грузия опять готовиться к войне

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18:24 07.08.2009

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WORLD REVIEW, AUGUST 5, 2009

Georgia and Russia: Experts speak about democracy in Georgia, Vladimir Ryzhkov on Russan foreign policy.

Georgia

\"Why is it that Americans have this fantasy about exporting freedom to former-Soviet republics when the man in charge -- no Lech Walesa or Vaclav Havel, to be sure -- is more committed to highly insulated personal power than democracy?\" asks Tsotne Bakuria, a former Member of Parliament from Georgia and co-founder of Georgians for Democracy in Washington, from the pages of The Washington Times (Cozying up uncautiously). His comment is on American help to Georgia and its President Mikheil Saakashvili who is regarded by the sceptics of the country`s political reality as the main culprit for the disastrous three-day war in South Ossetia in 2008.

The skepticism about the democratic development of the country is fed up by some disturbing events that happened during the years of Saakashvili presidency.

Months after the war Saakashvili was forced to repress a number of rallies against his government. Police used tear gas and clubs to beat down antigovernment demonstrators who protested against the corruption of the ruling party. Saakashvili`s government has been accused by the opposition for falsification of the last election results.

Freedom of speech in the country also seems endangered. The last report of Freedom House qualified the former Soviet republic as \"partly free.\" In November 2007 Georgian police burst into the main opposition television, Imedi, smashed cameras and treated harshly the employees. “The pretext for the raid — which silenced the channel — was a government claim that Imedi was fomenting unrest when it broadcast a statement by one of its founders, Badri Patarkatsishvili, promising to topple the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili,” wrote Dan Bilefsky and Michael Schirtz ( News Media Feel Limits to Georgia`s Democracy, The New York Times).

“Contrary to some expectations, Georgia has rebounded. Our democratic institutions are growing. Foreign investors are returning – says Saakashvili in a recent article, published in The Washington Post - Since the 2003 Rose Revolution, we have worked hard to replace a deeply corrupt, failing state with a modern, responsible state that is allied with the West; run by European standards; and committed to liberal democracy, free-market principles and peaceful relations with our neighbors…”

In the same article the Georgian President replies to his critics: “When domestic political protests emerged in April, my government pursued a policy of openness and restraint. We allowed protesters to illegally block the main avenue in Tbilisi for three months and then invited opposition leaders to begin a dialogue over reforms in our constitution, the handling of elections, the media and the judiciary… Last month, I committed to specific reforms with firm deadlines, including the direct election of mayors next May; a new electoral code and a consensus chair for our Central Election Commission; less power for the president and more for parliament; stronger sanctions against officials trying to influence judges; and a public television broadcasting board with equal representation of the governing and opposition parties.”

But Mark Lenzi, a director for the International Republican Institute in Georgia and Lincoln Mitchell, an assistant professor of international politics at Columbia University, argue that “while Georgia has indeed been a friend to America, demonstrating this by sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, it is certainly not a pure democracy.” They suggest that Washington have to withhold the military aid for Tbilisi, allocating the funds to strengthen democracy through the Georgian media, civil society, and electoral and judicial reforms.”(Georgia, One Year Later - New York Times)

Similar is the opinion of Ronald Asmus, executive director of the Brussels-based Transatlantic Center of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. In article for Financial Times he says that Tbilisi must cease focusing on its conflict with Russia, set aside the future status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia for the time being and regain its passion for democracy and reform at home. \"It is the only way to regain the political and moral high ground, attract foreign capital, convince the west to embrace it more firmly and keep open the hope of one day convincing the Abkhaz and South Ossetians to come back peacefully to a unified Georgia,\" says Asmus. (The west must not abandon Georgia again

Russia

Vladimir Ryzhkov, a State Duma deputy from 1993 to 2007, and a political talk show host on Ekho Moskvy, says in comment for Moscow Times (Kremlin Burning Bridges With Every Neighbor) that Russia has made a mistake with the conflict in Caucasus (Russian war with Georgia). Ryzhkov who is embarrassed by the isolationist and aggressive moves of Russian foreign policy thinks that Russia sacrificed its traditional bonds with the Russian ortho### population in Georgia \"for the highly questionable goal of wanting to maintain two microscopic puppet-satellite states (South Ossetia and Abkhazia) in one of the most explosive regions of the world.\"

Ryzhkov says that the aggressive foreign policy of Russia during the recent years brings more harm than good for the country, and the so-called \"national progress\" is nothing but illusion because Russian leaders with their politics of pressure have managed to alienate even its strongest allies.

Every country needs allies, even the most powerful, but today Russian old alliances are disintegrating. The alliance with Belarus is crumbling; the relationships with Armenia also suffered greatly during the days of the Russia-Georgia war. The war drove Yerevan to intensify its dialogue with Turkey. Russia has burned bridges with Turkmenistan too because of the Moscow`s gas war with Ukraine.

\"Russia`s unnecessarily antagonistic actions toward Ukraine have turned the otherwise \"brotherly relationship\" into a hostile one - writes Ryzhkov - In the 1990s, when Ukraine also had trouble paying for its imports of Russian gas, the shortfall was simply added to its external debt, which it later paid back. Today, Moscow `s actions have helped consolidate Ukrainian society around an anti-Russia platform, prompting Kiev to seek membership in the EU and NATO. It also pushed Ukraine toward formulating a new national idea that is based on a rejection of the historical fraternity between our two nations.\"

The Russian gas war with Ukraine disrupted the relationships with EU when more than 20 European countries were left without heat during the winter of 2009. Now Europe is looking for new gas suppliers and regards Russia as unreliable trade partner.

\"Prime Minister Vladimir Putin`s attempt to restore Russia`s influence over the former Soviet republics has failed miserably. Moscow`s standing in the region is weaker now than it was even eight years ago, when Putin took over the presidency from Boris Yeltsin,\" concludes Ryzhkov.

It is clear that the soft power in foreign politics is much more effective in today`s world than the old style aggressive behavior and the Russian leaders have to think about this. Concessions by foreign states, if they are made under pressure - political or economic - do not bring good results.

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