The real Azerbaijan is not pretty

I am ashamed that I do not research countries that I visit properly. Azerbaijan, where I spent three days this month, for example. Read what Peter Oborne writes here today about how disgusting the Azerbaijani government is. 

He went to a beano in Baku paid for by the (pretty morally bankrupt) European Parliament and met a very brave journalist called Khadija Ismayilova who has broken many stories about the corruption of the regime, in a country where journalists are murdered.

In Azerbaijan, being an investigative journalist means leading a life under constant threat. As Ismayilova developed a reputation for producing stories which upset important people, someone installed secret cameras in her bedroom, which filmed her having sex with her boyfriend. When she refused to submit to blackmail demands, the perpetrators of this violation not only published the video, but also sent pictures to her brother. 

Azerbaijan is a traditional country. Women are not expected to have sex outside marriage. Armed with a knife, her brother arrived at her house, with the intention of killing her. Thankfully, a colleague was with her at the time. This saved her life.

We, of course, just hear about the faults of Russia and Iran. Never those of America's allies.

I recently read an article by an American neocon called Jacob Kamaras, praising Azerbaijan's economic success and scorning Armenia for her poverty, without mentioning that Azerbaijan has oil. Jacob Kamaras attacks Armenia for being on good terms with Russia and Iran, as if there were an alternative. 

He made me feel very sick. I hoped President Trump would fling out the neo-cons, but they are back.