Azerbaijan is that country you didn’t even know it existed until you watched ‘The World
is not enough’.
Nonetheless, this country has a lot to offer.
Yes, we are talking again about natural gas.
But believe me, there is way more going on here…
Vito Corleone used to say ‘family is an important matter’ and they know this quite
well in Azerbaijan.
In fact, the ALIYEV family means everything in this country.
They control the politics and the economics with an iron fist.
Nonetheless, when it comes to negotiating, they aren’t so much into horse heads in
beds but rather… caviar!
Yes, you heard that right!
The Aliyev family can be corrupt and repressive with their own citizens.
But they know how to treat foreigners like rockstars.
5 stars hotels, caviar and all kinds of luxuries.
Although, if you’re an EU official watching this video, and you’re planning to pay a
visit to the Aliyev family… watch your step because, despite its looks, Baku, Azerbaijan’s
capital, is not like Las Vegas.
What happens here will stay… on a videotape, forever.
Anyway, doting on foreigners so much, Azerbaijan has managed to become a member of the Council
of Europe, to participate on the Eurovision song contest and to even play soccer in the
European cup.
All of this despite the fact that they share a border with Iran.
Yes, Azerbaijan is far from Europe.
But they are Europe’s best friend.
And now you might wonder… why is this country so attractive?
Well… it’s not just the caviar.
In fact, the Caspian sea has many other interesting things.
They have enormous oil reserves and… also enormous gas reserves.
And do you remember who needs to diversity their gas suppliers badly?
Of course, that would be European Union.
If you’ve watched the previous videos on this series about Russian gas, you know Europe
relies heavily on Russia.
This is why, corrupted and authoritarian as they are in Azerbaijan, Brussels needs to
do business with them.
So now I know what you’re thinking!
Of course Putin will not be happy with this, right?
At the end of the day, Russia wants Europe to depend on their gas.
So anytime they look for other providers, that’s bad news for the Kremlin, right?
Well… in fact, the opposite is true.
As we said, the Aliyev family has turned diplomacy into an art form.
And they know how to befriend everyone: including Putin.
So the question now becomes…
Why is BAKU so important to MOSKOW?
How can Azerbaijan be Europe and Putin’s friend at the same time?
And… what does Ukraine have to do with all of this?
Today we are going to answer all of these questions but, before we do, let’s take
a look back at the history.
CAVIAR DIPLOMACY May 2014.
The Uruguayan soccer player, DIEGO GODIN scores the goal that allows the ATLETICO DE MADRID
team to win the European soccer league.
OK, if you’re American, this doesn’t mean anything to you.
But outside of America, soccer is a big deal.
So millions of viewers from all over the world watch a soccer player on their TV screens
with a T-shirt that reads “AZERBAIJAN, LAND OF FIRE”.
This was the case between the years 2012 to 2015.
So now you might wonder… why did Azerbaijan spend 24 million euros to sponsor a soccer
team in Spain?
Were they trying to promote tourism?
Have you ever heard anyone say, ‘oh yeah, I’m going to Azerbaijan this holiday season?’
Me neither!
No, the answer has nothing to do with tourism.
As you know, in 2009, Europeans spent several days without gas because of those gas wars
between Russia and Ukraine.
That was the moment when the European Union started looking for alternative gas suppliers.
At the same time, Azerbaijan was enjoying a gas boom!
In 2006, the SHAH DENIZ gas field began production.
And this was a big gas field.
So big that it could help Europe reduce their Russian dependency by 10%.
In other words: Europe was desperately looking for suppliers and Azerbaijan was desperately
looking for buyers.
Love was in the air.
But, as you know, love needs a spark.
A little passion.
And this is where the so called caviar diplomacy comes in.
You see, nobody likes to do business with a dictatorship.
But in Baku, they have money to buy just about anything.
No one’s willing to sponsor the European Games because they’re just like the Olympics
but smaller and they make no financial sense?
No problem!
Azerbaijan pays with their oil Money!
Valencia, a Spanish city, can no longer host the Formula ONE?
No problem!
Azerbaijan pays with their oil Money!
Do we need sponsors for the European World cup?
No problem!
Azerbaijan pays with their oil Money!
No matter if we’re talking about the brand ‘AZERBAIJAN LAND OF FIRE’ or ‘SOCAR’,
which is Azerbaijan’s oil company: the Aliyev’s family money is everywhere.
And this explains news like this.
Euro 2020: get ready for games from Bilbao to Baku and more minnows
Yes, you heard that right!
The next Euro cup will be played in 11 countries.
And that includes Azerbaijan, despite not being European and not having a strong soccer
tradition.
With these kinds of events, Azerbaijan had a great chance to improve their image and
buy political goodwill.
Thanks to this, nobody has any problem with building all the pipelines they want.
This is how we have the SOUTH CAUCASUS pipeline, which connects the Caspian sea with Turkey
and crosses Georgia.
This one has been in operation since 2006 and looks like this on a map.
Yes, yes, I know the pipe looks weird on the map, right?
It looks like they were drunk when designing it.
The reason why it’s not a straight line is because Azerbaijan doesn’t want to cross
Armenia.
The relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan is even worse than the relationship between
Russia and Ukraine.
This is why they’d rather cross Georgia.
And this is why Russia, who is more pro Armenian, is not a good friend of the Aliyev family.
But we’ll talk about that later.
After this pipeline came the TANAP, which goes all the way down to Greece.
The TANAP started operation this year, in 2018.
And the final project is the so called TAP, which is expected to go all the way to Italy.
Now the big question is… what does Putin think about this?
Well… in the beginning he was far from happy.
In fact, he tried to stop Azeri gas from arriving in Italy at any cost.
How did he do it?
By calling up his Italian friends!
Remember how Gerhard Schroeder is Putin’s man in Berlin?
Well, Putin’s man in Rome is this guy, Beppe Grillo, the leader of the Five Stars Movement,
a populist party.
The American Government Warns Italy: Beware of the Connections Between Russia and the
5 Stars Movement And this is why Beppe Grillo used to say things
like this.
“If they wanna make this pipe in PUGLIA, from any other place, we will bring the army
if necessary” Let’s pause it right here!
This declaration is from 2014.
But we make this video in 2018.
Four years is a long time.
So let’s fast forward and see what happened since then.
EVERYTHING REMAINS AT HOME Every dynasty has a godfather: this is the
story of HEYDAR ALIYEV.
He started his career as a KGB spy.
For 25 years he was the James Bond of Baku.
Then, in 1969, Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev named him the leader of the Soviet
Republic of Azerbaijan.
His political career soared until the 80s, when he had his problems with later General
Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev.
Then, in 1991, Azerbaijan gained independence.
In 2 years, HEYDAR ALIYEV had become the president with… pay attention, 98.8% of the vote.
Yes, this is the Azerbaijan style of democracy.
Nonetheless, Heydar was a man of compromise.
He used to be a good communist.
But he easily adapted to the capitalistic Framework.
In less than a year, he signed the so called, contract of the Century: British BP, the American
Exxon and Chevron, the Norwegian Statoil… all of them wanted to have their share of
Azerbaijan’s gas and oil.
And Aliyev was happy to give it to them in exchange for a juicy 80% of the profits.
In fact…
do you remember that James Bond movie called ‘The world is not enough’?
It opened with that scene where Pierce Brosnan is driving a car through oil rigs in this
country.
And, as a side tip for you, dear viewers, James Bond is a great geopolitical compass.
Any time they choose a location for shooting it’s because that country is very interested
in appearing in a movie.
And if they’re interested, it’s usually for a reason.
So going back to our movie…
Azerbaijan’s economy skyrocketed since then.
They had oil, they had gas and they had caviar.
The country grew and so did the corruption.
Everything remains in the family business.
And, as Vito Corleone used to say, ‘a man who doesn’t spend time with his family can
never be a real man’.
So, upon the death of the godfather, HEYDAR ALIYEV, in 2003, his son ILHAM inherited the
business.
This time, he won the elections with 75% of the vote.
Yes, you know, Azerbaijan’s style of democracy is very very funny.
If you don’t believe me, just look at this news…
Oops: Azerbaijan released election results before voting had even started
In fact, ILHAN ALIYEV doesn’t even waste time pretending not to be corrupt.
He changed the Constitution so he can run for elections as many times as he wants.
The Vice president of the country is his wife.
And he also changed the law that specified the required age to run for elections.
Before, you had to be older than 35 to run for President.
But his son is only 21 and… you never know!
And of course, anybody who speaks against the Aliyev family ends up in jail.
Meanwhile, they’re getting richer and richer every year.
Do you remember the Panama papers?
Well, one of the biggest clients of MOSSACK FONSECA’s company was the Aliyev.
So… what do you do when you have as much money as they do?
You use it to make friends!
Corruption inquiry at Council of Europe over Azerbaijan
But, OK, we still haven’t answered the big question.
How did they manage to befriend Putin?
OK, we’re going to tell you right now!
REALPOLITIK Michael Corleone used to say: keep your friends
close, but your enemies closer.
If you remember, Vladimir Putin has two goals on his agenda: one is to sell gas to Europe,
the other is to bypass Ukraine on the gas transit.
After the gas wars, the Nord Stream 1 and the Nord Stream 2 were built.
Those pipelines connect directly Russia and Germany through the Baltic sea.
But this isn’t enough.
If they want to isolate Ukraine forever, they need more pipes in the South.
And that’s harder than it looks.
Look at what happened when they tried the first time.
Bulgaria suspends South Stream gas pipeline project
Unlike Azerbaijan, Putin isn’t so brilliant when it comes to diplomacy.
The Crimea invasion cost him a lot of economic sanctions and made Europe stop that pipeline
the Kremlin wanted to build.
So Putin had to look for a better strategy.
And… with this in mind, the Azerbaijan pipe didn’t look that bad anymore.
You see, if Europe is investing in having a pipe in the South to get gas from Azerbaijan…
Russia can also send their gas through it.
And this is how the TURKSTREAM was born.
TURKSTREAM is another pipe that goes from Russia to Turkey.
But once it gets to Turkey… you can also connect it with the other pipe that goes to
Italy.
Just look at this map.
In other words, Russia’s play goes as follows.
They bring the gas to Turkey, from there it goes to Italy.
So that pipe that was originally designed to be for Azerbaijan’s gas, will carry Russian
gas too.
In other words, the Aliyev family is no longer a threat to Putin but an opportunity.
Things have changed in Russia.
And things have changed in Italy too.
Remember how the Five Stars Movement was completely against the TAP pipeline?
Well, now the Five Stars Movement is one of the ruling parties in Italy.
And… look what they say now!
Di Maio: “TAP is not strategic but it is shielded”
Meanwhile, there are two World leaders that have become really good friends.
This looks like the ending to a Hollywood movie.
The European Union is happy because now they can diversify their gas supply.
Azerbaijan is happy too, because now they’re going to become enormously rich.
Russia is happy as well because they can bypass Ukraine once and for all.
Yes, everybody is happy.
Well… everybody except Ukraine.
They most likely have a very dark future.
So now I have a question for you.
Do you think Europe will let Putin achieve his goals with Ukraine?
Do you think the Aliyev family will keep running the country as a family business?
What do you think will happen with Ukraine?
Please, leave your answer in the comment section below.
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episode that were not mine.
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