The most recent sorry turn came during the Oct. 9 presidential election in Azerbaijan, won with 85 percent of the vote by President Ilham Aliyev, who has ruled with dictatorial powers since the death of his father, Heydar, in 2003.

Aliyev has imprisoned opponents, controlled the news media and, according to investigative journalists, amassed huge personal wealth from the small Caucasus nation’s vast oil and gas resources. His two main opponents weren’t even in the race – one, Ilgar Mammadov, is in prison and the other, famous filmmaker and scriptwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov, was excluded because of his dual Russian-Azeri citizenship. The token opposition candidate, Jamil Hasanli, didn’t stand a chance.

The electoral farce took on comical proportions when, a day before the election, the Azerbaijan Central Election Commission mistakenly sent out the results of the election, showing Aliyev easily winning. Officials said they were merely conducting a test of a new application with dummy numbers, but few found the explanation believable.

What was truly disappointing, however, was not fraud by Aliyev. It was the response to the election from some in the West. Representatives of two supposedly democratic organizations who should know better – the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe – inexplicably praised the vote. Ukraine, which currently holds the OSCE chairmanship, likewise contributed to this chorus by praising the “important step” in Azerbaijan’s “democratic development.”

U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Richard Morningstar downplayed differences with Aliyev and emphasized U.S.-Azeri cooperation in regional security, counterterrorism, energy security  and economic diversification. The ambassador is just taking a cue from U.S. President Barack Obama. As Washington Post columnist Fred Hiatt noted this week, Obama’s recent speech to the United Nations highlighted four core American interests: defending allies from aggression, ensuring access to oil, attacking terrorist networks that threaten Americans and stopping weapons of mass destruction.

When leaders of democracies muffle their voices about unfair elections, rigged economies and other human rights violations, they are betraying the hundreds of millions of people living in undemocratic societies who are trying to break free politically, economically and, in the case of political prisoners, physically as well.