Right after the Georgia-Russia conflict over Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Dick Cheney did a Caucus Tour to assure them that the United States had their best interest in mind. Of course, in Azerbaijan, Cheney met with BP and Haliburton execs after he met with the president. To me, that message read “we’ve kind of got your back as long as the oil and gas keep flowing.”
Now, it appears David Plouffe, the Obama campaign strategist is coming to Azerbaijan:
His trip to Azerbaijan is scheduled to include a speech today at Gerb University in the capital of Baku, followed by a meeting with President Ilham Aliyev and the speaker of the parliament, Oktay Asadov, according to Radio Free Europe, which first reported on the trip.
“Plouffe is coming as a private citizen,” Terry Davidson, a spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan, told Radio Free Europe. “The embassy is not in charge of his schedule.”
Still, it’s interesting that someone who probably has access to Obama’s blackberry coming to Azerbaijan. It’ll be interesting to see if America’s foreign policy shifts toward Azerbaijan.
