A stolen election and oil stability

[Wwagsthedog]

Peter Bouckaert IHT

Azerbaijan ensured that the current government would maintain its control over the country's significant oil reserves. In the former Soviet bloc's first dynastic succession, Ilham Aliyev, son of the ailing Communist-era holdover Heydar Aliyev, has now become president.
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Many in Western policy circles viewed this transition as critical to the stability of billions of dollars of investments in the country's energy sector. The violent events of the past few days should make them think otherwise.
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International and domestic monitors reported widespread irregularities in the Oct. 15 election. I saw it myself at a polling station where the election chief kicked out local observers and made off with the votes, claiming she had to take a nap.
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The government clearly stole the election, and then brutally beat hundreds of people who poured out in the streets in protest. The day after the election, I watched from the roof of a hotel in Baku as thousands of riot police beat protesters unconscious. Afterward the riot police raised their shields to the sky and turned their batons into drumsticks, celebrating the victory of intimidation.
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Now hundreds have been arrested, while Isa Gambar, the opposition leader, is effectively under house arrest and activists from his Musavat party are being beaten and detained all over the country. Everyone I speak to is scared.

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