In this day and age, its not the skills of a politician, or his/her ability to make sound decisions and guide country's foreign policies that matter. No, in the 21st century, its bronze statues and park renovations that matter the most. Or at least it matters for Azerbaijan and its leadership.
I am sure you all remember the scandal (an embarrassing diplomacy if you ask me) over a statue at a park in Mexico. Back then, there were a lot of nervous breakdowns, feet stomping and cranky messages. The threats went as far as to pulling out the diplomatic mission in the country (this would have been a first. Countries pull out their missions when there is a terrorist threat, or another serious political condition, but shutting down an embassy because a statue of a former leader was removed from a park?!)
But now that the "time-out" period passed there have been new developments. Azerbaijan's ambassador to Mexico Ilgar Mukhtarov informed its audience during a lecture that the January decision to clear the statue (mind you, the map behind the statue remained as well as the name of that section of the park) cost Mexican government around $3.8billion worth in investments.
At least the threats got "bumped up in values" but given that Mexico is approximately one hundred million times bigger than Azerbaijan (its population is estimated to be 118,395,054 in 2013) Azerbaijan's "investment" might not even budge the country that much.
Long story short, its interesting to see that the story resurfaced and that its clear that Azerbaijani government simply cannot accept that some governments wont pick up its bait no matter how big $$$ it is.
