November 8, 2007 (LPAC)--The regime of Michael Saakashvili in the Republic of Georgia, which came to power in the so-called Rose Revolution of 2003, has been shaken by a week of street protests. On November 2, between 20,000 and 40,000 people turned out against Saakashvili. Yesterday, he sent Army troops into the streets of Tbilisi, first to defend the Parliament and government buildings, but then the troops deployed tear-gas and beat up demonstrators. Today, Saakashvili agreed to opposition demands to move up the next Presidential election to January 2008.
The demonstrations were led by the National Council, a coalition of ten diverse parties, formed in early October. The pretext for their coalescence was the arrest of former Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili, just two days after he accused Saakashvili of corruption and betrayal of the national interest. Okruashvili had been fired by Saakashvili at the end of last year. The Saakashvili-Okruashvili conflict is byzantine, involving the latter's association with Russian ex-tycoon Boris Berezovsky's partner Badru Patarkatsishvili, but it has allowed the underlying popular disgust with Saakashvili to come to the fore. Supposedly the proponent of democracy, Columbia University law graduate Saakashvili has done nothing to improve the economic conditions in Georgia. He has prioritized joining NATO, while possible Russian support of the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazina and South Ossetia remains a regional crisis detonator. Like other CIS countries, Georgia is experiencing soaring inflation of food and energy prices. Small businesses complain of oppression in Saakashvili's Georgia, while his tough-guy anti-crime laws have jailed petty offenders for long prison terms.
Saakashvili, attempting to shift the blame for the crisis to Russia, has accused Moscow of abetting the opposition, and an exchange of diplomatic expulsions is now under way. These events are significant not only for the citizens of Georgia, but for the region - Georgia being part of the Transcaucasus zone in the northeast corner of Southwest Asia.
