Do As I Say, Please

Marking his first official visit to Washington D.C., on Wednesday, the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, an ally who has sent soldiers to assist the U.S. in Iraq, is warning the White House in blunt terms that escalating rhetoric with Iran will lead to “hurtful consequences” for the Caspian Sea region, an increasingly important oil source for Europe and other Western markets.

Rather tough talk from a guy in charge of a place with only 8 million people and a military that has yet to overcome its painful loss in battle to tiny Armenia. Here’s why Aliyev can get away with it: The twin pressures of $72 per barrel oil prices and Iran’s unabashed nuclear ambitions make him a key player in high-stakes energy and security policy issues.

Aliyev’s comments during his maiden voyage inside the Beltway as a head of state also underscore an uncomfortable truth within U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. faces an uphill battle in rallying support against Iran’s nuclear plans so long as Azerbaijan and other often-ignored countries nearby currently developing their natural resources–and in the process adding to the coffers of U.S. oil firms–transform into proverbial Slurpee cups quenching America’s insatiable thirst for oil.

Azerbaijan’s world-record 25% gross domestic product growth last year will be matched again this year, predict government officials and World Bank economists (this rate of growth is a multiple of the performance of even such notables as China and Dubai). Bordering Russia to the north and Iran to the south and with an energy sector developed by American and European companies, Aliyev jokes that his country is a model of “energy internationalism.”

Forbes