tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15037609.post1245157968501799386..comments2023-10-01T16:53:17.274+01:00Comments on Cicero's Songs: Georgia in the Russian cross hairsCicerohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02090838836212624633noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15037609.post-856007432407243292007-11-13T03:42:00.000+00:002007-11-13T03:42:00.000+00:00So does the CIA.So does the CIA.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15037609.post-77334315544841632622007-11-12T15:18:00.000+00:002007-11-12T15:18:00.000+00:00Anon 1- The KGB had form in this- so it can not be...Anon 1- The KGB had form in this- so it can not be dismissed as mere paranoia.Cicerohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02090838836212624633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15037609.post-35299718484913996392007-11-12T09:22:00.000+00:002007-11-12T09:22:00.000+00:00By being allied to United Russia in the PACE the C...By being allied to United Russia in the PACE the Conservatives are formally allied to Putin. The also receive money for their work on PACE via the chairman of the ED group, whose head is a Russian member of PACE. That makes the Conservatives formally aliied to Putin: when are you guys going to do something about this? Furthermore this is not an idle alliance_ several leading Conservatives are involved with companies whose main earnings stream is Russian- and these same people spak in support of giving Putin the benefir of the doubt. I have met several members of the gerogian government, including Bedukidze, and I have no doubts where the fault lies in this.Cicerohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02090838836212624633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15037609.post-59548895382750594152007-11-10T10:17:00.000+00:002007-11-10T10:17:00.000+00:00You'll have to be more clear as to how the Conserv...You'll have to be more clear as to how the Conservative Party is an ally of Putin for me to respond fairly to your point Cicero. Regarding this I see you dodge my two points. Yes Misha has done the right thing in calling Elections, but why were Rubber bullets used a favourite of strong arm regimes everywhere and why the raid and taking off the air of the TV station. Yes they may well be biased against him but if that were a good reason for taking TV stations off air Britain would be blacked out! All they were doing apparently was broadcasting footage of the trouble. This is not by the way to whitewash Russian behaviour merely to point out that your anti Putin passion is perhaps blinding you to some worrryingly authoritarian tendencies in Saaakshvili himself as President<BR/><BR/><BR/>LepidusAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15037609.post-36414035734264337552007-11-10T00:14:00.000+00:002007-11-10T00:14:00.000+00:00The things your learn here! So Zhvania was murdere...The things your learn here! So Zhvania was murdered by the Russians. I guess they were also behind 911, since Litvinenko said so.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15037609.post-850930520225603082007-11-09T13:08:00.000+00:002007-11-09T13:08:00.000+00:00Good post, but I think that on balance I also agre...Good post, but I think that on balance I also agree with Chris.<BR/><BR/>The National Movement in Georgia is not as easily attributed to freedom and democracy as we sometimes hear.<BR/><BR/>The best description I've heard is that it's a party of "the night" and of "the day" (and Saakashvili exhibits both) - with some really good democratic instincts and some horrendous populist behaviour. After all, some of the regime's main muscle men simply switched parties when Shevardnadze's movement fell apart.<BR/><BR/>The National Movement occasionally makes overtones towards moving to a fully multi-party system (and some of its MPs would like that to happen), but the Conservative and Republican parties have both found it difficult to operate in environments where the National Movement is such a strong user of administrative resource (another trick learned from the Shevardnadze/Soviet years).<BR/><BR/>I think we'll hear more from Georgia over the coming months.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15037609.post-58453438963591626942007-11-09T12:56:00.000+00:002007-11-09T12:56:00.000+00:00While Russia has misbehaved towards Georgia for ma...While Russia has misbehaved towards Georgia for many years, that doesn't mean they are specifically fomenting any unrest now.<BR/><BR/>The Georgian opposition seems to be even more nationalist than Saakashvili - Irakli Okruashvili, for instance, was a 'hawk' in the Saakashvili cabinet.<BR/><BR/>And while Saakashvili has brought forward elections, he has not done what the opposition was calling for. The original issue (a few weeks ago) was the date of the Parliamentary polls: should they happen in the spring, on schedule, or should they be delayed until autumn to coincide with the Presidential elections as Saakashvili wanted. <BR/><BR/>Saakashvili was starting to act a bit like a teapot dictator and I suspect it is this which has got the opposition, and the populace, riled.<BR/><BR/>Blaming Russia yet again could be little more than predictable spin from Saakashvili.Chris Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615548536592310583noreply@blogger.com