An evening stroll through Baku's Fountain Square district can be deceiving. Its discos writhe with young men in Italian suits and their miniskirted companions. Western-style supermarkets are stocked with French wine and exercise gear.
Satellite dishes sprout from apartment buildings.
BMWs tear through the streets. In the three years since the former Soviet republic agreed to open its portion of the oil-laden Caspian Sea to development by foreign companies, the center of Baku, the capital, has been awash in oil money. Now, you can buy as much as you want. That is, if you have money. Fountain Square's abundant markets mask a deepening divide between the few people in Azerbaijan who are prosperous and the many who are desperately poor.