SAAKASHVILI TO FOES: GEORGIA WON’T BE INTIMIDATED
Alex van Oss: 8/06/04

On a snap visit to Washington, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili issued a defiant message to governments and corporations that he says are trying to bully Tbilisi: Georgia will not be pushed around. Saakashvili also dismissed suggestions that the bloom is off Georgia’s Rose Revolution, saying the country is "progressing rapidly, like the Baltics."

During his hastily planned visit to the US capital August 5, Saakashvili held talks with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell. In between meetings, he discussed recent Georgian developments at a forum sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In recent months, Georgia has wrangled with Russia over the two separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Tbilisi has also tussled with the oil conglomerate British Petroleum after ordering a halt in construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, reportedly over ecological concerns. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Saakashvili insisted Georgia would not be daunted as it strives to restore its territorial integrity and to establish a sense of economic equilibrium in a country that was buffeted by violence and dysfunction for much of the past decade. "Georgia will never again be a failed state," he said.

"Georgia may be small," Saakashvili said in a wry tone. "But we do lots of things that are ... interesting and exciting."

Some recent excitement generated by Saakashvili includes a threat to sink ships, including those carrying Russian tourists, trying to enter the Abkhazian port of Sukhumi without Tbilisi’s authorization. Abkhazia established de facto independence, with Russian assistance, following a 1992-93 conflict that displaced hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgian residents of the region. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Russian leaders have assailed Saakashvili, warning that Georgian armed action against an Abkhazia-bound vessel would constitute an act tantamount to piracy. Some Russian political analysts, meanwhile, have started to compare Saakashvili to the Bolsheviks, who carried out the Red Terror in the years after their 1917 coup in an effort to defend the Communist regime. "It looks as though the Rose Revolution is entering the ’terror phase’ that inevitably follows all revolutions," said a commentary published by the Russian daily Moskovsky Komsomolets on August 5.

Tension also grips South Ossetia, the recent scene of armed clashes. Russia and Georgia have accused each other of militarizing the region. On August 5, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania outlined a three-point plan designed to settle the situation, featuring direct talks between Georgian and South Ossetian officials, an initiative to promote disarmament in the conflict zone, and to expand the role of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the conflict resolution process.

The Georgian president shrugged off the personal attacks emanating from Russia, saying they will not deter him from defending Georgian national interests. "How would any other country react?" Saakashvili asked during his Washington public appearance. "It would have the right – and obligation – to protect its borders."

He went on to describe Abkhazia and South Ossetia as being run by "criminal and separatist regimes that have profited for years from corruption, protected by [Russian] ’peacekeepers’ of the former [Soviet] empire." Saakashvili suggested that influential Russian officials were seeking to foment conflict to destabilize Tbilisi. He explained that many in Moscow feared that if the Georgian economic and political overhaul succeeds it could produce similar reform impulses throughout the Caucasus and Central Asia, thus diminishing Russia’s ability to influence those regions. Georgia’s opponents are saying "now is the time to draw us into conflict," Saakashvili said. "That is their logic, and they know that I know it."

Saakashvili also touched on the Georgia-BP dispute over pipeline construction. Work was halted in late July, after Georgian officials accused BP of not obtaining the proper permits to continue with construction through the ecologically sensitive Borjomi region. Speaking with Georgian journalists in Washington, Saakashvili said he had authorized the resumption of construction after receiving assurances that BP had "taken the first steps to satisfy the demands of the Georgian side," the Itar-Tass news reported. Saakashvili added that oil would not begin flowing through the BTC pipeline until "every single one of Georgia’s legitimate demands is met."

The Georgian move to halt BTC construction reportedly caused profound displeasure in Washington, which has been a staunch backer of the pipeline project. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The pipeline issue was discussed during Saakashvili’s meeting with Rumsfeld, the Georgian television channel Rustavi-2 reported.

During his public appearance, Saakashvili complained that the previous Georgian administration headed by Eduard Shevardnadze had negotiated a BTC deal detrimental to Georgian interests. "We got a horrible contract with BP, horrible," Saakashvili said. "But we want to complete this [project] on time [in early 2005] and with maximum efficiency."

"Our environment is fragile. BP has agreed to dig deeper and ensure over-the-surface protection," Saakashvili continued. He went on to say that his administration would continue to closely monitor the compliance of the construction consortium with Georgian specifications. "We won’t be bullied by BP," Saakashvili said. "Here in Washington they are pressuring us. ... We are not a banana state and we still have issues with them [BP]."

Saakashvili also confronted criticism about his domestic policies, including allegations that his administration is stifling independent media. Some Saakashvili critics have characterized the recent arrest of an opposition newspaper editor on drug-possession charges as an administration attempt to constrain a free press. The Georgian president insisted that "Georgia has no problems with press freedom."

Editor’s Note: Alex van Oss is a freelance journalist based in Washington, DC.

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Posted August 6, 2004 © Eurasianet
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