Azerbaijan belongs to that strange region where the sort-of West meets the sort-of East and is another Balkan-style tinderbox with ethnic time bombs that tend to explode. Azerbaijan has lots of oil, too, so it matters to the rest of the world far more than its near absence in the media might suggest. It’s simultaneously being pulled toward Russia, the West, and the Islamic world. No one knows where it will end up, but Russia’s invasion of Georgia next door likely will be a big factor.