On strategic issues, Sadadinov(ph) is worried that Azerbaijan might try to curry favor with Washington by providing bases for a potential attack on neighboring Iran.

NPR: Azerbaijan President Visits Washington

It was simply because the Republicans decided to play politics with a completely unrelated issue, in terms of the extension of the payroll tax cut, to try to I guess curry favor with some political constituency or the other when there was no way to, in accordance with tradition and regulation, to adequately and properly review a pipeline that would cross an international border.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing