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April 26, 2009Russia: Georgia and Its 'Potato President'
Russian media is continuing to actively cover anti-government protests taking place in neighboring Georgia. The opposition is currently picketing all across Tbilisi, the country's capital, with many people camping out on the streets in spite of government pleas. Moreover, many opposition groups have erected make-shift "jail cells", with people staying "behind bars" as a protest against government policies that they see as repressive.
On Thursday, several women from pro-Saaksashvili's "National Movement" party forced their way onto the opposition and cut the plastic covering such makeshift "jail cells" with large kitchen knives. According to the daily "Izvestia", the opposition did not resist such action from the "attackers"- who included Georgian refugees from Abkhazia in their ranks. The newspaper reported of the possibility of a real and serious clash between pro- and anti-government forces - "on the streets surrounding the central square, there stood a groups of intimidating looking men. Pro-Saakashvili's knife-wielding women - who receive unrecorded salaries for their work - were more than defiant. One of them even sought to clear the central Rustaveli Avenue of this "rural population, these cells and debris." Others called for new opposition arrivals from the provinces to return home, telling them not to pollute Tbilisi but to plow and sow in their villages. As always, the police did not intervene in the proceedings. Pro-Saaksahvili's people left as soon as the opposition leaders appeared on the square."
This stand-off shows no signs of abating. "Ivestia" further reports that "People no longer have fear in them - they do not pay attention to any restrictions, nor to the the machinations of the Tbilisi City Hall. And the City hall is trying to complicate the picketer's life to the maximum - there is no garbage collection, and there are no biotoilets available. However, opposition returns the favor - on Thursday, they cleaned "their part" of Rustaveli Avenue, Liberty Square, the Presidential Residence and the government areas, and brought all refuse and garbage to the main entrance of City Hall."
Meanwhile, President Mikhail Saakashvili is trying to show that there is nothing happening in the country. He recently held a meeting of government to discuss potato harvest, thus earning yet another nickname form the opposition - "Potato President." His "right hand", the Speaker of Parliament David Bakradze, stated that the issue of early presidential and parliamentary elections was not even considered.
The situation in Georgia is getting worse, though the government is seeking to maintain some form of dialogue with the opposition. Deputy Prime Minister Giorgi Baramidze confirmed that the President of Georgia is not going to resign: "This is wrong and unrealistic." Baramidze further stated that since the war with Russia is still in progress, it is inadequate and unduly under such conditions to demand the resignation of the president. Moreover, according to the Deputy Prime Minister, "if the country's internal political situation will worsen, Russia will send its troops to protect the population."
According to the local Georgian media, Saakashvili himself, in anticipation of Russian tanks, planes and soldiers, is still preparing to leave the country. Local correspondent of the newspaper "Alia" witnessed the setting out to sea two ships from the port of Batumi, with locals saying that Georgian President's personal belongings are loaded on these ships, along with the property of his family.
Russian military, meanwhile, is still reviewing its action against Georgia in August 2008, seeking to draw lessons for future applications. According to Valdimir Babak - Chief Designer of the "Sukhoi Aircraft Design Bureau", the maker of Russia's mainstay Sukhoi line of fighter-bombers- one of the main successes was the action by Su-25SM fighter-bomber against Georgain targets. The aircraft itself was developed during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, in order to target hard-to-reach and easy-to-hide mountain targets. Babak clarifies: "Russian Air Force had to counter a very serious, well prepared, organized and skilled opponent. Georgia has established a very modern and updated air defense system, incorporating almost the entire range of available Soviet systems of the late 1980s, with high-tech "brains" from the United States, Israel and Ukraine. As a result, our aircraft opposed powerful land-based groups that operated well, smoothly and skillfully. Our action in Georgia was baptism by fire for the Su-25 SM attack plane. It had a better sight-navigation system, and in carrying out battlefield sorties, these machines led other, non-modernized Su-25 planes into battle, accomplishing all the tasks in their air assault against the opponent." Babak's general conclusion was that for future action against targets in the mountaneous areas, no aircraft system can perform better than Su-25 variant. In an ironic twist of fate, in Soviet times, many Su-25 fighter-bombers were produced in Georgia. After the break-up of the USSR, Georgia tried to compete with Russia in aircraft export by offering its version of the same Su-25 aircraft, fitted with Israeli avionics, calling it "Scorpion." There is some evidence that these "twin" Russian and Georgian aircraft battled against each other last August, but Georgia chose not to field large numbers of their planes against Russian opponents.
Meanwhile, Russians are convinced that most people around the world consider their country a "force of good." International polling company GlobeScan shows that in the opinion of 82% of all Russians, Moscow has a positive impact on the world. Russian people therefore are convinced that their country's image around the world was unaffected by its gas conflict with Ukraine, the threat of deployment of missile systems in Kaliningrad, and even the invasion of Russian troops on Georgian territory and the war in South Ossetia. Only 28% of Russians believe that Russia's image was hurt by the war with Georgia, and only 24% thought that their country's image was influenced by a conflict with Ukraine. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov chose to comment on these results: "The fact that two-thirds of Russians appreciated the role of our country in the international arena shows that the foreign policy of Russia has broad consensus in society, and confirms the correctness of the chosen independent foreign policy by the government."
However, another poll by GlobeScan shows how mistaken Russians can be about their country - 42% of residents of 20 countries felt that Russia has negative impact internationally, with only 30% of respondents having the opposite opinion. According to this poll, US, UK, Canada, France, Japan, Brazil, India, South Africa and China all have a better global image than Russia.
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