A few days ago, an ad hominem attack on the US appeared in the pages (or on the web site) of “Azerbaijan,” the official journal of Azerbaijan’s parliament, the Milli Majlis. The article delved into real and imagined hypocritical facets of US foreign policy since the end of the Second World War, and despite its hysterical tone, it did touch upon some of the less palatable episodes of America’s Cold War period and beyond. For instance, the author (whoever he is – see below) managed to squeeze into some 4200 words the overthrow of Guatemala’s Jacabo Arbenz, US support for Shah Reza Pahlavi (and the overthrow of the Mossadeq government), abuses at Abu Ghraib, etc, etc.
OK, that’s fair game, and is something we would talk about in the US foreign policy courses I teach, for instance.
But the article doesn’t stop there. No. In his examination of the sins of the US (and I’ve got to conclude that was the point of the article because the main premise eludes me), the author also looks at corruption amongst US politicians – also fair game.
And he blasts ACORN for its abuses. (Why is there no mention of Deibold? I’ll have to ask the author when I talk to him.)
Where the author goes off the rails is his brief look at alleged (and actual) sexual misconduct on the part of a long list of American politicians, from Mark Foley to Chuck Robb to Gary Condit to Barney Frank. For the author, cheating on your wife or merely being a homosexual is just as heinous as statutory rape or molestation. Homosexuality is, for the Azerbaijani government’s supporters, a supercharged topic and a favorite means of attacking people they don’t like, such as opposition figure Ali Keremli.
As the article puts it:
“Hypocrisy and immoral behavior of the U.S. relative to other countries echoes the behavior of the representatives of its political elite. Venerable, gray-haired old men, with an intelligent view of the planet professing the principles of morality and righteous life, often become the personification of evil and have an insatiable human nature.
“Official permission to bring representatives of different sexual orientations to serve in the U.S. military contingent in Iraq and Afghanistan is a manifestation of this historical blemish…”
The author of the piece is (supposedly) one Bakhtiyar Sadikhov, the editor of “Azerbaijan” and Member of Parliament. But actually, I’m skeptical. Sadikhov takes credit for the article, but its breadth and scope—examining US foreign policy misbehavior since at least 1945 as well as a litany of societal ills—suggests that perhaps someone with more time on his hands (and more resources at his disposal) might have written it.
I’m trying to arrange an interview with Sadikhov, and if I get it, will post a follow-up.
Why was the article written? Was it cleared at the highest level of the Azerbaijani government, or was it a spontaneous gesture by Sadikhov? If it’s the former, then surely the piece is intended as a signal to the US. But as a signal, it’s incredibly clumsy and ham-fisted.
The original was written in Russian, and could be found here, but as of press time, it was gone or at least buried somewhere else on the site.
Original article in pdf format is here.
