Category: Russia

Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation statement with English subtitles

March 10, 2010 by georgiamedia

This is Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation statement on 8 November 2007 - for the first time (we believe) with English subtitles.

The contrast with the statement of the previous day (see here) could hardly be clearer.

As is so often the case with Saakashvili when he felt weak (as on 7 November) he appeared contrite and conciliatory, saying the day before that he thought the vast majority of the opposition were patriots and not involved in any foreign conspiracy.

Now that his police force have beaten the opposition off the streets, smashed up the country's most popular TV station and demonstrated that they are able to act above the law in association with masked and armed gangs, he feels confident enough to change his story and label the events of the previous day as a defence of democracy against a pre-planned foreign attack.

The anti-pluralist mindset of the president is also apparent: he regards the fact that no-one of any significance disagrees with him or is able to exert significant influence in the state is a good thing. Overall the speech feels more like the Czar telling his subjects how good he is to them rather than that of a democratic president asking for a new endorsement.

Once again we have used Civil.ge's translation. Let us know of any errors or omissions.

Update: Unfortunately the first upload suffered from sychronisation problems, hopefully the version here now is better, but the poor quality of the original video remains - though we have cleaned up the sound somewhat. If you want your own copy you can download an AVI file from here.

Irakli Alasania comments on his campaign and Nino Bujanadze's trip to Moscow

March 8, 2010 by georgiamedia

Irakli Alsania, leader of the Alliance for Georgia and candidate for mayor of Tbilisi says that, although he has little money with which to mount an election campaign, he is picking up volunteers who are getting his message out door-to-door in Tbilisi.

Currently the "air war" - the electoral battle in the mass media, particularly the broadcasters - is dominated by incumbent mayor Gigi Ugulava while the opposition seem only to gain coverage for the interminable dispute over should be the single opposition candidate for the mayor's office.

But if the opposition can make inroads in the "ground war" - the hard slog of door-to-door talking and voter mobilisation they could begin to significantly dent Ugulava's undoubted current advantage.

Alasania is having to walk a fine line: pressing home his status as what most agree is the opposition's front-runner to squeeze other opposition candidates' votes while avoiding getting personally drawn into a slanging match with anyone other than the mayor - who has managed to stay above the fray precisely because of the opposition's internal divisions.

Now, says Alasania, in an interview with the Georgian Times, that has to change:

My political force, the Alliance, and myself as a candidate are going to be fully involved in campaigning, in making people understand that we are offering a change, a change for better. We are going to do a better job for them when we are the local government, in the Mayor’s office. For me these few months before the elections will be about campaigning and bringing change to the population.

...at this point we are financing the campaign with our own resources and we do not have much of an operation in the regions now for that reason. But I want to declare that we have a lot more volunteers working for us now. Door to door and town hall meetings will be important for our campaign, and these do not require much money. It requires just will and effort from the political side to be engaged in a direct dialogue with the population of Tbilisi.
 

Asked about fromer parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze's trip to Moscow, the former Georgian ambassador to the UN doubted it would have any lasting impact on Russian-Georgian relations:

I think the Georgian-Russian relationship has a future, but it will be a long time before we start political talks on the most sensitive issue for Georgia, which is the fulfillment by the Russian Federation of the agreement of August 12 2008 which requires them to leave Georgian territory. I do believe that political talks can lead naturally to the fulfillment of this agreement, but first and foremost I think we have at this point to concentrate all our efforts on containing Russia, not soliciting more aggressive behaviour from it, and start building our relationship with the Abkhazian and Ossetian population step by step. At this point I do not see any breakthrough possible through talks between the opposition and the Government of the Russian Federation. When we are in government after wining the elections, then of course we will start cementing our foreign policy priorities towards Russia as well.
 

Further signs of warming of Georgian-Iranian relationship

March 8, 2010 by georgiamedia

In another sign of the imporving relationship between Georgia and Iran, both countries have agreed to waive visa requirements on each other's nationals, reports Tehran's official Fars news agency, quoting vice-president Mohammad Reza Rahimi.

In January Georgia denied reports that foreign minister Grigol Vashadze had apologised in Iran for the assisting with the arrest and extradition of Iranian arms-dealer Amir-Hossein Ardebili. But the foreign minister's visit also marked a clear drawing together of the countries - a process that began with the Iranian's opposition to Russia's actions in the August war of 2008.

This weekend also saw a notable worsening of Iranian - Russian relations, with the Islamic Republic ordering Russian pilots to leave the country.

Mikheil Saakashvili's televised address on 7 November 2007 with English subtitles

March 7, 2010 by georgiamedia

This address is not just here for historical reasons - though we think it is the only subtitled version of this address that is available, so it is important in that sense.

It gives a real insight into the character and political praxis of Mikheil Saakashvili. Part histrionic, part hectoring, it is the work of a show man but also someone possessed of a close-to-messianic view of their own historical importance.

Some points worth noting are:

• He fails to announce he has actually declared a state of emergency and ordered special forces to storm the Imedi TV station (which happened within an hour of the end of this address)
• He spends much of the twenty three minutes telling his audience he is in favour of human rights and freedom of expression before spending the last few minutes saying that he will not tolerate public division because - apparently - it looks bad on foreign television
• He says that the majority of the Georgian opposition are true patriots - he has spent much of the two years since claiming the opposite
• He claims to have concrete evidence that the oppoition - or at least party of it - is engaged in a concrete conspiracy with Russian secret services - yet sixteen months later nobody has been convicted in even a Georgian court for this
• He claims that the Georgian judiciary are well able to able to hold the executive to account - these days even he admits that the judiciary is not up to scratch

The transcript is based on that provided by Civil.ge - please let us know of any errors or omissions, either in the comments box or by email (georgiamediacentre@gmail.com). Because of the way he garbles parts and appears to cut his microphone off on at least two occassions, while at other times racing through his text, the translation and the speech are at times somewhat out of synch - but we have tried to keep it readable.

Fallout over Moscow: reactions to Nino Burjanadze's visit

March 5, 2010 by georgiamedia

Once again the state-controlled media in Georgia are giving more time to events in a foreign country - Russia - than in Georgia.

Previously the target of their venom was Zurab Noghaideli, now it is Nino Burjanadze, whose decision, seemingly taken close to the last minute, to meet Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, unleashed a torrent of abuse on last night's evening news bulletins - the first fifteen minutes of the 9pm Kurieri bulletin on Rustavi 2 were essentially given over to people attacking her.

If the earlier demonisation of Noghaideli is any guide then we can expect more to follow - such as mock executions.

But Burjanadze's decision to meet Putin also caused consternation in some parts of the opposition where there had been a more muted reaction to her initial decision to go.

The ex-speaker did little to build alliances by telling reporters as she left Georgia that she was engaged in "big politics" while they were grubbing around in a battle over trivialities such as the mayoralty of Georgia. But in meeting with Putin she had crossed the line in the views of many.

Gruzia Online, reports on the Berdzenishvili brothers (unfortunately it does not make clear which one), leaders of the Republican party, saying: "Since she, inside the country, did not have sufficient support [to win elections], she attempts by using the Russian factor to achieve goal ... Actually what has happened is that one of the authors of November 7 [when Georgian police attacked peaceful demonstrations] proposes war game [ie Gigi Ugulava who played at beinga general in the war of August 2008], remaining two - then chairman of parliament [Bujanadze] and premier [Noghaideli] - servitude of Russia. None of of these of ways is right. None of these ways is correct. The way of Georgia is the same, as that taken by Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Rumania and other countries. Now they are part of both NATO and in the European Union. The only thing that will protect us from Russian aggression is the North Atlantic alliance."