Baku!

Obama on his way to scapegoat; for the fall of the American empire!

Obama to Azeri Dictator: Set Our Big Macs Free

By Ken Silverstein

A reader recently called to my attention to a 2005 Chicago Tribune story detailing a trip to Eastern Europe that Obama took early in his Senate career. At the time, Obama was seeking to establish his foreign policy gravitas and hence joined then-Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Richard Lugar of Indiana on a trip to inspect weapons sites across the former Soviet Union. “I very much feel like the novice and pupil,” Obama was quoted as saying of his relationship with Lugar (a man who gets uniformly positive press, though he easily makes the list of Top Five Overrated Members of Congress).

One of the stops on the trip included Azerbaijan, where Obama and Lugar met with President Ilham Aliyev. The latter had inherited power from his father two years earlier, won a rigged election, and then crushed protests that erupted in response.

So what topics did Obama raise with Aliyev? Human rights? Political reform? His government’s flagrant corruption and theft of energy revenues? Well, actually the topics he called to Aliyev’s attention were “slightly more parochial,” the Tribune reported:

Why is McDonald’s having difficulty opening restaurants in Baku [the Azeri capital]? And why is Boeing shut out of selling planes to the state-owned airline? “They are two Illinois companies who want to do business and expand,” Obama explained, “but they are having roadblocks.” He didn’t walk away with a concrete answer. He could, however, report back to constituents that he voiced concern at the highest levels of government.

Well, I guess this isn’t as bad as Hillary Clinton threatening to “totally obliterate” Iran, but it’s not exactly inspired foreign policy either. What’s perhaps more troubling is that Obama still seems to look to Lugar, who’s always been overwhelmingly sympathetic towards the Azeri and other crummy Central Asian regimes, as a sort of foreign policy guru.

An update of this story, read here.

McDonald’s: Baku Hot Spot

By Ken Silverstein

A few weeks back I posted an item about a 2005 Senate trip Barack Obama made to Azerbaijan during which he lobbied dictator Ilham Aliyev on behalf of McDonald’s and complained about obstacles faced by the company in opening restaurants in Baku, the Azeri capital. A Westerner residing in Baku subsequently sent me the following note:

Obama should be happy to know that McDonald’s is now thriving in Baku, with four locations, including one in the swanky, central Fountain Square. Every day Baku’s growing elite, clad in the most ostentatious plastic outfits that money can buy, parade in and out while techno music is pumped through the speakers, giving the place more the feel of a nightclub than a fast-food joint. Speaking of Obama, Azerbaijanis are generally suspicious of him because of his connections to the Armenian lobby and his public support for the recognition of the genocide. And speaking of Armenia, I’ve been told by a number of proud Azerbaijanis that there are no McDonald’s restaurants in Armenia. Obviously the future belongs to Azerbaijan!

I also received another letter of complaint, with the writer saying,

I was disappointed in your unfounded attack on Obama today. In your post “Obama to Azeri Dictator: Set Our Big Macs Free,” you suggested that Obama’s visit to Azerbaijan and subsequent meeting with President Aliyev was limited to questions about McDonald’s and Boeing. In fact, a few minutes on Google reveal that more issues than that were raised.

The writer included articles that showed Obama had discussed topics with Aliyev ranging from biological weapons to elections (and, of course, “the exploitation of energy resources.”) He also met, according to the articles, with other Azerbaijani officials and opposition leaders.

Which is a fair point and gives a fuller account of Obama’s agenda during the trip. On the other hand, Obama as far as I can tell made few public comments in Azerbaijan that were critical of the government. And it’s discouraging that he used his personal time with the dictator to lobby for McDonald’s and Boeing.