President
Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan does a masterful political Jekyll and Hyde. A
cable from the American ambassador to Baku released on WikiLeaks
described him as a Michael Corleone-Sonny Corleone figure — referring,
respectively, to the coolly calculating and the impetuously violent
brothers of the “Godfather” mafia family. Mr. Aliyev is “pro-Western” in
many of the ways the West admires: He is suave, well dressed and well
spoken in English; he is ready to send his country’s ample supplies of
oil and gas to Europe and to Israel; his Islam is moderate and modern;
and he hosts lavish international events like the Eurovision Song
Contest in 2012 and the European Games to be held next June.
He is also hugely corrupt, and his authoritarian regime has one of the world’s worst records on human rights.
