By ALAKBAR RAUFOGLU
Lobbying is extremely effective on any democratic governance, including in the U.S. politics. Though politicians are prohibited from accepting money directly from foreign governments, it is believed that indirect funding may occur through domestic lobbyists hired by foreign actors. What this means is, regardless of what happens in dictatorships from Central Asia to the Middle East, where the regimes deny basic rights to their citizenry, if they dump enough money into the U.S. political system, they will get positive images. I’ve prepared a short video film focusing on Azerbaijani government’s efforts of buying influence in the U.S. The amount Azeri government is offering to D.C. lobbyists is reportedly going up and up – despite growing dips in the coffers, according to reporters and researchers in the U.S. capital who closely follow the topic.