibited in response. Everyone gets angry when they feel their self-worth is threatened, but for the narcissist, revenge is a holy cause and a moral obligation, demanding overwhelming force. [...]

I write like Ali S. Novruzov

OK, blame Anatoly - he started it. He posted it in Facebook - a nice app which analyzes your text and says if you were a great writer, whom you would be. Or to be precise, “I write like...”

The only thing you have to do is to paste a text of yours into the machine - well, tempting, isn't it?

And sometimes disappointing - like my first attempt.

I pasted my favorite ever blog post and got a result of ... Dan Brown. Oh, no!

And my second blog post, which I chose randomly from my favorite writings, said that I wrote like Chuck Palahniuk. Well, not comforting, but still better than the first one.

However, there is a good side of the story as well - I took two pieces of my private correspondence and got results of James Joyce and Kurt Vonnegut!

That is I am a great writer when I don't write for my blog!

And perhaps, sometimes in a distant future, if we are not forgotten altogether, someone would write a boring book about Azeri social media pioneers and in a footnote about me, it would say that "...but apart from his blog, Ali was a great writer that world hadn't seen since alphabet was invented."

Ok, I mean, a meeting with Secretary Clinton and suspicious Internet apps sometimes make you arrogant, but I want to reassure you – I’ll drink now a decent Azeri tea and descent to the Earth.

No more apps for today, please!

A head of a penis

Circumcision in Central Asia c. 1865-1872 (photo from Wikipedia)

OK, this post of mine is obscene, please excuse my French.

When late President Saparmurad Niyazov of Turkmenistan declared himself Turkmenbashi - the Head of All Turkmens, whole Baku laughed for a year (latecomers laugh even now). For bashi means in Azeri "a head of a penis."

Therefore, what was "the Head of All Turkmens" in noble Turkmen language, was "a Turkmen penis" in spoiled, obscene Azeri language.

Now, President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan has also declared himself - well, not bashi, but the National Leader of All Kazakhs.

And here comes my kudos! to our Kazakh comrades.

According to RFE/RL, a Kazakh performance artist, Kanat Ibragimov, has had himself circumcised in honor of President Nursultan Nazarbaev's 70th birthday.

Before the ceremony, a rising star of Kazakh showbiz Lady Gago sang "Happy birthday, Mr. President" and then Ibragimov emerged with a pickle jar and a mushroom-like object floating inside.

Here is the K+ report on the event (in English) which tells the whole essense of the ceremony - "dedicating the head of the penis to the head of the people."

Playing independent judiciary in Bauerntheater

"Sensation" (A Soviet theatre poster)

Top Azeri Justice from the Supreme Court has stated that jailed editor-in-chief Eynulla Fatullayev's new prison term was delivered with procedural violations. 

This shock news was reported on 8 July 2010 - by Mediaforum, a respected news website in Azerbaijan.

Besides, Justice Muzaffar Agazade told that the European Court of Human Rights decision about Eynulla Fatullayev hadn't reached the Supreme Court yet, thus he didn't know when it would be reviewed.

Needless to say, this extraordinary news landed me in Google - I wanted to know who this person was.

Well - first his bio. Working in courts since 1958, in Supreme Court since 1990. Old bureaucrat. If this guy could survive in Soviet and Azeri courts for 52 years, it means he was enough faithful to his telephone. He wouldn't make such a statement without prior consent or order from above.

And there were two interesting details - first, he is 71 and according to Azeri law, a judge should retire when he reaches 70; and second, the very same judge, Muzaffar Agazade had reviewed Appeal Court's decision about Fatullayev case and kept it intact in 2008.

And there was a final surprise awaiting me - I opened the website of the Supreme Court and found out that Justice Muzaffar Agazade was sent to retirement with honours in a ceremony held on 2 July 2010.

Six days before he stated that the European Court decision about Fatullayev hadn't reached the Supreme Court and he didn't know when it would be reviewed.

Six days after his official retirement, he still speaks as if he is a Supreme Court judge.

What is this - journalist's or editor's error? Marasmus senilis? Or playing independent judiciary in Bauerntheater?

Justice Agazade sent to retirement (photo from the Supreme Court website)

No, you can't

Adnan Hajizade (above) and Emin Milli (below) - uncredited photo from Facebook

...it is not the U.S. government, but Azerbaijan that deserves the "yes we can" slogan. Yes, we can imprison journalists. Yes, we can beat opposition protesters. Both Hajizada and Milli have paid an exorbitant price for having the courage to stand up to the government and say, "No, you can't."

There was no crisis in US-Azerbaijan relations, claims Paul Goble

Prominent Azeri government lobbyist, former Director of Publications, but now Publications Adviser at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy – Paul Goble is in action again.

Previously, if you recall, he has called not to criticize Azerbaijan for human rights abuses, for it could leave Western sphere of influence and become Russia’s ally.

Now, in the latest issue of the biweekly newsletter of the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, he claims that there was no crisis in US-Azerbaijan relations. No crisis at all. According to his opinion, the only problem, started with a single statement of an unnamed official in the Foreign Policy (sic!) - though he doesn’t name it explicitly) - was the fact that Azeri political commentators, mislead by this statement, had just misunderstood complicated procedures of Washington politics:

The widely reported comments in Baku by an unidentified American official that “there is only thing [the United States] really care[s] about right now, and this is Afghanistan” not only sparked a debate in Azerbaijan as to whether that means the United States cares about Azerbaijan but also revealed some fundamental misunderstandings among Baku commentators about the nature of relations between countries in general and between the United States and Azerbaijan in particular, misunderstandings that threaten the broadening and deepening of a relationship that has been growing for some years.

And he continues:

Indeed, this single statement became the occasion for Azerbaijani commentators of various stripes to compile a list of American actions that supposedly provided “proof” of what this unnamed individual had said.  The US has not had an ambassador in Baku for a year, the US did not invite President Ilham Aliyev to the counter-proliferation summit, the US has criticized Azerbaijan on human rights, and the US has failed to move in the directions Baku would like on the events of 1915 and Article 907 are all things that one or another writer has adduced as evidence that Washington is against Azerbaijan or doesn’t care about it.

But all of these are not true, says Paul Goble and exampli gratis, gives the true reason behind one of these points:

In none of these cases have the authors pointed to three other more important pieces of evidence about the relationship between Washington and Baku.  First, these writers and speakers have ignored the ways in which the policies of the US Administration as opposed to some in the Congress have underlined the importance Azerbaijan has in Washington.  Second, these commentators have ignored the reality that the United States as a variety of interests in the world and naturally views Azerbaijan in terms of these broader interests.  And third, these authors have failed to understand that many of “the facts” they adduce as evidence are in fact evidence of something else.

To give but one example: the gap between the presence of American ambassadors in Baku is not evidence of the lack of concern in Washington about Azerbaijan but just the reverse.  The complex way in which individuals are considered for such positions and the multitude of parties involved in the process often means in the American context that the more important the country is for the US and the more challenging the problems both countries face together, the more likely it is that the process of selecting, nominating and confirming a senior American representative—especially when that process starts at the beginning of a presidential administration rather than later—often is protracted.

OK, I complete understand that after high profile visits by Secretary Gates and Secretary Clinton that have amended the ties between Baku and Washington, some people is Baku have become uncomfortable with past actions, comments and “analysis” like calling for US companies to be driven out of Azerbaijan, inspection of and record fines imposed on American companies like Coca-Cola, statements about Barack Obama’s alleged inferiority complex, 24/7 anti-American hysteria at Azeri TV channels. And they are uncomfortable with the fact that they have ordered and paid for such ugly things. Now it is time to wash all this dirt away and Paul Goble is a perfect solution.

But, Mr.Goble, what about shame? What about tonnes of analysis and reports by local and foreign media and experts about the “fictional” crisis even before that famous statement in Foreign Policy? What about all those anti-American statements and hysteria of Azeri officials? And last, not least, what about your own previous article where you infamously called [US and others] not to criticize Azerbaijan for human rights abuses and amend the ties?

Really, Mr.Goble?