I have seen many shameless liars throughout my life.
Those who call white – black, and black – white and make a living off doing so are never wanting in our society.
I’m not only talking about unscrupulous judges that make decisions handed down to
them
from up top;
or judges that are unashamed of rejecting all motions of the defense without showing any basis for their decision;
or judges that interrupt the accused and their attorneys just before they are able to expose the falsehood of statements of so-called “witnesses” against them, and that the testimony against them has been written word-for-word by equally reputable “investigators” in the case.
These judges and others like them are selected for their lack of shame, because that is a major criteria when being appointed to major positions in Azerbaijan’s judiciary.
The second condition is that the individual in question have a shady background, so that he may be controlled by his puppeteers.
***
The oil and gas industry is a very lucrative field. After drugs, arms trafficking, pharmaceuticals, prostitution and gambling, that is.
Unfortunately, due our bad luck, our supposedly ‘national’ company working in this field, SOCAR, has been running closer and closer to bankruptcy. They have been continuously raising prices in order to save themselves.
At the end of 2016, under the pretext that “premium” gasoline comes from Romania, its price was raised by 10 percent. Last week, the price for the same gas rose by 10 cents again.
It is clear as day that these ten cents won’t be able to save the hydrocarbon experts serving the nation day in and night out from severe economic crisis: the petrol price will be increased again.
However, this miserable situation does not prevent our pseudo-leaders from lying to the naive nation about the ‘wide-reaching merits’ of recently implemented economic policies.
And what’s more, they do it with a holy and sacrosanct expression on their faces.
Why?
Because they are not ashamed.
***
The older, more literate generation of our country remember the tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes:
The Emperor allows himself to walk around naked, and his servants praise the unbelievable beauty of his dress.
And then, a boy sees the king and accidentally screams out, “but the king is naked!”.
Now, we have the same dynamic repeating itself in our country. The propaganda machine of the government has been praising the successful policy of diplomacy in regards to Karabakh.
And journalist Anar Huseynov, naively believing this success story, asked the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, “what will be Russia’s reaction in the case of Azerbaijani military action in Karabakh?”
To which Lavrov responded, “Karabakh is not the internal concern of Azerbaijan alone”.
And all of a sudden, everyone saw Azerbaijan’s Karabakh policy wandering about, naked.
It turned out that the eternal and unshakable tale on sovereignty was a very unstable bath-bubble. And what did the government do? Did they put garments back on the Karabakh policy? No – they just fired the guy who shouted, “the king is naked!”
And not a single voice was heard from organizations that are meant to protect Azerbaijani journalists in the country.
Everyone was busy earning their daily bread.
Why?
Because no one is ashamed of anything.
***
No one is ashamed of harassing the last two beacons of democratic hopes and beliefs in the country.
The regional branches of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (APFP) and Musavat
(Az. Equality)
were evicted from Sheki on the excuse that the premises had been sold to some private citizen in some auction.
To add salt to the wound, a disgraceful “picket” performance was set up outside the headquarters of Musavat Party a few days later. I’m just an ordinary citizen, but I think the message from the government is clear:
- O, People! Know and be aware that it only these two, half-dead organizations that are considered the opposition of his Majesty’s Government. Know this, and know that if you want to do something against Us, then gather around them. We are professionally skilled in crushing them and their supporters – and these skills will not remain unused in the future.
- There are several foundations that have been laid by the Great Leader whose sole purpose is to crush the opposition by all means possible. These foundations have worked so efficiently in the last 20 years that there is little to no opposition left. It logically follows that, because of decreasing oil revenue, maybe the time has come for us to dispose of these foundations, and throw their employees out onto the street. The workers of these organizations have families – they feed their families. If their organizations are closed down, where can they again find such easy and profitable work? To prove that the opposition is not yet dead, they must show up and prove that they can still be useful to the government.
Observing these humiliating spectacles, I can’t help but remember a joke I heard when I was serving in the army:
“A young man, who successfully passed all his entrance exams for the Higher Political-Military Academy named after V. I. Lenin was being interviewed. He answered all the questions correctly.
At the end of the interview, they get him ready for his oath, and tell him: now the final test. Put your right hand straight over your heart. Did it? Great.
And now try and lick the tips of all your fingers of your right hand with the tip of your tongue”.
Some successfully passed this test during the Soviet period.
But how did the Soviets end up?
***
Ed. This article reflects the opinions of the author and as such may not reflect those of Meydan TV.
