<http://advstage.washingtontimes.com/NewProof.html>
http://advstage.washingtontimes.com/NewProof.html
President Obama, Please Do Not Play
Host to Mikheil Saakashvili!
This is Another ‘Friend’ from Georgia that America Doesn’t Need
According to media reports, President Mikheil Saakashvili plans to visit
Washington in April to meet with U.S. officials, including Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton and possibly even President Barack Obama. The visit reportedly
was the fruit of a campaign by Saakashvili’s U.S. lobbying teams, newly
reinforced with two Democratic shops to augment his support on the Republican
side of the aisle.
Past essays in this space have documented Saakashvili’s erratic and dangerous
behavior, exemplified by his August 2008 attack on the Republic of South
Ossetia, which was swiftly repulsed by Russian forces; his increasingly
repressive policies toward the media and political opponents; and his
facilitation of jihad terrorist operations in the Caucasus region directed
against Russian targets.
Saakashvili’s newest expression of his provocative and obsessive hostility to
Russia unfolded the evening of Saturday, March 13, when Georgia’s Imedi
television station broadcast what was designed to look like live coverage of an
actual Russian attack on Georgia. The “coverage” included file footage of the
August 2008 fighting shown as current and the “report” that Saakashvili himself
was missing and may even have been killed. President Obama is shown with a
Georgian-language voice-over warning Russia to stop its military action.
The alarm of Georgian citizens was not quite at levels of Orson Wells’ 1938
“War of the Worlds” Martian invasion hoax, but it was serious enough: panic
buying of food and gasoline, mass withdrawals of cash from ATMs, and a tsunami
of calls that crashed Georgia’s cell phone system. Paramedics reported three
times the usual volume of emergency calls, many for apparent heart attacks.
Angry Georgians immediately gathered at Imedi to protest the broadcast.
Opposition leaders – some of whom, like Nino Burjanadze, a former Saakashvili
ally, were depicted on Imedi as gleefully supporting the Russian “aggression” –
blame Saakashvili for the broadcast. "I am absolutely sure that the president
himself was behind all this," she said.
Despite official denials, claims that the Saakashvili administration had
nothing to do with the “mockumentary” are implausible. Imedi, formerly critical
of Saakashvili, was shut down in 2007 and then reopened under strong government
influence, if not direct control.
U.S. Ambassador John Bass called the show “profoundly alarming,” irresponsible,
and not constructive. British Ambassador Denis Keefe expressed his outrage in
even stronger terms, protesting misleading use of archival footage of him
speaking about real events unrelated to the program's subject. The European
Union Monitoring Mission, which monitors the cease-fire in place after the
Georgia-Russia war, announced that such “irresponsible programming” could
destabilize the situation close to the boundary lines. “Dangerous and
significant incidents could have occurred,” said the Mission. “We call on all
those with positions of responsibility to fully consider the implications of
their actions in future.” But that’s just the problem: what can be expected
from Saakashvili in the future is more of the same.
It’s perhaps one thing if Georgians want their president to poke their powerful
neighbor in the eye to indulge Saakashvili’s reckless Russophobia or his
well-known desire to emulate his most infamous compatriot, Iosif Dzhugashvili,
also known as Joseph Stalin. But of course that’s not what ordinary Georgians
want. Along with the people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgians also have
paid a steep price for Saakashvili’s follies. There is no question that
Georgians can only benefit from a future without Saakashvili, restoration of
good-neighborly relations with Russia, and a settlement with South Ossetia and
Abkhazia, perhaps in a confederal arrangement. One should be reminded again and
again that both Abkhazia and South Ossetia were a part of Soviet Georgia only
because “Uncle Joe” redrew the regional map to his liking. But the process of
de-Stalinization of the former Soviet space is irreversible. However hard
Saakashvili may try to emulate his brutal precursor, his efforts to turn back
the clock can only make things worse.
Most pressing for us as Americans, however, is to make sure we are not drawn
into Saakashvili’s misadventures. It is now being reported that some officials
of the former George W. Bush Administration favored U.S. military action (or at
least the threat of it) against Russia in August 2008, risking a direct
Washington-Moscow military confrontation that, thankfully, had been avoided
during the Cold War. No American interest could possibly have justified such a
hazard, nor can any American interest be served by helping to prop up
Saakashvili’s sliding standing among his own people.
No matter how much lobbying money he spends – and given the level of U.S.
assistance to Georgia, we can perhaps catch a glimpse of our own recycled tax
dollars – Saakashvili needs to be told he is not welcome. Having wisely taken
the initiative to begin resetting our ties with Russia, a natural American ally
against global jihad ideology, President Obama should make it clear to
Saakashvili that he's worn out his welcome in Washington.
James George Jatras
formerly Foreign Policy Analyst, U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee, and
U.S. Foreign Service Officer
"Privately run Imedi is widely believed to have
close ties to Saakashvili’s government. Formerly an
opposition television station, Imedi was raided by
police during antigovernment protests in November
2007 and later sold off to private investors under
murky circumstances. Its ownership structure
remains opaque, but the station is run by Arveladze,
a close Saakashvili ally who once served as his chief
of staff."
- Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty
"Georgia has produced strong leaders: Stalin,
Beria, Gamsakhurdia [the post-Soviet leader],
even Shevardnadze before he became addicted to
power. They looked further than Georgia
alone. My husband does the same. He fits in the
tradition. This country needs a strong hand.
It is extremely important that respect for authority
returns. I think my husband is the right
person to frighten people."
- Saakashvili’s wife, Sandra Roeloffs
In an effort to secure a visit to Washington and a
meeting with the president, Saakashvili’s National
Security Council has secured the services of the
respected Podesta Group PR agency. The firm is
run by Tony Podesta, the brother of John Podesta,
the former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton
who was also the head of Obama’s transition team.
According to US Justice Department documents,
the PR professionals will provide "strategic counsel
to the principal on communicating priority
issues in the United States-Georgia bilateral
relationship to relevant US audiences, including
the US Congress, administration, media and policy
community." The country has also paid $436,800
to the lobbying firm owned by former Democratic
Party majority leader Dick Gephardt for its
services. During the summer of 2008 alone, officials
in Tbilisi spent around $1.7 million on lobbying
work in the United States.
- Der Spiegel, March 17, 2010
During the earlier years of the Saakashvili
administration the Government of Georgia boasted
strong ties with a firm called Orion Stategies, a
lobbying firm in Washington D.C., previously
run by Randy Scheunemann, a neo-conservative
politician with a close connection with Senator
McCain on the Georgian issue.
- The Georgian Times, March 15, 2010
Georgia can’t exist without sorting out its
relationship with Russia. If we want to get
Abkhazia and South Ossetia back, we have to speak
to Russia and assure them that our people want to
live together,"
- Former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze
"We have a really remarkable agreement with
Russia on transit flights. There are over 100 flights
now, and we are very pleased with this success.
It is a significant number and a really significant
contribution helping us get our forces and
equipment to Afghanistan."
- U.S. Deputy Special Representative for
Afghanistan and Pakistan Paul W. Jones
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