Getting my Georgia fix

Another country with more interesting politics than Germany: Georgia.

A mess of opposition groups are planning protests at the end of next week, calling on President Saakashvili to resign. Didn’t do them much good the [last time they tried it](http://ohuiginn.net/mt/2007/11/the_georgian_compromise_candid.html), back in 2007: Saakashvili called a quick election, won it easily, and then went back to his usual melange of market fundamentalism, temper tantrums, and russia-baiting. Maybe this time the opposition have a plan, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Saakashvili, meanwhile, is trying to undermine these opponents, by [accusing them of planning armed revolt](http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav032309c.shtml), and of being [Russian catspaws](http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/pp032809.shtml) – the latter because a politician’s husband met a Russian official around the time of an exiles’ get-together in Vienna a fortnight ago. [One theory](http://www.rferl.org/Content/Burjanadzes_Husband_Becomes_Focus_Of_Georgian_Political_Intrigue/1563251.html) is that Russia is intervening just enough to keep the Georgian politicans fighting like cats in a bag.

And for the people who want to forget politics, and pretend the world is all about tanks and pipelines? Well, I have a sneaking fear they’re right. The Russian army are [planning](http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav020609g.shtml) a military build-up in the separatist region of Abkhazia, while the US are [making promising noises](http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav033009a.shtml) about training the Georgian army.

That’s just the boring side of things; the ridiculous bits are better not written about on April Fools’ Day.

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