With the Elections next week in Azerbaijan, will they go the same way as their neighbours? Will there be a revolution?

Will the Americans let it happen? or is the poil and gas resource too important?

I personally like this...

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?Category=24&ID=248059&r=0Aliyev said he expected a portion of the opposition, what he called a ``small group of hostile, violent opposition activists,'' to stage postelection protests alleging fraud.

Opposition activists and police have clashed repeatedly in recent weeks over attempts by opposition parties to hold rallies in central Baku not authorized by the government. The opposition rejected the government's offer of alternative sites outside the city center. Some Western governments and human rights organizations have criticized the alleged use of excessive force by police in breaking up the unsanctioned demonstrations.

Aliyev, speaking English throughout the interview, defended the conduct of police and the decision not to grant the opposition use of downtown squares for rallies. He charged that the opposition had failed to attract as many supporters as it hoped to rallies, and so they switched tactics to seek confrontation.

``It is a deliberate attempt of the opposition to create violence, to be beaten by police, and then to demonstrate that there's no democracy in Azerbaijan,'' he said. ``Their goal became to be shown by various TV channels and to find their names in the world press, and to try to present Azerbaijan as a country where freedom of assembly is not provided.''

well, I liked it.

Will you be out by election time?

cv

They've just covered it on BBC news

Quite graphic coverage of an elderly man - (President?) clutching his chest and presumably dropping dead while giving a speech.

It looked like Thomas Merton.

Nah, he's being facetious over in the Morality thread, so it must have been somebody else.

Do you have any doppelgängers, Thomas?

Nah, he's being facetious over in the Morality thread, so it must have been somebody else.

Do you have any doppelgängers, Thomas?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Look, I've just spent the last three months cultivating the distraught Rabbi look, in the hope I can have one last chance at Madonna before she gets too ugly.

It seems to be working. Almost every young girl I pass in the street gives me a smile.

My wife says it's because I look like Santa Claus. But what does she know?

Will you be out by election time?

cv

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Week after mate.

I will make sure I take some photos if anyhing interesting happens.

Nah, he's being facetious over in the Morality thread, so it must have been somebody else.

Do you have any doppelgängers, Thomas?

Look, I've just spent the last three months cultivating the distraught Rabbi look, in the hope I can have one last chance at Madonna before she gets too ugly.

It seems to be working. Almost every young girl I pass in the street gives me a smile.

My wife says it's because I look like Santa Claus. But what does she know?

I don't care what they say about you TM, I find some of your wank very amusing.

As many as 50,000 protested in Baku today for democracy

A demonstrator wears an orange scarf with the name of youth opposition movement 'New Thought' and carries a sign calling out to President Bush at a protest rally over disputed elections in Baku, Azerbaijan, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005. Thousands of people gathered in a Baku square Saturday as Azerbaijan's opposition parties protested against disputed parliamentary elections, the latest rally in a campaign that has made little headway. (AP Photo/Saleh Abdullayev)

Protesters in Azerbaijan again cried out to the US and George Bush with their hopes for democracy as they did in earlier protests this year

Do they really want the evil Bushitlermchimpy to speak out for them?