Bush courts Azerbaijani president as part of build-up against Iran

[k-robjoe]

"Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev is to meet President George W. Bush on April 28 in Washington. The surprise invitation extended to Aliyev is wholly due to Azerbaijan’s geographical proximity to Iran, Washington’s next likely military target.

Aliyev presides over one of the most corrupt economies in the world. An ongoing fraud trial in New York has provided evidence of enormous bribes and shakedowns at SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state oil company, in the late 1990s. Aliyev was the vice president of SOCAR at the time of these alleged scandals."

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/apr2006/azer-a27_prn.shtml

[fshrink]

1. Need 3 for a "coalition".

[oblivious]

2. What a classy coalition this will be!