A watchful eye on world's next Saudi Arabia, Kuwait

Nov. 4, 2005
HoustonChronicle.com
By JACKSON DIEHL

In the past two weeks the Bush administration has launched a concerted attempt to translate its pro-democracy rhetoric into action in two little-known Eurasian countries whose importance is about to soar. [...].

The test comes in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, two former republics of the Soviet Union that hold all of the early 21st century's big cards: huge unexploited oil riches;[...], both are about to become very, very rich. In a few years their names will be as familiar to Western energy consumers as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Both are also ruled by autocrats who would like to follow the Persian Gulf states' example and forge a strategic partnership with the United States. And both of those strongmen have scheduled elections: Azerbaijan for parliament on Sunday and Kazakhstan for president on Dec. 4. [...].

[...]. Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan got a letter from the president and a visit from a senior State Department official last month. Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan was visited by Condoleezza Rice. The messages to them were almost exactly the same: Hold a free and fair election, and you can "elevate our countries' relations to a new strategic level." [...]closer military ties, help in solving problems (such as an unresolved war between Azerbaijan and Armenia), and status as primary U.S. partners in the Caucasus and Central Asia. [...].

[...].The Bush administration has told the two presidents that the arbiter of whether their elections are fair will be the observer missions of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. And the OSCE reps in both countries have warned that the governments are failing the test.
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Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.