Wow, Ilham Aliyev is pretty tall. Oh, and Dick Cheney visits Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine

Ilham Aliyev is the president of Azerbaijan, and he looks like this:

That picture doesn't do him justice though. Today (or maybe it's yesterday now) Dick Cheney was in Azerbaijan where he met with the president, and here's what they look like together:


The full-sized image above the article on Aftenposten.no shows the difference in size even better. I couldn't find Ilham Aliyev's exact size, but Google says Dick Cheney is this tall:

5' 8" (1.73 M)

He's not a giant, just taller than expected.

Anyway, here's what the article says:

Cheney lover støtte til Kaukasus

Cheney promises support to the Caucasus

USAs visepresident Dick Cheney lover at USA vil fortsette å engasjere seg for sikkerheten til landene i Kaukasus.

The vice president of the United States Dick Cheney promises that the USA will continue to engage in the security of the lands in the Caucasus.

Onsdag begynte Cheney på sin rundreise i Kaukasus med et besøk i Aserbajdsjans hovedstad Baku. Her møtte han Aserbajdsjans president Ilham Alijev. Cheney skal også besøke Georgia og Ukraina.

Cheney began on Wednesday with on his tour of the Caucasus with a visit in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Here he met with Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev. Cheney will also visit Georgia and Ukraine.

– Vi møtes i kveld i skyggen av den russiske invasjonen i Georgia som nylig fant sted, en handling som i klare ordelag er blitt fordømt av verdenssamfunnet, sa Cheney da han møtte Alijev.

– We meet tonight in the shadow of the Russian invasion in Georgia that recently took place, an action that has been clearly condemned by the world community, said Cheney when he met Aliyev.

– Jeg kommer med et klart og enkelt budskap fra president George W. Bush til det aserbajdsjanske folket og til hele regionen om at USA har en dyp og vedvarende interesse i deres velvære og sikkerhet, sa Cheney.

– I come with a clear and simple message from president George W. Bush to the Azerbaijani people and to the entire region, that the USA has a deep and sustained interest in their well-being and safety, said Cheney.

Under besøket i Baku tok Cheney seg også tid til å møte de lokale representantene til oljeselskapene BP og Chevron. USA har lenge ønsket nye oljerørledninger i regionen som ikke går via Russland.

During the visit to Baku Cheney also took time to meet the local representatives of the oil companies BP and Chevron. The US has long wanted new oil pipelines in the region that do not go through Russia.

– Vi må samarbeide med Aserbajdsjan og andre land i Kaukasus og Sentral-Asia om nye løp for energieksporten, sa Cheney.

– We must cooperate with Azerbaijan and other lands in the Caucasus and Central Asia on the new race for energy exports, said Cheney.

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By the way, Cheney is an extremely unpopular figure in the US but in terms of aiding Georgia the two parties are largely on the same page. Joe Biden was actually the first person to propose giving Georgia $1 billion in aid back on August 18th, for example. The major difference between the two parties of course would be diplomatic finesse, especially how they would deal with Russia.

Also, taking a close look at the reflection of the building in the car, it seems to be this building. Right by the sea too.