Press Digest 23.09.2014
“We are on the verge of political crisis”
The situation in Ukraine more and more resembles the events that were once unfolded in Abkhazia
“Abkhazia stands a strong chance of merging with Russia”
***
“We are on the verge of political crisis”
"In the present state of play, when we are faced with a number of pressing and even daunting challenges, the relationship between the President and the Head of our Government seems especially ridiculous. Today, these endless political tit-for-tats between the two high officials is being viewed as our sore point. This is a result of that irrational policy that has been pursued by the Georgian Dream. We are extremely grateful to Ivanishvili for overthrowing Saakashvili’s profligate government but… whether this way or that the actual fact is that in the end we were dragged into violent political crisis. And with unspeakable sadness I should also say that the present authorities have given such a bad account of themselves that the entire Georgia is scoffing at them, now,” leader of the People’s Assembly, Irakli Batiashvili, announced in his interview with the Rezonansi gazette.
“Bidzina Ivanishvili has made a really gross mistake by putting President Margvelashili into power. If not for the former Prime Minister, the idea of becoming president would not have even occurred in Mr. Margvelashvili’s head, while today he believes that he is a leader of the Georgian people. While holding his presidential campaign, Ivanishvili nurtured him like a little child, and ensured everyone that they must cast votes for Margvelashvili. In fact, he said, if you vote for this man, you will vote for me. Such a thing has never occurred throughout the entire world,” claims Mr. Batiashvili.
“Although as soon as Mr. Margvelashvili expressed his desire to become an independent figure, they immediately “went to war” with him. If not for our former PM, Mr. Gharibashvili would have never managed to take the post of premier too. One single man has proven to have such an overarching influence on the entire Georgian nation that he managed to implement a typical model of oligarchic rule in the country, where a president plays only a symbolic role. As soon as he has some pretenses, a conflict will occur,” says the respondent.
“Plus the Nationals obviously want to benefit from this tragic situation. The current goings-on in the country embolden them and make them optimistic about the future which is why they are taking such active steps in our public arena. In the present state of affairs, I do not rule out that Margvelashvili can one day become a leader of a team the members of which, along with others, will be the Nationals,” states Irakli Batiashvili.
“Today we all can see that the crime rate in the country is rather high, and the situation in this direction is far from being good. However, we must try not to be deluded by the Nationals. Statistical data with which they have presented us are faked. Do you think the Rustavi-2 programs spread terrible news saying that a father killed his son, husband murdered his wife and so, every single day by accident? Don’t let this make you think that under the present government more crimes are being committed in our country; the actual fact is that the situation in this direction has remained unchanged in Georgia…,” concludes the respondent.
The situation in Ukraine more and more resembles the events that were once unfolded in Abkhazia
“The situation in Ukraine more and more resembles the events that once took place in Georgia’s breakaway enclave of Abkhazia,” states political expert, Khatuna Lagazidze, in her interview with the Rezonansi gazette. In her words, the Russian leader is taking precisely the similar steps he once took in Abkhazia. Why not? This scenario proved successful there; why the Russian strongman should have racked his brains on elaborating a new one?” asks the political expert.
“As Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Speaker, Andrey Lisenko says, the Ukrainian armed forces have already started withdrawing heavy artillery from the anti-terrorist operation zone. In his words, heavy artillery will leave this zone; however, the Ukrainian military will remain on their positions. On 19 September, the contact group in Minsk signed a memorandum under which the sides agreed to withdraw their heavy artillery from eastern regions of Ukraine,” says the article.
“I have introduced myself to the Ukrainian leader’s announcement as per which without peace they will never win a victory over their foes. As per him, the more Ukrainian military will be amassed across these regions, the more Russian servicemen will be deployed there; and you know this statement makes me remember the announcements from our politicians and high officials through the medium of which they tried to cover for their faults and inaptitude to pursue a trenchant policy,” maintains the political expert.
“According to her, Europe and America has turned out inapt to uphold their interests in Ukraine. “The US and Europe have failed to pursue their own interests in this country; the more obstacles Russia will overcome to its way to Europe the worse for them,” claims the respondent.
“You all know that the most effective tool of our contemporary European leaders is a psychological war through which they wreck havoc to their opponent’s plans by devastation this very opponent. However, the European strongmen have proven unable to use this effective tool in this concrete situation; they are now trying to save Russia’s name by justifying its aggression against Ukraine. Anyway, Ukraine’s present developments have proven that Russia has not backed down and is not even going to… the present status quo strongly suggests that Europe and America has lost its tug of war with Russia over Ukraine… Time will show us what will happen in the future,” concludes the expert.
“Abkhazia stands a strong chance of merging with Russia”
"Before the end of the year, Russia and the de-facto republic of Abkhazia may complete a new agreement under which they will create combined armed forces. If we believe the experts, the joint defense system with Russia will finally result in Abkhazia’s annexation. This issue has already been discussed between a newly appointed de-facto leader of Abkhazia and the Russian President, Vladimir Putin,” reports the Rezonansi gazette.
“If this plan between Abkhazia and Russia on creating collective armed forces comes to fruition, the issue of safeguarding our security will be instantly resolved. Naturally nothing is abnormal about our desire to create collective armed forces with Russia,” announced Mr. Khajimba.
"It is worth noting that Raul Khajimba plans to visit Moscow on September 25 after his inaugurating ceremony. The details regarding the agreement will presumably be publicized by then. As the Georgian citizens of Abkhazia maintain, after his inauguration, they will find it even more difficult to live in Georgia’s breakaway region. They have already called on the Georgian authorities to give them a helping hand and voiced concerns regarding a presumable move to banish them from Abkhazia,” says the article.
“In the words of Paata Davitaia, the European-democrats’ leader, Abkhazia stands a strong chance of becoming an integral constituent of Russia. “Some see nothing dangerous in their desire to unite troops. They cannot get that by doing this they want to create a united Russian system. The Abkhazians will have their own President and Legislative body that won’t be appointed by the Russian leader as it is done in the Crimean peninsula. By rights, a warrior must express his discontent over their move; however, the Russian leader has used a tactical maneuver here too – it is providing the warriors with good ammunition and salary … and why on earth would they now express their overt dissatisfaction? Thus, willingly or unwillingly, they are merging with the Russian Federation. In Tskhinvali they are already geared up for this scenario, however, annexing Tskinvali without Abkhazia does not fall in the Russian leader’s plans,” maintain Mr. Davitaia.
“The leader of European-Democrats has also expanded on the causes of this terrible situation and has accused the Government of taking inadequate steps. In his words, the only rational policy is voicing concern over the ongoing events and drawing the attention of the entire world; instead of this, the Government has adopted a lax stance and has passed the present developments off as something unimportant.“I know that each and every Georgian dreams of regaining Abkhazia; their dream seems impracticable though. Russia says to us: be mine and I will give you Abkhazia, while the West says, if you manage to join NATO, a solution to your problems will be found. I do not think that pinning hopes on others will bring us anything good though. We, Georgians, must handle our problems. We, Georgians, must sound alarms and force both parties to look at this situation from a different angle,” concludes the respondent.
