Press Digest 17.11.2014
The Nationals have failed to rally public opinion – Sandro Tvaltchrelidze
“The Nationals do not stand even the smallest chance of usurping power again. However, they will definitely try to provoke the people”
The President, the Prime Minister and their Black Cats – are the relations between the two high officials thawing?
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The Nationals have failed to rally public opinion – Sandro Tvaltchrelidze
“The National Movement has failed to manipulate the public and I think they will fail to do this in the future too. Privatizing national values is something totally inadmissible. Typecasting yourself as the only upholder of the European course as well the country’s territorial integrity will bring you nothing good. The western course is the Georgian peoples’ choice. Our people will never again take the bait cast at them by the mendacious Nationals. We have incrementally step by step managed to collect political wisdom. A month ago, they tried to gather some people from the regions of Samegrelo, Atchara as well as other regions of Georgia for their rally; however, despite their vigorous efforts, they did not manage to collect more than 7-8 thousands of them. It’s immensely good that the government succeeded in maintaining order and did everything to avoid clashes and physical altercations at the rally despite the fact that the risk for this was really high there. As you know, while in office, Saakashvili and the National Movement pelted Georgia with a myriad of mishaps, over 9 years, they never allowed their own people to breathe freely, and, obviously, their appearance at the political arena or on TV is like a red cape to a bull for our people,” states expert Sandro Tvaltchrelidze in his interview with the Kviris Palitra gazette.
“As a rule, I share the President’s position regarding a number of issues; however, many of his opinions raise questions too. Frankly speaking, I did not very much like his statements regarding their move to serve two masters as well as his eagerness to focus on double standards. It is true that he has not stated this directly, and I may easily be mistaken but in my opinion, in his statements he implicated the government’s foreign policy. We are going through an extremely bad patch today, and we are forced to walk on very thin ice which is why today we are simply not entitled to disregard Russia’s existence and run with incredible speed to the West. There is not even a shadow of doubt that we have taken the path to the West and we are not going to forego our Euro-Atlantic aspirations; clearly though, we must move forward with our plans extremely carefully and heedfully. There is no need for haste in similar situations. Precipitate decisions and unmeasured steps will bring us nothing good, and the Russia-Georgian war of 2008 has already proven this,” contends Sandro Tvaltchrelidze.
"I do agree with the Chief Executive’s opinions regarding the necessity to pass reforms within the Chief Prosecutor’s Office. A short time ago, I gauged the steps by the body and released a statement similar to that of the President. The question: who will control the Prosecutor’s Office bothers me too. Martin Luther’s well-known question: “who will control those who control others?” once posed to the Holly Inquisition is what is echoed in our country today,” claims the expert.
“Unfortunately, today we lack the tools that would control some people by thwarting them in taking arbitrary steps. Precisely this is the reason why our western colleagues so frequently pose us questions regarding the alleged political persecution in the country. Let’s see what will happen in the future and how the issue of our Defense Ministry will be sorted out. Anyway, I’m sure if our court fails to do this, the Strasburg court will render a not-guilty verdict and will declare the apprehended high-officials as innocent. It’s obvious that our Prosecutor’s are unable to do their job well; they show their unprofessionalism every now and again, and namely, when it comes to issues linked to extraditing this or that former criminal top official back to Georgia. And as far as I can see, you yourself have seen all their requests to extradite them have been left unheeded thus far. And all this makes me think that only foreign professionals can lead us out of this messy situation today,” maintains Mr. Tvaltchrelidze.
“The Nationals do not stand even the smallest chance of usurping power again. However, they will definitely try to provoke the people”
"Mikheil Saakashvili financial resources cannot really be defined as meager; however, the Government is not as disintegrated today as it was years ago, and these great financial resources will hardly help him in realizing his plans in Georgia. Thus, I am openly stating the Nationals do not stand even the smallest chance of coming into power again. However, they will definitely stir the public to throw the country into disarray by trying to manipulate them and heating up conflicts in the country. Thus, we are expected to deal with the remolded Nationals which will probably take up the reigns Georgia… As you know, this political force is even ready to make a deal with devil in order to achieve its objectives,” states Former Security Minister, Valeri Khaburdzania, in his interview with the Asaval-Dasavali gazette.
“Believe me they don’t care about our chosen political vector. They simply aim to heighten tensions and push people to rebellion. A statement regarding Kakha Bendukidze’s untimely death, in fact, made it clear that the Nov. 15 rally is the beginning of the end of the present Government’s era. It’s obvious that troubles are brewing and some schemes against the acting authorities are being hatched… hence, the Government must be immensely heedful and take well-measured steps only by adopting some radical measures and bringing the betrayers and those who spur the public to rebellion to light,” states Mr. Khaburdzania.
“Fear made us back down once. In 2003, information saying that revolutions were planned to be held in Georgia was passed onto me; however, we faced an absolutely different political reality in those days. Even talks regarding this issue got on the people’s nerves then; that is why the only person who I warned regarding the pending danger was Zurab Zhvania, to whom I also gave my word of honor that I would jail all trouble-makers stirring our people to rebellion. These were words from a loudmouth man though as, actually, the tools to incarcerate all rebels were not in my hands then,” says the respondent.
To the question “who is Irakli Alasania in reality,” Valeri Khaburdzania replies:
"Irakli Alasania is even more American than Americans require from him. From the very beginning, I knew perfectly well that he was the Americans’ man which is why I tenured him as my secretary as I hoped that by doing this we would manage to find the most advantageous balance between the interests of the Russians and Americans. However, I found myself in really deep trouble in the end. They did not hold back from typecasting me as the pursuer of the Russians’ interests. And Irakli Alasania supported these disgraceful indictments both openly and secretly. They planned to appoint Mr. Alasania as Minister of Security in the transitional period. Nino Burjanadze and Zurab Zhvania also backed them then. As for Mikheil Saakashvili, he always viewed Alasania as an up-and-coming politician and as his rival which is why he removed him from his post. Later by the Americans’ order, he was elected as the Chairman of the Abkhazian Government and shortly after this Saakshvili secured himself by sending him to the UNO…”
The President, the Prime Minister and their Black Cats – are the relations between the two high officials thawing?
"After several months of confrontation between Gharibashvili and Margvelashvili, the latter declared that some MPs pushed the PM to get involved into confrontations with him; however, in his words, he abstained from taking this step. According to the President, incisive remarks and diatribe against him has given him a foundation for making similar statements. Who added fuel to the fire by encouraging the Prime Minister to worsen relations with the President? Giorgia Margvelashvili has held back from answering this question. Although most frequently he took Aasania’s team members to task and this makes us think that in the above-mentioned political biggies he implicated the former Ministers, Maia Panjikidze and Alexi Petriashvili. It would be interesting to know why out of the blue our Chief Executive decided to strike a conciliatory tone by blaming other top officials of attempting to incite the rift between him and the Prime Minister,” reports the Rezonansi gazette in the article under the title: The President, the Prime Minister and their Black Cats.
“The President’s former Counselor has also not restrained from proclaiming his opinions regarding the confrontation between the two high officials, and almost all analytical experts have also unanimously admitted that the conflict between them was triggered by Ivanishvili’s move to come down on Mr. Margvelashvili. As you know, first the former PM issued his statement in March and announced that the President has shown his real face and by doing this has let him down. The first sign directly pointing at the gap between the President and the Government was the fact that while delivering his annual speech, all ministers refused to attend the session. And similar nuances added fuel to the fire by exacerbating already tensed situation,” says the article.
“Gharibashvili refused to appear along with Margvelashvili in public. The President and the Premier hosted foreign leaders in different buildings. Each time when it came to signing this or that document they bickered and brawled. The officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were allegedly extremely eager to work against the President. As his former advisor, Vano Matchavariani maintains the Foreign Ministry tried its best to disrupt the President’s international visits. To back up his statement, he brought the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague to which an invitation was allegedly extended to the Chief Executive; however, the body sent them a letter saying that instead of Margvelashvili, the summit would have been attended by the Head of the Government. In addition, Mr. Matchavariani stressed that the Government also sought to disrupt the meeting between the Georgian leader and Joe Biden. “By achieving this objective, they simply aimed at showing their unflinching loyalty to the former as well as the acting Prime Minister,” declared the President’s former advisor. However, Maia Panjikidze and Alexi Petriashvili, where two ministers that took the cake by passing the harshest judgment and criticism on Giorgi Margvelashvili, reads the paper.
“Precisely Panjikidze and Petriashvili were the first ministers who openly declared that the Association Agreement should have been signed by Irakli Gharibashvili under any circumstances. The same could be said about other paramount meetings at which, in their words, the PM should have been present and not the President. And, believe it or not, after this immensely tensed situation, the President decided to announce that the Prime Minister was encouraged by some MPs to get involved in confrontations with him. As it appears, unrelenting criticism from some ministers pushed him to the aforementioned deduction,” concludes the author of the article.
