Ah Mallory from Huffington Post...

What does a board-certified nurse practitioner in psychiatry and founding partner of BabyNames.com have to do with parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan? In a normal world nothing but in a world where glitz can blind some people the connection isn't hard to find. 

Ms. Mallory Moss visited Azerbaijan and not just once mind you. In fact she wrote about her first visit to Azerbaijan here where she describes at length about her fears of visiting a muslim country, her prejudices and her pleasant surprise upon arrival to Azerbaijan that all her fears were unsubstantiated.  

Turns out, Moss's perception of Azerbaijan pleased the two sides so much that she received a visa to travel back to Azerbaijan this year to "observe" the parliamentary elections as Trend.az reports. 

I tried really hard tracking down the "US Foreign policy news website" where the article originally was "published" but all I was able to find were websites with references to the original story, which all pointed to Trend. 

I even checked Moss's HuffingtonPost profile but couldn't find anything there either.

I hope it is just my inability to find the original article and not Trend.az making up a story that was never written. 

But just in case it was indeed published on some "US Foreign policy news website", here are some of the quotes I wanted to highlight here: 

“Azerbaijan has a well-earned reputation for its progressiveness, tolerance of religious and ethnic groups and as pro-Western strategic outlook, the author wrote. “The voters were calm and genuinely interested and involved in the process. Fail safe measures were undertaken, including identification requirements, ink spray, and ballot tracking.”

“In fact, according to my sources, the government of Azerbaijan was willing to allow OSCE to observe, but wanted to simply know why the stringencies of the system would surpass any other country in the world.”

“There was transparency, both internally and externally. Gerrymandering is non-existent and the Azerbaijanis genuinely wish to have a free and fair election process,” the author wrote.

Can someone please explain to me how a nurse from US arrives in Azerbaijan to observe elections and has all of a sudden"sources" that advice and inform her on such matters as OSCE ODIHR mission decision to withdraw? 

Can also someone explain to me how an observer who doesn't speak Azerbaijani concluded that "voters were genuinely interested and involved in the process"? 

And finally can someone please explain it to me why Moss would write something as fictional as this, despite the country having over 70 political prisoners, its best people in jails, no space for any kind of freedoms? 

Perhaps Ms.Moss herself could explain this to me?  

*The original link to the foreign policy news website was found. I thank everyone who sent me the link to the original source. It is here. Bud doubts remain on how "well known" and "well respected" this news outlet really is.

An "expert" mouthpiece

Peter Tase is advising Washington "to play a more effective role in providing a solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and withdraw itself from taking actions based on the manipulations and fabrications undertaken by Armenian public relations organizations". Now while I agree that a stronger stance on NK is needed I cannot fully understand where does Tase lead with his "manipulations by Armenian public relations organizations" argument? 

A number of international rights watchdogs criticized Azerbaijan for the unprecedented crackdown taking place in Azerbaijan against its most prominent rights activists and advocates. And these are not new criticisms since the country's rights and freedoms record has been on the low for a long time now.  A number of local observers (those who can still say something at least) have shed light on the on-going intimidation and threats against alternative views in the country. Those not able to do so any longer are either in jail, arrested, silenced, intimidated or fled the country. Does Tase imply that all these organizations, individuals and communities are Armenian public relation organizations? 

But then, I looked at Tase's profile on Foreign Policy News. And the list of his articles on Azerbaijan explain why Tase believes in the theory strongly advocated by Azerbaijani authorities. Most of his recent work is bout Nakhchivan. I was pleasantly surprised to be honest to see his pictures from there. Because Nakhchivan is not the most open place where visitors (let alone foreigners) can travel easily. Tase must have been a very special guest to travel there and have such a wonderful time. But he has written about Azerbaijan in 2014 as well. While he has highlighted Azerbaijan's leading role in "advocating peace and humanitarianism", Tase forgot to mention that this humanitarian and peaceful nation jailed some of its most prominent activists in 2014.

The funniest of it all is that in Azerbaijani media he is presented as an expert on international relations. Hmm... I think Tase must do his research a bit better if he is opting for being the mouthpiece of Azerbaijan.

The stability they show you

Perhaps, this is for the attention of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, perhaps this is for the attention of human rights watch organizations, perhaps its for nobody's attention after all nobody cares really at policy and decision making level abroad about rights, freedoms of Azerbaijani people. 

So perhaps I am addressing very those members of the parliament who voted against the resolution on political prisoners not so long ago. I must share with you, dear apologists and avid supporters, the brutality of Azerbaijani government, its so called democracy and respect for its people. Surely, this is not the kind of stability our officials talk about when they meet in Brussels, Strasbourg or DC. And surely, this is not what they show you when they invite you to lavish parties at consulates, embassies, residences of Azerbaijani ambassadors abroad. 

This is from a letter shared by journalists arrested during the riots in Ismayilli:

They keep people from Quba in terrible conditions. Those trialed in Khachmaz as "organizers" of Quba events were taken from Baku (Kurdakhani) to Khachmaz on a cargo train. They traveled the night, cold, on the bare floor of the compartment reaching their destination in the morning. In Khachmaz they are held in a room with an open sewage. They are sticking bottles into the hole of the sewage just so not to go crazy.

Sounds like a scene from a movie, but its not. This is real. This is present day Azerbaijan, and this is the country you dear apologists say is doing pretty well and there are no issues with human rights abuse. But do not worry, you are safe and you can have as much caviar as you want. Because this is the imaginary stable Azerbaijan you prefer to believe in.

Behind the tradition of Caviar Diplomacy

Could it be that the there are some "forces" (as our beloved government officials would say) in the European Parliament and PACE who are keen supporters of the Aliyev regime? It seems so. And here is why. 

On January 23rd, PACE members voted on two key resolutions on Azerbaijan- one on the country's obligations and commitments as a member state and the second one a resolution on political prisoners. Unfortunately as I said earlier, the caviar seems to be more important than political prisoners and their rights in Azerbaijan and so while the initial resolution passed with 196 in favor and 13 against, the latter stayed on paper with only 79 in favor, and 125 against.

Among those who seem to be avid fans of caviar and other luxury, are European Parliament member- Bulgarian Socialist Kristian  Vigenin, who is also the Euronest chair. Last year he organized a discussion with Elkhan Suleymanov- head of Azerbaijani delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, to discuss the "unjust" resolution passed by the EP on the eve of Eurovision on the human rights record of Azerbaijan. Needless to say there were no reps. from the civil society, or opposition from Azerbaijan. 

Elkhan Suleymanov, was also among anti- Strasser report. In his statement following the voting Suleymanov accused Strasser of "biased and hostile" approach towards Azerbaijan. 

Apart from Vigenin, there are few others too, such as Kristina Ojuland (Estonian Liberal); Inese Vaidere (Latvian conservative); and Vytautas Landsbergis (also Lithuanian conservative). Looks like caviar can work its magic on everyone, whether you are a liberal, a conservative or avid defender of human rights abuses elsewhere but in Azerbaijan. 

These are the known faces of anti-human rights resolutions passed before too. Such as the resolutions on Emin and Adnan; Bakhtiyar Hajiyev; Rafig Tagi (may he rest in peace) and the most recent one on human rights that was passed before the Eurovision. 

If you haven't read it already European Stability Initiative published a comprehensive report on this matter titled "Caviar Diplomacy: How Azerbaijan silenced the Council of Europe (Part 1)". It is available for free on their website.

In that report, there is also a list of the so- called "apologists" for Azerbaijani regime. Among these are Maltese Joseph Debono Grech, Spain's Pedro Agramunt, Belgium's Paul Wille, UK's Mike Hancock, and Germany's Eduard Lintner and others who over time made it possible for instances such as the head of the PACE election observation mission declare past elections in Azerbaijan meeting international and CoE standards.

Ironically, these past few weeks only proved the dire situation Azerbaijani people live in. Starting from the publicized death of a young conscript; angered merchants protesting increase in rent; frustrated and fed up residents of Ismayilli and finally the protests organized in solidarity with people in Ismayilli in Baku.

But then the comfort of their seats miles away and generous presents from their special friends makes the struggle of Azerbaijani people miniscule doesn't it? Priorities vary...

Carpeted and sumptuous facades of Azerbaijan

As we all just barely recover from the New Year celebrations, never- ending food and goodies left from the festive night, others been working hard. And I am ever grateful for this hard work given the tremendous (or perhaps not so much, depending how you look at it and who looks at it) influence this work might have on certain individuals who prefer lavish life styles and extra cash to things like a drop of honesty perhaps.

Before I confuse you even more, here is what I am talking about. Spiegel, released an article (though I would like to call it more of a tribute) about/to Azerbaijan which might please critics of the government and not so much those who are lobbying to "burnish" the country's image in Europe. Apparently the busy bees been occupied contracting shady pr agencies and throwing extravagant parties disguised under "cultural events" (apparently having carpets involved makes the purpose of such gatherings cultural- sigh, if only carpets knew how they are being used these days...) to improve the country's image in preparations to the upcoming Eurovision song contest. 

Perhaps the busy bees are blinded my their bank accounts (reminding me of Donald Duck and his "$"- sign- popping- eyes) and their little tiny brains that were at some point in time and space replaced by "money money money, always sunny" phrases (which by no means implies that I don't have respect for ABBA anymore) and propaganda- talking machines. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how many ex- European government officials you "buy", "convert" or whatever this shady business style is called these days- oh, I remembered now, it has a fancy word for it- Lobbying!- one can only hide behind carpeted and sumptuous facades this much. Sadly, it also reveals how much money can buy and what it can eventually do to you (see for instance Qaddafi and his "sad" departure from this world). 

Anyway, the point is, you should read the article, draw your own conclusion, decide what to believe in and finally visit Azerbaijan this May. We live in a funny world, you just have to be careful who you trust, how you trust and whats behind that. After all Ronald Reagan did say once "trust, but verify"...