Much was made by the media of Bush's inauguration speech after he stole the election for the second time. The journalists took his words about ending tyranny across the globe seriously rather than simply laughing. No one who knew anything about US imperialism or the Bush Junta would take his comments remotely seriously. Unsurprisingly, we were proven right when the White House quietly admitted that there would be no change in policy a few days later.
To gain an insight into the gulf between rhetoric and reality, we need only quote Bush describing Azerbaijan at the start of May. According to the White House website, Bush thinks that Azerbaijan is a "modern Muslim country that is able to provide for its citizens, that understands that democracy is the wave of the future." If he bothered to ask, say Amnesty or Human Rights Watch, he would know known that the regime engages in the imprisonment and torture of opponents and is riddled with corruption.
No honest person would call this regime a "democracy" or even tending towards it, particularly if they have read Bush's own State Department's most recent report on the country. This listed numerous violations of human rights including such democratic principles as a restricted right of citizens to peacefully change their government, the torture and beating of persons in custody, arbitrary arrest and detention (particularly of political opponents), excessive use of force to disperse demonstrations, limited workers' rights, police impunity, periodic interference with media freedom as well as violence and sexual discrimination against women
Somewhat ironically, Bush said of Aliyev (Azernaijan's ruler) that "We share the same values." Aliyev's government circumvents international law, manipulates elections, reduces media freedom and only came to power in an election marked by so many irregularities than even Bush's own State Department considered it rigged. Just like Bush's America! Perhaps this is what he means when he talks about Azerbaijan becoming "a modern, secular, democratic country"?
So why is Bush saying such nice things about the regime? Simply because Azerbaijan has oil, lots of it. In addition, it has a large pipeline, a U.S.-backed pipeline which realises several crucial goals for the White House (such as reducing dependence on the Middle East supplies and Russian pipelines). As usual, the US is cuddling to a dictator in order to secure its imperial aims. Equally unsurprisingly, Azerbaijan's ruler is simply the latest in a long line of dictator's Bush has welcomed with open arms.