Azerbaijan, Baku, May 3 / Trend E.Tariverdiyeva /
Today, Azerbaijan's role in global affairs remains important, Azerbaijani Consul General to Los Angeles Elin Suleymanov said in a lecture at Montana State University's, Bozeman Daily newspaper reported.
"A story goes that Hitler was given a birthday cake during World War II with a map drawn on it. When asked which part of the cake he wanted, he pointed to Azerbaijan," Suleymanov said.
Suleymanov said United States policy in recent years has weakened America's standing in Central Asia. "President Obama gives an eloquent speech, but then there is nothing," Suleymanov told the group of students, professors and community members.
Conversely, Russian leaders are "doers, not talkers. In fact they are not very good at talking, but they do what they think they need to get done," he said.
Suleymanov was in Bozeman in part to meet with students studying issues facing nations in the Black Sea and Central Asian regions.
Suleymanov complained about the U.S. policy in the region, in which a 20-year conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia that occupied the 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory still not resolved.
In a brief interview after his talk, Suleymanov said that while the Clinton administration had a "comprehensive" view of the region, the Bush and Obama administrations have based their foreign policy on symbolism.
Suleymanov believes the Bush administration was fixated on democratic revolutions in the region, like the Rose Revolution in Georgia.
Now, he said, the Obama administration is focused on easing tension between Turkey and Armenia"at all costs."
"With Clinton, we knew the U.S. would be (in the region) for the long term," Suleymanov said. "If the U.S. policy in the region is not seen as long term, consequently the U.S. profile goes down and the U.S. ability to get things done decreases."
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