Mikheil Saakashvili: still crazy after all these years… well, only one actually
As readers may recall, a month or so back I named Georgia’s Mikheil Saakashvili as the craziest world leader of them all. Well because you certainly won’t have heard this if you watch the evening news, and probably not even if you read the newspapers, I just thought I’d deliver an update on the continuing deterioration of his already fragile mental state.
In early August Georgian ships intercepted a Panama-flagged vessel sailing on the Black Sea. The crime? It was en route to the breakaway republic of Abkhazia. Its Turkish captain was sentenced to 24 years in prison for smuggling, although his sentence was subsequently commuted. According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, Abkhazia then threatened “to open fire on Georgian ships if they continue their acts of piracy.” To which Georgia’s foreign minister replied that his country would continue to seize ships that violate the borders of what it still considers Georgian territory.
Now from a legal point of view, Georgia is correct of course. Only Russia, Nicaragua and Venezuela have recognised the ‘independence’ of Abkhazia. Officially, the rest of the world still considers the republic to be part of Georgia. In the real world however, Abhazia is a protectorate of Russia. Thus it came as no surprise to find the AP reporting last week that the chief of Russia’s coastguard, Lt. General Viktor Trufanov had declared that from now on Russian forces will intercept any Georgian ships that attempt to stop ships in Abkhazian waters:
“We will do everything to ensure the security of the Russian state, the security of the Abkhazian state. We have a task and we will carry it out…”
To which a Georgian official replied:
“From the perspective of international maritime law, the (Russian) coast guards are pirates and this is plain and simple occupation…“
Today the first Russian patrol ship took to the seas to resume the work of humiliating Saakashvili. Meanwhile Russia has also announced that it will build new military bases in both Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
And so the temperature continues to rise. Will Saakashvili do the sane thing and back down? Or does he seriously think that the Georgian navy can accomplish what the Georgian army singularly failed to do just over a year ago? Saakashvili still has influential friends in America, but Obama made it abundantly clear last week that his goal is to ‘engage’ with Russia. However even if Obama’s rhetoric was as hostile as Bush’s used to be, well, there’s still no way Georgia would ever receive meaningful support in a battle with Russia. Ever. Saakashvili would thus have to be crazy to continue provoking his neighbor, unless he wants to be a martyr — which to gauge by his struggles to remain in power is plainly not one of his desires.
But then again, as we have already established, he is absolutely crazy. And who can predict the actions of the genuinely demented?
Meanwhile for those who are interested in knowing a little more about Georgia’s internal situation, Voice of America reported last week that there is ‘virtually no media freedom’ in the country and that all political opposition is stifled. Hm… sounds a lot like Putin’s Russia, the oppressive state against which Georgia is often held up as a model of progress. The madman is sitting on a powder keg, waving a match around. Will he be the third Georgian leader since independence to be ousted from office by a revolution/coup?
Hat tip: The Exiled
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brAVEST PRESIDENT OF ALL
FIGHTER FOR FREEDOM
NOT LIKE SOME EU CORRUPT LEADERS
WHICH DICTATOR PUTIN HAS BOUGHT FOR PETRDOLLARS
An ardent Georgian nationalist- yes. An extremely proud man- yes. But I don’t think brave is the correct term for a small terrier that attacks an enormous bear. Insanely reckless is the politest term I can think of.
Brave. Ha! The man who was seen cowering and running for cover when the jets flew over in last year’s war. I lost any modicum of respect for him that day. Willing to send teenagers into battle against a numerically and technolgically far superior army yet cowers when things heat up around him.
It must have had Putin wetting his pants with laughter when he saw the evening news and yet it could have been so different if he had had an eye for the theatricality of war. Enver Pasha rode on his horse into the Bolshevik gunfire wielding his sword,Che Guevara looked his killer in the eye and said “shoot, you are only killing a man”, the Georgian president should have jumped on the roof of his car,ripped his shirt open exposing his chest in which beat his proud Georgian heart and shouted to the Migs “Do your worst, I will spill my blood for Georgia!” It would have been a masterstroke, news programmes would have lapped it up, the Georgian population would have rallied behind him, western leaders would be fighting amongst themselves to be associated with him this new Georgia standing up to the dragon……but no, the coward looked on with an expression of terror as the Mig flew past uninterested in events below. The man is a bafoon.
Yea, Saakashvili is very brave………. (NOOOOT). Keep up the great work Saake, keep trying to tag along Mr. Biden and invite yourself to events where you’re not invited to (such as Munich Conference, UN Assembly). And yea, NATO will surely accept you…NOOOT…You will go down in history as a huge goof and a killer like any other well-known Georgian (not referring to the US state of Georgia, which is much more known than the republic of Georgia) in history, such as Stalin, Beria, Gamsahurdia…