GEORGIA

A Coup for the Kremlin

Georgians want better relations with Russia, which won't bend till Saakashvili goes. He may have to.

By Owen Matthews and Anna Nemtsova | NEWSWEEK
Published Apr 18, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Apr 27, 2009

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  • Posted By: 08001 @ 04/18/2009 2:26:41 PM

    Commentary and opinion on Georgia and the conflict last summer seem to rely increasingly on a sort of 'lone gunman' theory. It is becoming increasingly expedient or convenient for many groups to dismiss the events of the summer as an aberration brought about by the reckless personality of one man.

    However to me this article reads more as a summary of the various pressures the Russians have applied on Georgia, both economic and military, for not behaving like the vassal they expect it to be. The rather trite conclusions that this article seems to make is that without Saakashvili the Russians would be treating their neighbours with dignity and respect. This was certainly not the case under Shevardnadze.

    And seeing as how in Georgia, unlike Ukraine, the Russians have no viable pro-Russian anti-NATO candidates, I am sure whoever is in power in Georgia, the Kremlin will find some percieved insult or manufactured grievance that will allow them to continue threatening and de-stabilising Georgia.

    • Posted By: JPHR @ 05/02/2009 4:07:49 PM

      Remember that Rice visited Georgia in July 2008?

  • Posted By: Bumpkin @ 04/20/2009 11:47:54 AM

    Mr. Putin is a former KGB apparatchik, who has called the Soviet Union's collapse the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century." The comment reveals his bloodlust and moral depravity. Moscow is seeking to restore the Great Russian Empire. It poses a strategic threat to its neighbors and to the West.

    • Posted By: JPHR @ 05/02/2009 4:06:42 PM

      Yeah and the first Bush was a CIA director who succeeded in creating a dynasty, which facilitated a near corporatist state.

  • Posted By: Johnsm @ 05/01/2009 12:26:42 PM

    In september 1993 Russia organised an ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia. Thousands of civilians were murdered by Abkhaz militias. The majority of the population, about 300,000 Georgians, were driven out of their homes.
    In august 2008 Russia organized genocide in Sout Ossetia..
    Russia was preparing to wage war in Georgia several years ago, when the Russian authorities began to hand out Russian passports to the residents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
    How do you think the UN, EU and other organisations should react to this?
    Read more about: http://digitalcaucasus.blogspot.com

  • Posted By: Johnsm @ 05/01/2009 12:25:52 PM

    bighappy your comment are very stupid!
    Russian "peacemakers" are KGB murders!
    Saakashvili is a good man, good president.
    Russian idiotic actions in the Caucasus must be stop!

    Genocide is a deliberate destruction, completely or partially, of an ethnic, religious, or national group, say the reference-books. And according to experts, this is what Russia has been doing with Georgians, Ossetians, Chechens, Circassians over the centuries.

  • Posted By: bighappy @ 04/22/2009 10:06:46 PM

    Georgians elected a psycho and now are paying the price. Russians are not angels, but in the latest conflict they looked like self-restricted peacemakers trying to protect civilians from insane murderers. Saakashvili resignation will not resstart relations, Georgians are cursed for generation.

  • Posted By: DevDari @ 04/21/2009 1:19:30 PM

    May I take an issue with the Newsweek's source? The name of the disgruntled 'former factory manager' from Kutaisi is given as "Tsisfer Kansheli" that is a non-existent name. It looks like a bad transcription of the term 'tsisferkantseli' which referred to 19th century literary movement of romanticist poets... So either your respondent lied about his name, or you have taken an internet blogger's nickname for his real name... Or your stringer is just inventing the quotes....

  • Posted By: Bumpkin @ 04/21/2009 8:44:18 AM

    Dmitry Rogozin Russia's envoy to NATO declared today Tuesday, April 21, 2009 that if NATO training will not be canceled in Georgia on 6th May Georgia will definitely lose its Statehood forever. How should ordinary person understand this statement of Rogozin? Direct military threat and menace!!! Russia's actions clearly indicate that its aggression against Georgia has not come to a halt for one day. Georgia is despised by the Kremlin's xenophobic elite for one simple reason - it seeks to break away from Moscow's authoritarian grip. In response, Russia is trying to destabilize Georgia.

  • Posted By: djdrive @ 04/19/2009 7:40:39 AM

    To say the least, this is one absolutely unprofessional piece of reporting. It only compares to the way Newsweek covered the US presidential elections.

    How the drop in investments last year is related to the cut-off of the trade with Russia three years ago?

    Did your reporters actually look "behind the facades" or they trust the word of "unemployed exporter" (whatever that might mean)?

    That's only you guys in Newsweek continue to insist that "Saakashvili is feeling increasingly isolated." I suspect that he himself visiting the US next week and his foreign affairs minister meeting Hillary Clinton this week won't agree with this.

    And one last thing: the issue of trade with Russia is central to Georgian politics only in minds of your reporters and the Russian foreign affairs ministry. Anyone who knows today's Georgia just a little bit would attest to that.

    My advice to you guys: send someone to Georgia, who has his/her eyes open.

  • Posted By: lovejusticepeace @ 04/18/2009 3:01:55 PM

    Georgians took to the streets to throw out a corrupt pro Russian government . Now Georgians take to the streets to throw out a coward pro West government.

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