EU-spin campaign blows up in Azerbaijan's face

A distinguished Australian scientist says he was duped into doing Azerbaijan propaganda, in a PR fiasco that sheds light on shady spin tactics in Brussels and further afield.

Professor Bill Laurance from James Cook University in Cairns told EUobserver that a London-based PR firm called BTP+Advisers tricked him into signing an inflammatory op-ed paid for by Azerbaijan's government.

BTP+Advisers then pitched it to EUobserver in Brussels and to the National Interest magazine in Wash...