Azerbaijan's public, it seems, can forgive an authoritarian government almost anything except a falling standard of living

"Rising prices, a collapsing currency, international turbulence, and a nervous elite. Azerbaijan is starting 2016 in the middle of what looks like a perfect storm," writes Thomas de Waal in his latest analysis "Azerbaijan's perfect storm" published on the website of Carnegie Endowment - Europe.

The analyst says street demonstrations in a dozen towns in different parts of the country in protest at the sudden economic downturn have been met with a show of force and arrests. 

"To make matters worse for the government, this began a week ago, even before sanctions on Iran were lifted and the oil price fell below $30 a barrel. (Around three quarters of Azerbaijan's budget revenues come from oil sales.)

It is a foretaste of the trouble that Russia may soon face for very similar reasons. The public, it seems, can forgive an authoritarian government almost anything except a falling standard of living," de Waal writes. 

In his words, many Azerbaijanis certainly feel angry at the way the billions the country has earned in the last decade have disappeared into vanity projects like the European Games or into offshore bank accounts. 

"Last year, the Azerbaijani government predicated its budget forecasts on $50-a- barrel oil. Now, President Aliyev faces the near-impossible task of how to buy off very different groups of discontented citizens with oil at little more than half that level," the British analyst writes for conclusion.