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| Rejuvenated Georgian President Cites U.S. Ties as "Turning Point" in Conflict |
| 2008-08-14 |
| On Monday, President Mikheil Saakashvili, his army in retreat and his Western allies still surprised by the intensity of the Russian attack, was the very picture of vulnerability, dodging Russian military jets. By Wednesday he seemed an almost preternaturally reinvigorated man, once again raising the temperature in Georgia's bitter disagreements with Russia, and invoking special ties with American democracy and freedom. Moments after President Bush appeared at the Rose Garden to say that the Pentagon would begin a humanitarian aid mission to support Georgia, Mr. Saakashvili was on the phone with a Western reporter, talking fast. "This is a turning point," he said. Soon he appeared on national television, his tousled hair combed back flat and wearing a freshly pressed suit, assuring his country that the worst had passed. No matter that Russian troops were 30 miles away, milling on the road outside the capital, meeting no resistance. Mr. Saakashvili was in cocky form in an interview later in the evening with reporters, expounding on Nazi propaganda, Orwell and the film "Dr. Strangelove." "Russians should see that this is not a demoralized, you know, nervous panicking capital that is just scared," he said. "Shops are open. There are no lines for gas stations. Prices are not up." He added, "We will fight to the end, until the last Russian soldier leaves Georgian soil and this country is not going to be brought to the knees anymore. We are not surrendering, no matter what." Mr. Saakashvili's latest show of bravado came only a day after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that she and a special State Department envoy had explicitly and repeatedly warned him not to take any military action against Georgian separatists that might provoke Russia, cautioning that the United States was not prepared to back him militarily if he did. He also appeared to exaggerate the Pentagon's planned relief operation, making it seem larger and further developed than it was. "We already saw U.S. Air Force landing in Georgia despite Russians controlling the airspace," he said, after a C-17 had touched down. "And we will see U.S. military ships entering Georgian ports despite Russians blocking it. That we will see." He added, "These will be serious military ships." But the American military said that although the Navy had been ordered to assist in the humanitarian mission, it had not yet formed its plans and no ships were en route. Mr. Saakashvili's confidence, along with his swing of mood and perhaps Georgia's momentary change of fortune, also belied a complicated political situation for him at home. After what American officials had characterized as his profound miscalculation last week in ordering an attack on the separatist enclave of South Ossetia, triggering the largest Russian military activity over its borders since the Soviet war in Afghanistan, his political standing was in question. A pair of mass rallies on Tuesday made clear that he still had domestic support, bolstered in part by anger at Russia. But there were also signs that as civilian casualties and the number of refugees mounted, many Georgians doubted the wisdom of his policy of so boldly defying, even provoking, the Russian bear. Iza Metreveli, who sat at her son’s wake on Tuesday, raged against her government for starting a war she said never should have been waged. A Russian bomb had killed her son, Mamuka Katsadze, a dock worker at the commercial port of Poti on the Black Sea. Earlier that day, Mr. Katsadze had learned that his wife was pregnant with a baby boy. Nine other workers died. “For the mothers of those killed, everything is finished,” Ms. Metreveli said through her tears. “What do I need a country that kills its citizens for?” Several American officials, and Mr. Saakashvili himself, have said that one of Russia’s goals in the war was the outright removal of Mr. Saakashvili, in part by creating these kinds of pressures. But thus far, some Georgians said, the perception that he is a Russian target has helped him with the Georgian public, placing national unity over political infighting. “Maybe that will happen in a couple weeks,” said Gigi Tevzadze, president of Ilia Chavchavadze State University in Tbilisi, speaking about political recriminations. “Now, the situation is that the people are strongly supporting the government. The solidarity in Georgian society is quite high.” Such sentiments had been visible on Tuesday, when thousands of Georgians waved flags, sang and shouted themselves hoarse. It was an ecstatic release of energy after the tension of the war’s first days. Participants said it was also meant as a sign to the Russians. “We Georgians will never fight against each other,” said Lado Zabakhidze, 25, a Tbilisi resident out with friends waving red-and-white Georgian flags on the city’s main boulevard. “We will never be afraid. We will never go down on our knees.” But after the rallies ended, and with Russian forces moving freely on the road between Gori and the capital, there were signs of discontent with Mr. Saakashvili. Ungala Akhalshenishvili, 23, who works at a cellphone company in Tbilisi, said her opinion of him had fallen over the course of the crisis. The president seemed to be playing the part of a man eager to fight, only to need a rescue from more muscular friends. “He has always tried to put a good face on what has happened,” she said. “But yesterday when I saw him he looked frightened and he seemed like he was waiting for France to come in and solve his problems.” Mr. Saakashvili has survived plunges in popularity in the past. Last fall, he deployed riot police with tear gas, rubber bullets and batons against unarmed demonstrators. He also used his police to destroy an opposition television station, which went off the air as masked officers stormed it. His critics say that while he is an unwavering American ally, his record as a democrat was long ago checkered. For his part, Mr. Saakashvili was characteristically undeterred. He was asked Wednesday night whether if he could turn back the clock to late last week, when he said he received signs of Russian troops moving to the border, he would order an attack again. “Absolutely,” he said, and couched the answer in terms of his own political survival. “We have an obligation to react to it. Any Georgian government that wouldn’t have reacted to it would have fallen instantly.” |
| Posted by:ed |
| #3 Two mistakes were made, one by either side. Russia's was worse and will, in the long run, cost them heavily. Putin cost Russia a lot of goodwill with this invasion, goodwill he might desperately wish he had if he has to deal with Chinese incursions in Siberia. He should have thought about that 8 million Russians/100 million Chinese population disparity out there before he blithely went about invading places he wasn't happy with. |
| Posted by: Spike Speaque2226 2008-08-14 20:41 |
| #2 Or Russia did. As you say, only time will tell. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-08-14 12:30 |
| #1 Was it a profound miscalculation? Only time will tell. It was very bad for him militarily, but politically it has not had time to digest yet. Having said that, he may very well have screwed the pooch on this one. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-08-14 11:45 |