Freedom is on the march...or...It's the oil, stupid

But this strategic success story depends largely on where the pipeline begins, in this former Soviet republic of 8 million perched on the geopolitical razor's edge between Russia and Iran.

For years, the U.S. and major Western oil interests quietly supported Heydar A. Aliyev, the ex-Soviet-era communist boss who seized power two years after Azerbaijan's 1991 independence declaration. He handed down power to his son, 43-year-old Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded him as president in a widely criticized election held after his death in 2003.

The younger Aliyev has been a staunch supporter of the West's oil ambitions in Azerbaijan and its military campaigns on its borders. At the same time, he has clamped down on the independent media, allowed the arrest and torture of political opponents and had public protests violently quelled.

Opposition leaders complain that the U.S., which has made forceful statements in recent months for democratic transition in the former Soviet republic of Belarus, has not done so on Azerbaijan because of pipeline politics.

"Western countries fear that if they change the power in Azerbaijan, they will forfeit stability and risk losing their economic interests here," said Rauf Mirkadyrov, editor-in-chief of the independent Zerkalo newspaper.