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.
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.
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