Plenty of well-deserved attention is being paid to the goings-on on in Moldova. (I recommend the fantastic Scraps of Moscow for plenty of news and analysis on the situation.)
Meanwhile, the conflict between the opposition and the government continues to simmer in Georgia. Considering the ways in which storming the halls of power seems to be communicable in the former Soviet Union, keep an eye on the planned rally in Tbilisi tomorrow, which organizers say will bring 100,000 people into the streets. Though the opposition coalition is pretty much only united by a dislike of President Saakashvili, they say they plan to continue protesting until he steps down. To me, the interesting question will be how and whether events in Chisinau shape those in Tbilisi.
Saakashvili’s opponents have received some interesting ammunition from the blogosphere.
TONIGHT was even better. I massaged the best looking President on earth, Mikheil Saakashvili . … He is the President of Georgia and super fun to talk to. He originally wanted only a 30 minute massage but 90 minutes later, he told me my massage is “the best massage I have had in my life so far”. Mikheil had body guards outside the massage room the whole time, who were all over 6 feet tall and like 4 feet wide. One spoke English really well and told me his favorite group is Metallica. Ha. He said “I am a rocker!” so we got along fine, whilst waiting for the President to finish his work out. I was excited to finally get to massage a President. I have massaged the Prince of Saudi Arabia before and a few Mayors, but this was the first President for me.
During the massage ‘Mr. President’ was very witty. I was massaging his massive neck and told him “wow! Your neck is so tense!” and he answered “no kidding, I have RUSSIA sitting on it!”.
For the full story, visit The Lede.
This post was written by...
Nathan Hamm – author of 2040 posts on Registan.net.
Nathan founded Registan.net in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural factors shape risks and opportunities. Follow him on Twitter or drop him a line.
{ 4 comments }
As long as we’re tweaking Misha, how about this egregiously decadent passage from Forbes?
I can’t fathom why people still persist in calling Georgia the victim of that war.
The Georgians certainly seem not to be following the Moldovans in using Twitter (wonder how much that’s down to control/availability of the infrastructure, how much because the fad hasn’t reached Georgia, how much because the Georgian protests are a very top-down affair).
Nathan, I more-or-less agree with your take on this. In the protesters’ favour is that Saakashvili doesn’t have much support left, either in the country or outside it. If they did force him out, I doubt the US or Europe would complain much (nor would Russia, although they seem more interested in stirring shit than in who rules, and Russian blessing is hardly a benefit in Georgia).
If they had found some target other than removing Saakashvili, they would have a decent chance. But he clearly won last year’s elections, dominates parliament, and is still a far bigger figure than any of his opponents. It’s hard to tell from outside the country, but I don’t have the sense that even Irakli Alasania has the status to be the figurehead for a revolution.
Another point: from the reporting I’ve seen of this (I’m collecting links at http://delicious.com/perspectivelute/georgia), I get little sense of a swelling of feeling beyond the political classes. Again, caveat that I’m not there, so little more than guessing. Links to e.g. opinion polls, reporting from beyond the capital, appreciated.
I wanted to bring your attention to a new documentary, At the Top of My Voice (www.atthetopofmyvoice.com) that I believe is essential viewing for anyone wanting to understand the current situation in Georgia.
Set against the backdrop of the 2007 crackdown on democracy in Georgia, the film follows activists Anna Dolidze and Irakli Kakabadze as they return to their native country to shine a light on the violence and corruption of President Saakashvili’s regime and take part in monitoring his controversial reelection. Irakli Kakabadze is a novelist, poet and highly renowned political activist who played a key role in the Rose Revolution. His wife, Anna Dolidze, is a human rights lawyer and the former chair of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association. Both were forced to flee to the U.S. in 2006 to escape repeated harassment, imprisonment and beatings.