Word: saakashvili
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...From the beginning, Georgia's press-savvy and Washington-backed President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has a law degree from New York's Columbia University, has been relentless in spinning the war as a product of Russian expansionism. He gave dozens of interviews to Western media even as the bombs were falling, and says that the upcoming film with Garcia will drive that point further. "Indeed right now the American director is producing a Hollywood film, and I am sure Russia is not depicted there in the best light," he told a gathering of supporters in Kiev, Ukraine, this month...
...Saakashvili said the big-budget film was not financed by the Georgian government. "We have enough trouble funding our local directors," he said at the Ukraine gathering, which TIME attended. But the author of the screenplay, David Imedashvili, tells TIME that the initial funding for the project came from a Georgian government fund. Projects like this, he said, give Georgia a rare chance to hit back at its bullying northern neighbor. "Georgia is a very small country, Russia is a giant," Imedashvili says. "It's idiotic to fight a war with Russia, but we have to do something. We have...
...Saakashvili has faced two major challenges to his leadership. In November 2007, his riot police responded to antigovernment demonstrators by beating them, arresting their leaders and shutting down two television stations. In April, the opposition took to the streets again to call for his resignation. But this time, Saakashvili was restrained. He let the protesters shut down the streets of the capital. Georgians grew tired of the inconvenience, and eventually everyone went home. Many opposition figures say they won't try to force him to resign before his term ends in 2013. Even Khidasheli, an ardent critic of the President...
This means that the future of Georgia once again rests almost entirely on the balance between Saakashvili's good and bad impulses. The case of Irakli Alasania, Georgia's former U.N. ambassador and the country's most credible opposition figure, may provide insight into which side of the President prevails. Several weeks before he officially made the announcement, Alasania told me he was planning to run next spring for mayor of Tbilisi, with the former public defender Subari on his ticket. Allowing such well-respected statesmen to run a free campaign would instantly legitimize the idea of multiparty democracy...
...follow suit. And since the Caucasus region is a key route for getting Central Asian oil and gas to Western markets without going through Russia, Georgia could help lessen the West's dependence on Russian energy. But first Georgia needs to become stable, peaceful and prosperous. History will judge Saakashvili, and all his enthusiasms, on whether or not he can make that happen...