# Azerbaijan is completely screwed up, and nobody in the U.S. administration cares **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 13, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006 "2003-08-13T20:34:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/21 "2003-08-14T17:33:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by smiling bandit \* > \*\*Why not? At least this guy isn’t a psycho. Its not like anyone will actually gain anything from us snubbing the pres of Ajerbaijan, either us or the Ajerbaijanis. Keep him on our good side, and maybe we can both win. That land is not going to see a fully-functioning democracy in our lifetime, most likely, so the best strategy is to smile, nod, and wait. \*\* So if i rape your wife but don’t kill her and wear her skin as a coat, you should write me a letter of thanks, because at least i’m not a psycho. Good to know. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/22 "2003-08-14T17:43:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eva Luna \* > \*\*… Azerbaijan… \*\* Gesundheit! ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/23 "2003-08-14T17:51:52Z")
> [@](#): > > So if i rape your wife but don’t kill her and wear her skin as a coat, you should write me a letter of thanks, because at least i’m not a psycho. Good to know. I’d say a more accurate comparions would be to be nice to the eccentric folks down the block who aren’t hurting anyone. Ajerbaijan, to my knowledge, doesn’t have an insane Arab trying to institute super-evil-death-Sharia or reincarnating himself as Stalin. ---
**Author:** ![Clint\_in\_Wichita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Clint\_in\_Wichita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clint_in_Wichita)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/24 "2003-08-14T18:03:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Azerbaijan is completely screwed up, and nobody in the U.S. administration cares Of course not. It’s Azerbaijan for Christ’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/25 "2003-08-14T18:08:57Z")
Why does he have to be an Arab for us to worry about? As America, the “Beacon of Democracy” in the world, we should be opposed to this crap as it begins, before Aliyev or his son become corrupted mass killers. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/26 "2003-08-14T18:41:44Z")
Chechens aren’t Arabs either, and look what a Godawful mess Chechnya is (or should I say “Allah-awful”?) Not that there is a huge fundamentalist wacko movement in Azerbaijan as far as I know, but I believe in preventive common sense and morality. Lots of places wouldn’t be as screwed up as they are today if the U.S. had supported common sense and morality there. Aliyev ain’t Stalin, but he ain’t Prince Charming, either. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/27 "2003-08-14T18:48:36Z")
P.S. Just think how different Iran might be if the U.S. had given a damn about them between WWII and the hostage crisis…other than as a source of cheap petroleum. And then think how differently the Iran-Iraq situation might have been, and on down the line. And then remember that Iran is literally next door to Azerbaijan, and that roughly 25% of Iranians are ethnic Azeris. The history of Iran and Azerbaijan has gone differently in the past 200 years or so because of Russian conquest of the Caucasus, but believe me, I can certainly see the pendulum swinging the other way. (3000 posts! Woohoo!) ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/28 "2003-08-14T19:15:40Z")
First of all, congrats on the 3000th! That’s great! And I might say that we DID give a damn–but we worked with all those countries on one overriding principle–that they not go Commie, that they stayed on our side as much as possible against the Soviets, and that those who had become part of the USSR not spread the “revolution”. In fact, wasn’t Azerbaijan behind the Iron Curtain, which we spent untold billions and lots of lives to lift all over the world? Isn’t that “doing something”? That said, it does set my teeth on edge to see us “coddling dictators” but we don’t want any of these guys going Kim Il-sung on us. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/29 "2003-08-14T19:22:49Z")
Like that strategy worked for Saddam Hussein… ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/30 "2003-08-14T19:57:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mehitabel \* > [And I might say that we DID give a damn–but we worked with all those countries on one overriding principle–that they not go Commie, that they stayed on our side as much as possible against the Soviets, and that those who had become part of the USSR not spread the “revolution”. > > In fact, wasn’t Azerbaijan behind the Iron Curtain, which we spent untold billions and lots of lives to lift all over the world? Isn’t that “doing something”? Lifting the “Iron Curtain” (which is a large exaggeration IMO) and keeping nations from “going Commie” is pretty useless if they continue to function as totalitarian dictatorships in most respects. Azerbaijan never wanted to be part of the Russian Empire to begin with, much less the Soviet Union. But now that they’ve been independent for 12 years, we’ve done squat to help them and/or push them toward democratic ways, unless you count promoting capitalist development by cutting huge oil consortium deals. ---
**Author:** ![threeorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@threeorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threeorange)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/31 "2003-08-15T17:39:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Lifting the “Iron Curtain” (which is a large exaggeration IMO) and keeping nations from “going Commie” is pretty useless if they continue to function as totalitarian dictatorships in most respects. Actually, it has always seemed to me that the primary goal of lifting the Iron Curtain (and historically most of the rest of U.S. foreign policy for the last 100 years or so) was not the human rights situations in other nations, but rather the opening up of markets to Western businesses. It didn’t really matter whether the regimes were democratic or dictatorial, as long as there was money to be made, and there seems to have been little difference between Democratic and Republican administrations in regard to this policy. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/32 "2003-08-15T20:31:23Z")
I think you could drop the word “administration” from the title of the Op, and it would still be basicly correct. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/33 "2003-08-15T22:29:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by december \* > **Should we invade and install a better government?** Well, why not? It’s our policy now, isn’t it? To invade foreign countries to relieve the hapless population from their cruel, despotic, murderous leaders? “I have a little list” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/34 "2003-08-15T23:09:24Z")
Can we invade ourselves? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006/35 "2003-08-15T23:17:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrDeth \* > \*\*Can we invade ourselves? 😃 \*\* Yes, in Nov. 2004! Viva El Dean! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/azerbaijan-is-completely-screwed-up-and-nobody-in-the-u-s-administration-cares/195006.md?page=1)