Robert Coalson
Earlier this month, "The New York
Times" published documents demonstrating Azerbaijan's efforts to expand
its relationship with think tanks in the United States to bolster U.S.
public opinion of the country and make it clear that Baku "is an
important security partner."
"It is a campaign that produced real results," the September 6 report stated.
Three days later, the very same newspaper published an op-ed about Azerbaijani-Armenian tensions without disclosing the author's ties to the government in Baku.
The op-ed argued that Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region might become "Russia's Next Land Grab," as the piece's headline warned, after the Kremlin's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea territory in March.
The September 9 piece was penned by Brenda Shaffer, a political-science professor at Israel's University of Haifa who is currently a visiting researcher at the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies (CEREES) at Georgetown University. (*)
What the author's tagline did not reveal is that Shaffer has worked as an adviser "for strategic affairs" to Rovnag Abdullayev, president of Azerbaijan's state-owned SOCAR energy giant.
"It is a campaign that produced real results," the September 6 report stated.
Three days later, the very same newspaper published an op-ed about Azerbaijani-Armenian tensions without disclosing the author's ties to the government in Baku.
The op-ed argued that Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region might become "Russia's Next Land Grab," as the piece's headline warned, after the Kremlin's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea territory in March.
The September 9 piece was penned by Brenda Shaffer, a political-science professor at Israel's University of Haifa who is currently a visiting researcher at the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies (CEREES) at Georgetown University. (*)
What the author's tagline did not reveal is that Shaffer has worked as an adviser "for strategic affairs" to Rovnag Abdullayev, president of Azerbaijan's state-owned SOCAR energy giant.
