American foreign policy experts, having been caught off guard by the swift regime changes in Tunisia and Egypt, are now examining other countries where citizens have been oppressed and denied basic democratic freedoms. Countries where peaceful street protests have turned violent, where opposition political parties have been brutally squashed, and where economies are in tatters, elections rigged, judicial systems corrupted, and free media bound and gagged.
One of those states is Georgia, where U.S.-backed President Mikheil Saakashvili must be concerned by the latest turn of events in Egypt. He and former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have many similarities.
Georgian opposition leader and former Speaker of the Parliament Nino Burdzhanadze, one of the masterminds of the so-called Rose Revolution which swept Saakashvili into power in 2004, warned that the Georgian capital Tbilisi could erupt in a passionate cry for democracy and change the same way Cairo did. As Burdzhanadze said this week, “a social explosion may take place.” Censorship has increased in Georgia. The Internet and all media outlets are under personal control of the government. Unlawful wiretaps are common.
And popular anger about Saakashvili’s extravagances is brewing. The president built himself a multi-million-dollar palace, bought a private jet with a special ejection seat and is now erecting another palatial domed estate for his wife. He travels with a phalanx of bodyguards and is known, like Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, as a man of “appetites.”
Saakashvili’s term expires in 2013, but he has changed the constitution to allow him to remain on as prime minister. He has also hired four top lobbying firms in Washington, one of which counted Hosni Mubarak as a client.
If the United States really intends to reset relations with Russia, it must examine its role in propping up Saakashvili’s authoritarian regime at a time when dictators are no longer in fashion. In a recently released WikiLeaks document, Saakashvili met with U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Alexander Vershbow last October to discuss the volatile climate in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two breakaway regions which the president of Georgia has vowed to reclaim. In August 2008, according to a European Union report, Saakashvili invaded South Ossetia, sparking a five-day skirmish that ended with thousands injured, several dead, homes and churches destroyed, and Russian tanks headed toward the Georgian capital.
The United States has pressed Saakashvili for a peaceful solution in the separatist regions (most of the citizens hold Russian passports and consider themselves Russian), but the stubborn Georgian leader refuses to back down. During the meeting, Saakashvili asked Vershbow for “deepened defense and security assistance,” according to the leaked cable, and “stressed that time matters, as Georgia needed a [military] deterrent.” (The country, with roughly 4.5 million inhabitants, is the size of West Virginia.)
Saakashvili felt Russia would attack Georgia if Moscow believed the country to be weak and undefended. The American security adviser was taken aback. He then had to remind the Georgian president that “even with added capabilities, Georgia needed to be realistic as it could never defeat Russia.” Vershbow strongly advised that there was no military solution to the conflict. Saakashvili then asserted that “every minute of delay of Russia’s invasion mattered because only international intervention had prevented Russian tanks from rolling into Tbilisi.” The leaked classified cable is revealing, as it shows the Georgian president is clearly delusional, paranoid and itching for a fight. In September 2008, the United States provided Georgia with a $1 billion aid package but since then has refused to sell arms to the country, whose the army is woefully inept.
Saakashvili cut diplomatic ties with Russia, which now seems to have been a misstep given Obama’s wish to warm up relations with the Kremlin and ease the tension in the Caucasus. Saakashvili’s trump card has always been the area of Pankisi Gorge, with a growing and violent Islamic insurgency responsible for various terrorist attacks against Russia—the most recent being the airport suicide bombing in Moscow. He has been viewed as soft on the terrorists, tacitly approving of their continued efforts. Saakashvili has also been a keen supporter of Belarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko and indeed was the only foreign leader to telephone Lukashenko and congratulate him after the phony presidential elections in Belarus last December. The election was so fraudulent, the United States and the European Union have broken all ties to Belarus.
When Saakashvili took power in 2004, his wife gave a magazine interview in which she compared her husband—a strong leader—to Beria and Stalin. Indeed, there is a question of Saakashvili facing a trial for war crimes. If he is seen as culpable, there is no doubt he will turn to the United States for help. By that time, however, the fever from Cairo will have spread.
In the words of the vice president of the World Congress of the People of Georgia, Badri Meladze, “Georgia cannot tolerate injustice forever.”
Tsotne Bakuria is a former member of the Georgian parliament.
Comments
Mr. Bakuria is absolutely correct in his analysis. But there is another similarity. Like the former Egpytian president, Saakashvili talks down to his people, as if they are uneducated and ill informed. Only he knows what's best for the people. Dictators are in the habit of underestimating the will and power of the people until the streets are flooded with protestors. Let's hope the Georgian people will unite against this ruthless authoritarian and make the country truly democratic.
...? Are you serius about all of this honey? No, really? Are you out of your mnind? I wish you could actually go and visit any authoritarian country (You have many to choose from.. visit Russia, maybe you will trully learn what authoritarism is...) so you could understand what you are talking about, you fool.
At least I can spell correctly. Your comments about Mr. Bakuria are hateful and libelous. I do not know him, but his commentary is very accurate. Whenever Saakashvili is criticized, no one wants to present the facts. That his prisons are full of so-called political opponents, that he has a woeful record on human rights, there is no free media or free speech and the Georgians are suffering under his regime.The economy? Foreign investment? The thousands of dollars which go to waste (his personal masseuse, etc.)I just recall that image of The President chewing on his tie before a BBC interview. So pathetic.
FREE MEDIA? ARE YOU
NUTS??? WHAT ABOUT "MAESTRO TV" OR KABKASIA TV???? THE CHANNELS THAT
BROADCAST OVER WHOLE GEORGIA AND DEVOTE ONLY 24/7 TO PERSONAL CRITICISM OF
PRESIDENT SAAKASHVILI. WHICH COUNTRY HAS SUCH TV CHANNELS? Is it even normal to
have TV channels that are DEVOTED to PERSONAL insults and demagogy about
Georgian state and government?
Your comments about Media
are REDICOLIOUS AND INSANE! And what Rustavi2, Imedi and the rest of TV
channels are LACKING THE COVERIGE of the opposition parties EVERY SINGLE
DAY????? ARE YOU NUTS?
As for the investment, EXACTLY. Georgia does get investments
BECAUSE it is a reformed economy and because Georgia is ranked as one of the
best places in the world for investment. (That’s to your “dictator”)
http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings
12th place this year. Is it really that bad?
COMPARE WOTH THE REST OF THE COUNTRIES IN THE REGION YOU MORON!
P.S.
I made few spelling errors because I have a brand new
keyboard. Honestly, it is not about if you can spell correctly, it’s about what
you have to say. You are BLINDED by the hate!
Bakuria is absolutely right about Saakashvili. But I don't understand this: If Misha is a devil why is Russian elite full of angels? if America is playing an empire, why is Russia a paceful country? It is a regional power who calles itself "third Rome" with all the consequences. They supported ethnic mminorities in Georgia, which expelled more then 300 000 ethnic Georgians from lands which ARE Georgian for millenias. "most of the citizens hold Russian passports and consider themselves Russian"?! Tsotne, be pro-Georgian not pro-Russian or pro-American!
"Pro Georgian"? How can he be pro Georgian??? DID YOU FORGET WHO THIS SCUM IS???!
Just calm down boy. Don't go into personal. Bakuria is obviously right that Saakashvili is DICTATOR. And for every reasonable human being it is obvious. Tsotne is also clever guy, but I was really angry about his line that there are Russians there who don't want to live in Georgia. Georgia's situation is identical to Serbia's. There is a cradle province (Kosovo, Abkhazia, "South Ossetia") which because of Ottoman ancestry has been kind of torn from the rest of country and has a mixed population. This week situation has been used by Empires like America and Russia to drive there own agenda. While both Us and Russia play righteous/victim it is we and Serbians who really are victims here. Tsotne cleary thinks that by showing himself pro Ruissian he is kind of anti-Misha. Are Russians only and most important enemies of Saakashvili. I think it is we the Georgians. But maybe to get an article on this side he was obliged to be pro-Russian. Who knows? Anyway Misha is going down!!!
Are you retarded? And honestly, I HIGHLY doubt that you are even georgian. you "davidfromgeorgia""georgiagirl""George-2012"are too keen to display your "Georgian" roots even from your ID's here. Well, honestly either you have been living abroad in Russia too long or you are really close wwith bakuria. If you are however you should know that sooner or later that criminal bastard will get sentanced and his money will go back to the county's budget and the people."Anyway Misha is going down!!!" - Yes, in 2013 he is and we will have a new president... the only things that will not change will be:1) Putin will still be in charge of Russian Pederation.2) Russian Pederation will still be Georgia's biggest enemy (as BEFORE Saakashvili)3) Bakuria will sooner or later end in jail as he should for all his crimes in the past.
I've been traveling in Georgia since 2004 as an expert in foreign policy. I love the country and its people . Georgians are very naive and they love being the best hosts in the World. They are brave and smart. On the other hand there is this extremely ambitious governmet that is showing very close similarities to an autocratic rule. Mr. Saakashvili has not been in touch with his own people for a long time and this is my understanding that sooner or later bad things could happen down there. We ,Americans, should seriously consider a very rapid political changes in Georgia when time comes and we should be prepared for upcoming instabiliries in Georgia.
I don't think you accuratly see the picture on the ground. If you have been visiting Georgia since 2004, you should have seen how country has changed in few years. The most of critisicm comes from this. Nobody likes changes... even if they are nessesary.
Veritas Omnia Vincit And the truth will soon conquer dictator Saakashvili . . .
"dictator" again? Are all the firends and relatives of Tsotne Bakuria on this web site?? Look, I don't mind criticism of Saakashvili AT ALL. But, calling him a dictator is just a LIE!
Ironically enough the internet is also a place to make detached comments, just like leaders appear detached. Anyone who calls Saakashvili a dictator is just as detached from reality. Reasoning that inhabitants of Abkhazia and South-Ossetia are happy to "be" Russian is just another pro-Kremlin statement detached from the reality of life in these areas. Having such a passport has nothing to do with loyalty. but with pragmatism of life. And nowadays for many people having an Abkhaz passport is a must-have if one wants to cling on to their (real-estate) property or wants to participate in elections and such. These 2 instances have not much to do with the position or policies of Mr Saakashvili, but with Russian and Abkhaz policies.The logic about the Pankisi gorge is another one that is far from reality, shoved in the shoes of Saakashvili for the sole reason to find discredit. Currently there is no evidence at all that suggests that the current ongoing islamic insurgence in the NC is facilitated by Saakashvili. In fact, the root of the current insurgence lies in the hands of the Kremlin itself. It was the Kremlin who unilaterally, after democratic elections, decided to put an economic boycot in place to weaken the new pro-western government. There was no other reason at all in that time to put that boycot in place. The ironic thing is that there seems to be a template that the Kremlin follows when the people choose a government/president that Moscow does not like. Moscow is the one minding other people's business. Not the other way around. It is the Kremlins official policy to achieve regime change. Not the other way around. From the day Saakashvili was voted in office by the Georgian **voters**, this was the line of the Kremlin. The choice of the Georgian people was again Saakashvili in 2008, even after strong protests. The OSCE concluded that the elections could be improved, but could not be qualified as being rigged, irregular, dismissable, etc. In other words, any country who has a policy to topple a regime in another country that has been voluntarily voted in by its people is the one failing to respect democracy. Not the other way around.Just like Russia is the one re-arming heavily in the region, while Georgia is kept tight by the West. The USA doesnt provide any heavy arms, again, it is Moscow who is ready to roll in Georgia like Hungary 1957.Georgia has a lot of improvements to undergo, but the above article is just a piece that could be propped out of some Kremlin-proxy, and is more detached from reality than it claims Saakashvili to be.
This guy is just a firend of the ex-dictator of the Georgian region called "Ajara" Aslan Abashidze (He was a KGB major) In 2004 Saakashvili made Abashidze flee from the region and freed it from corruption and abuse of power. (The region has turned into the fastest develping region on the black Sea, with the city Batumi turning into one of the biggest turist attractions in the region.) The crime/Burocracy/Abuse of power/ corruption elliminated! i'm not joking. And this was done by the "dictator" Saakashvili. Now sure, Tsotne Bakuria, who is living in US on the money he stole from people together with his boss (Who now lives in Moskva) is not happy with Saakashvili. But the fact is that NOBODY WILL ever want people like Bakuria back to Georgia LOOOONG time after Saakashvili will be gone!
Tsotne, you simply have no shame have you? i understand that you personally are angry at president Saakashvili because he actually made you and your corrupt boss (Remember BABU?!) Aslan Abashidze flee from the region of Ajaria which HE AND THE LIKES OF YOU USED AS A personal little ranch, with everybody there treated as slaves... corruption, absuse of law... YOU TALK ABOUT RIGGING OF ELECTIONS??? HOW DARE YOU! YOU TALK ABOUT PROPAGANDA? Are you out of your mind? WHO CAN FORGET THE KIND OF PROPAGANDA YOU HAD on AjaraTV? HATEFUL! WHO WILL EVER FORGIVE the likes of you in Georgia when you have blown up the bridge between Ajara and the rest of Georgia in 2004?? YOU THINK WE WILL EVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS? NOBODY WILL EVER FORGET THAT! Enjoying the money you stole from the prdinary people here, are you? MUBARAK? ONLY MUBARAK IN GEORGIA WAS YOUR BOSS ASLAN ABASHIDZE and his little mini doggy pawns like you.If there is a god, you will end up in jail someday for all the bad you've done to your own country.P.S.Congrats, Russian FSB web site filled with hate and propaganda against the world and especially agaist Georgia is your N#1 fan... Somehow I'm not very surprised. The scum people know who to like.... only scum.http://www.inosmi.ru/caucasus/20110223/166784401.html
I REALLY don't understand why our goverment does not putMr>Bakuria to court and make you return all the millions you stole from the people of Ajaria. If I would critisicze Saakashvili THIS would be it! SAAKASHVILI, I respect you for all the good you've done for the country, BUT you are an idiot, for not bringing this crimninal scum to Justice!
At least you agree Saakashvili is an idiot.Like Ghaddafi, the President of Georgia is unhinged. Taking young girls to official visits to the Caribbean island of Aruba? The hiring of 70 prostitutes in Portugal during the international summit? The hiring of his girlfriend as the Minister of Economy? Whose only experience was baking bread in Vancouver earning $30,000 Canadian dollars a year? (But a great nightclub dancer, according to her Facebook page.)A second young lovely creature named to Minister of Penitentary...her experience was cleaning houses in Warsaw.The point is...there is no logic to his actions. The ridiculous statues in Hero Square. Naming streets after Bush and Holbrooke. (The same in Tripoli, by the way. Every street named after Ghaddafi's friends.)Saakashvili's mother becoming the richest woman in Georgia with her "research institute" and graft.The television documentary broadcast on TV Imedi showing the Russian "invasion"...which caused needless panic.His comment "Are we negroes or what?" The private planes, cars, expensive trips, helicopters, the palaces while millions of Georgians live below the poverty line.Paying Julio Inglesias a ton of money to sing for him?Sounds like "Don't Cry For Me, Georgians."He will eventually fall. The sooner the better.
You know what? You don't deserve my time. You are like a retarded child that wants to belive in what she likes. Go ahead.
I personally think Mr. Bakuria is very brave. He has the courage to say what millions of Georgians feel and think. The country needs a change in leadership and I hope Mr. Bakuria will return to his country as a politician and a thinker. Everyone who dares to raise his voice against the corrupt Saakashvili is labeled a Russian spy. Like Ghaddafi and Mubarak and so many other inhuman regimes can not tolerate a different opinion and label their opponents as :EXTREMISTS, ISLAMIST and so on. The same does the Georgian regime. Those Saakashvili's henchmen are never able to make an argument with their opponents ,all they do is a personal insult. That clearly shows their illiterate and dangerous nature. So many of Georgia;s best and brightest had to leave the country. Someday, I hope, they will go back to Georgia and help rebuild my country. George Missireli .London Feb.23 2011
OMG... you are insane, also I think you and a couple of poster above "from Georgia" are one person. P.S. I hope Bakuria comes back to Georgia, I want to see his ugly face in jail from TV. I always hated this person, corrupt, cynical and hateful. He will get what he deserves.
I hate to get into a personal discussion with Mr.Levan but I should say time will come when you will be apologizing for your stand next to the Georgian dictator. I guess Misha is paying you well out of those millions he and his corrupt family is pocketing from Georgians on the daily basis.
Haha, way to go. How can you write stuff like"those millions he and his corrupt family is pocketing from Georgians on the daily basis" and not feel guilty?? Georgia got rid of the people like Bakuria in 2004 and THANK god! Not that he is that important. He is just a little doggy that was liked by the KGB retard that Aslan Abashidze was... The filth loved the filth.
Why are you so full of evil "LEVANI"? What's wrong with you ? Can't you just argue like civilized people do? Let me tell you who I am for I have nothing to hide. My name is George and the last name is Missireli , my address in Tbilisi is Khiliani street 14/2 ,second floor, flat 4. For the time being I'm in London just about to finish my PhD in Quantum Mechanics . I'm a phisician. I'm sure you would never reveal your real identity. You remind me of those thugs of Ghaddafi who mercilessly kill innocents to please their mentally durange master.I do not know personally Mr.Bakuria ,I have never met him but I wish I would. I wish I never stand on The Freedom Square at that fatefull day of November 23 2003. I wish ,like many other of my colleagues , I could see Mikhael Saakashvilis real face at that time. I was blind I guess and I'm sorry. We are longer affraid of your regime my friend . The sinister system of Georgian oppression is broken and there is no one to save it. We had enough. Georgia will survive .
"And popular anger about Saakashvili’s extravagances is brewing. The
president built himself a multi-million-dollar palace, bought a private
jet with a special ejection seat and is now erecting another palatial
domed estate for his wife. He travels with a phalanx of bodyguards and
is known, like Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, as a man of “appetites.”"- So-called palace is in reality a president residence which is not a private property of Saakashvili, but the official residence of the president of Georgia, i.e. the next presidents of Georgia will be using it as well.- So-called private jet is also not a private property of Saakashvili (see the explanation above for the details).- I have heard nothing regarding "another palatial domed estate, which is now being erected for his wife", so if anybody posseses information regarding that, I would be grateful for the link.- If the phalanx of bodyguards is considered to be a sign of a dictator, then Mr. Obama is the greatest dictator of all times."In August 2008, according to a European Union report, Saakashvili
invaded South Ossetia, sparking a five-day skirmish that ended with
thousands injured, several dead, homes and churches destroyed, and
Russian tanks headed toward the Georgian capital."- I just wonder, how are the russian tanks headed towards Georgian capital the fault of Saakashvili? I guess the same way as it was the fault of Czechoslovak government in 1968."During the meeting, Saakashvili asked Vershbow for
“deepened defense and security assistance,” according to the leaked
cable, and “stressed that time matters, as Georgia needed a [military]
deterrent.” (The country, with roughly 4.5 million inhabitants, is the
size of West Virginia.)"- West Virginia doesn't have 20% of its territory occupied. Neither it has two neughbours in the state of cold-to-become-hot war with each other."Saakashvili’s trump card has always been the area of Pankisi Gorge, with
a growing and violent Islamic insurgency responsible for various
terrorist attacks against Russia—the most recent being the airport
suicide bombing in Moscow. He has been viewed as soft on the terrorists,
tacitly approving of their continued efforts."- Pure russian propaganda. If anybody is able to provide any evidence (link) of terrorist activity in Pankisi Gorge and/or Saakashvili's softness towards terrorists, be my guest.With all due respect to George-2012 and georgiagirl. I can partly understand your hatred towards Saakashvili, I am not a supporter of Saakashvili myself. But let's just try to analyze the facts objectively.Do you really find bakuria "absolutely correct in his analysis" and do you think that the people like Burjanadze and bakuria would bring anything good to Georgia as an independent state? I mean seriously??Absolutely agree with labrang.
http://www.presage.tv/?m=society&AID=3368Here is the link to a story describing Saakashvili's wife's new residence, as well as others for his close friends.As for Levani's comments, they are ignorant. All this person cares about is insulting others by calling them "retarded" or "scum". This is the attitude of Saakashvili's supporters; uninformed, uneducated and fanatically devoted to their one true leader. This is why he treats the Georgians the way he does; he feels superior to them. It's easy to see why, based on some of the comments.
Sorry, but the article under the given link doesn't contain any information regarding Saakashvili or his wife.
It does. Just move the arrow on the pictures and let it sit for a fracture of a second and it'll show you the name of the owner of each mansion. Saakashvili's wife's palace is the very first one in the second row.
This artilce absolutely reveals the truth which is taking place now in Georgia. it's Obvious that Mr. saakashvili is a dictator, no doubt he will lose his power, and the sooner it will happen the better it would be. Georgian people were standing in the steets under the rain before the rose revolution with full of hope and with great wish of having better future, and they got only insane and rackless man ruliing the country. One thing is clear, people will struggle for better future again, we would not allow mr. Saakashvili to change and spoil everything we have from ansestors, his political condemnation is jail. Hope that Us. government is also informed on situation happennig here in our counrty and their wish would be the same, no justice no peace! we don't need "mubarak" in Georgia! it's time for change!!!
You wrote golden words here: "No justice no peace". This is the essential puestion in whole history of human race. Which is most importnant, peace or justice? I go for justice. Peace is just a MEAN, to reach an END which is justice. Peace as an END in itself is SLAVERY. You're a slave Neo! Remember the movie "Matrix"? So I'm ready to stand in rain or snow or whatever and compromise my and my family's sability and PEACE to get rid of this brutal regime and bring a JUST order in my country. Georgia forever!!!