Within 10 feet of Greatness!

There I was, sitting in my favourite spot outside the Neringa Hotel, minding my own business, when the road cleared magically, and suddenly a cavalcade of government cars shot by. 't was Angela Merkel and Mr President Valdas Adamkus rushing along no doubt from the Parliament (and the currently very sensitive memorials of the 1991 events) to the President's Palace. Our President's feelings about Russia are well-known - at times his behaviour is rather petty (I can't believe that when the new Russian ambassador arrived [incidentally a military man with a Georgian surname] the president refused to see him for a fortnight, blaming a full diary). Their exchange of views will have been frank, I suspect.

Strangely, on the German news a few hours later, not a whisper was heard about Lithuania, only about Estonia where it seems she had also been on the same day. The Estonians expressed their feelings about Russia and the Russia language volubly (in English). They said, and they are probably right, that Russia was not a (rational) nation like Western states and should not be treated as such. Germany tends to have a policy of cautious approachment, not entirely in sync with most Western countries, and certainly not in sync with the Baltic states.

The sad demise of Saakashvili

Interesting article here. It reflects much of what the Spanish paper said on Saturday.

But.....did he really compare his country to a girl in a miniskirt, which some people might see as an invitation to rape her?

Things are not looking good - according to Rustavi2, the Russians still seem to be in the country, running over police vehicles, and trying to take the town of Borjomi (deep in Georgia) - the latter was prevented by the plucky police of Borjomi.

¡Ellos están locos, los georgianos!

I go off to Spain, and Mr Saakashvili goes off to Tskhinvali, with all his tanks. Then he gets bopped on the head by the Russian and he cries and cries and cries.

What in God's name was he thinking of?

Now the media are full of how horrible the Russians are, invading another country and all that. And yes, their reaction was, and continues to be, excessive, but please - Who Started Up the Bloody Problem? I had always thought it would not happen (I had anticipated Abkhazia before South Ossetia) because any such war would surely scare off any investors and totally mess up the country's economy. (Apart from having spent most of the last year working up a budget for 'my' part of Georgian government expenditure).

The British and US media are full of how hard done by Georgia is. Yes, it is, by the President it probably did not elect, given the reality of the last elections, despite what OSCE and other election observers rushed to say the minute the polling closed.

The Spanish media, well, ok, one medium, are more balanced, describing Saakashvili as 'incansable' (unflagging) and as one who his western friends have been trying to calm down since he took office. With little success, it would seem. Yesterday, 'El Pais' described how Georgia accepted with 'rage' the ceasefire (not much observed by the Russians). Apparently Saakashvili called the Russians every name under the sun, and he was also 'visibly angry and saying bad words' (malediciendo) about the Westerners. According to the Spanish media, Saakashvili has been omnipresent on US TV, so much so that they wondered how he could run a country (at war!) at the same time.

Meanwhile Rustavi2, the state TV channel of Georgia, says that Medvedev has signed the ceasefire deal. Not before the Russians cut off the railwayline to the west of Georgia and apparently set part of the Borjomi forest on fire (40 ha, not quite a cause for ecological catastrophe, as the channel describes, I would have thought).

Not sure whether there is a great deal of point in my project continuing - so close to success. The government will surely have other priorities now, and the forecast economic growth will surely not happen.