May 29, 2008
Georgian politics
Yesterday, I was at an excellent bookstore in Tbilisi (Prospero’s Books) where they have quite a big section for English-languaged books. I bought two books: Stories I Stole by Wendell Steavenson and Georgia Diary by Thomas Goltz. I have begun with the Wendell book, and I find it quite enjoyable to recognize this country and city in the pages of this 6 year old book.
Today, I then read the Georgia News Digest from the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, and I read things like:
Speaking during a televised session of Georgia’s National Security Council on May 27, Saakashvili stated that Russia could no longer be trusted to act as an impartial peace-broker in Abkhazia. Moscow, he insisted, “pretends to play at peacekeeping” in Abkhazia and such misbehavior “annuls this peacekeeping role.”
“It is absolutely clear that Georgia cannot remain in such a situation when we all, together with our international partners, are sitting and waiting for [a new] provocation,” he said. Saakashvili did not specify precisely how Tbilisi would try to overhaul Abkhazia’s peacekeeping format.
If Russia does not agree to a Georgian proposal to change the peacekeeping format in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone, Tbilisi could declare Russian peacekeepers occupiers, a Georgian MP said Wednesday.
US Deputy Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff has made comments about a report on “an incident occurred at 09:53.31 local time on 20 April 2008, when “a MIG-29 “Fulcrum” Russian fighter jet shot down an unarmed Georgian reconnaissance drone (UAV) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs over Georgian territory”.
[Presenter] The incident in which Georgian buses came under fire on the day of the parliamentary election [21 May] was staged. This statement was made today by the state security service of the unrecognized republic of Abkhazia. It refers to the incident in Zugdidi Region; the footage was shown on the Georgian [TV] channel Rustavi-2.
According to Tbilisi, the vehicles carrying Georgian voters were fired on from the direction of Abkhazia. Sukhumi, however, says it has evidence to the contrary. [Russian] peacekeepers, who have a road block just 500 m. from the scene of the incident, have also confirmed that fire was opened from Georgian territory.
All of these quotes are from different news channels that I do not know well, and I am uncertain what to think of them. I do know that the stakes are high: Both the U.S. and Russia wants as much control in this area as possible. Behind every press release, there is a web of intentions and history that I cannot decode currently. I am reading up on the political history, but it takes time: This is a complex region and I don’t want to jump to conclusions.
At the moment, I am merely trying to get to know some people here and follow the news.