But none of this may ultimately matter if the West ­– and the United States, in particular – decides that Ilham’s regime is not ensuring its interests and seeks to manipulate the global media image accordingly. The West’s main interest is not Azerbaijan’s oil reserves, which accounted for just 0.06% of the world’s total in 2004, but its geopolitical position at the crossroads of global energy and transport corridors and as a frontline state vis-à-vis an increasingly assertive Iran.