Press Digest 03.12.2014
Is Mr. Gharibashvili paying a visit to Ukraine to present the Ukrainian government with compromising materials against the former Georgian high officials?
Moldova’s European prospects and its advantages over Georgia
“They may be engaged in some secret negotiations with Russia”
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Is Mr. Gharibashvili paying a visit to Ukraine to present the Ukrainian government with compromising materials against the former Georgian high officials?
"New Government of Ukraine is distributing high posts to Mikheil Saakashvili and his entourage. Saakashvili himself was offered the post of Vice-premier; he refused this position though. If we can credit anything coming from Saakashvili, he refused this post because of the fact that if he accepted it, he would have been bound to obtain Ukrainian citizenship. According to him, if he took this step, he would have automatically been stripped of his Georgian citizenship which he was not ready to lose so easily. However, this has changed absolutely nothing in the end – the fact is that the Georgian government pressed charges against this man, he was even declared wanted via Interpol and after all this, believe it or not, Ukraine that has been dubbed as our friend for years has offered a high post to the criminal Georgian ex-President. The same can be said regarding Mr. Adesihvili too. To cut it short, the Nationals that have pelted our country with incalculable mishaps are being granted high posts in Ukraine. Are these people at their wit’s end? What is going on in their country? What do we have to deal with? Why is the Ukrainian government “enchanted” by the former Georgian criminal officials? Unfortunately, these questions have remained open thus far,” reports the Alia gazette.
"This means that Ukraine is suffering from a desperate deficit in personnel. The same could be said regarding us as well but despite this we have never granted a high post to a citizen of a foreign country. This issue has never even risen in Georgia so far. Salome Zurabishvili’s case may be viewed as an exception; however, actually, her case is different. Salome Zurabishvili is Georgian, she is a descendant of the Georgian emigrants and we could have easily granted her a responsible position,” maintains Ramaz Sakvarelidze.
“We can assume that the West is simply trying to reanimate the National Movement; however, we can only suppose, we cannot conclude anything as the West has not given us pretence to accuse it of doing this. Although, we know that the Nationals enjoy favor from a great deal of western officials. They very often cover for the nationals and protect them despite the fact that they are not in need of protection,” states Mr. Sakvarelidze.
“The Ukrainian government is making extremely bizarre decisions today and this obviously will result in the decay of our relations. Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili is departing for Ukraine soon to meet some Ukrainian high officials there. I speculate that Mr. Gharibashvili is paying a visit to Ukraine for one purpose -- to pass extremely important information regarding our former officials onto the Ukrainian authorities,” concludes the respondent.
Moldova’s European prospects and its advantages over Georgia
"Geographic orientation with Europe, goodwill of Rumania, people with European views and ideology, extremely ardent and motivated government – these are the key features which, as some politicians allege, creates more chances for Moldova to join the European Union than for Georgia. Precisely due to these advantages over our country, the Moldovan leader released an extremely bold statement saying that Moldova is entitled to find its niche in the large western family,” reports the Rezonansi gazette.
"As you know, unlike Georgia, Moldova has already enjoyed visa-free travel with the EU and this means that on the path to the EU, Moldova has left us and Ukraine behind by a long distance. Under these circumstances, we also cannot exclude that this country will enjoy the status of a leader country among the eastern partnership states,” says the article.
“In order to follow in Moldova’s footsteps and enjoy the same privileges, as political expert Soso Tsintsadze claims, we must back our bold statements with actions and must implement the European lifestyle in our country actually and not superficially. “Moldova is nearer to Europe than Georgia; plus, it borders Rumania, where thousands of Moldovan students receive higher education, and this naturally is a huge pro-European force. Like us, Moldova is a destitute and impoverished state; however, its geographic proximity with Europe is not a nonissue. That is the reason why despite the fact that we have a lot of in common with this country, differences between us are still prevalent. Take the radically different political situation inside the two countries as an example,” declares Mr. Tsintsadze.
“The Moldovan authorities have already succeeded in establishing visa-free travel with Europe and this, obviously, is a huge step forward. It’s also true that the citizens of Moldova cannot get a job in Europe but having visa-free travel with Europe is still a great accomplishment,” claims the expert.
“As for the allegation saying that Moldova will be granted the status of a leader country of the eastern partnership, as Mr. Tsintsadze maintains, this allegation does not ring true as a leader state of Eastern partnership has always been Ukraine. “A country with its 3 million people like Georgia or Moldova cannot obviously be compared with such a huge country as Ukraine, and arguing regarding this issue is simply ridiculous... Today, Moldova has lagged us behind because of one reason – the leading team has been involved in endless political spats and in the wake of this the core issue that was to be handled as soon as possible was put aside,” asserts political expert Mr. Kikiani.
“They may be engaged in some secret negotiations with Russia”
"They may be holding some secret negotiations with Russia and we, ordinary people, may simply be kept in an information vacuum. However, it’s also an actual fact that the government needs to retain the Abashidze-Karassin format,” states political expert Tornike Sharashenidze.
As for another political expert, Ramaz Sakvarelidze, he thinks that Georgia is more motivated to maintain diplomatic relations with Russia than the latter which is why those who demand to drop the dialogue with this country are serving the Russian leader’s interests. “By all odds, we’ve expected more from the Abashidze-Karassin format; however whether this way or that we all know that this format should not be eliminated,” announced Davit Bakradze.
"In his words, an unofficial dialogue between Abashidze and Karassin does not center on political issues; however, some political events such as the recently finalized agreement between Russia and Abkhazia have had its influence on this format too. From his part, Russian Foreign Minister, Gregory Karassin, declared that a pause has not accrued and they are still striving to thaw relations with Georgia. “We have not dropped our attempt to normalize relations with Georgia. The term “pause” is incorrect; sometimes people just need time to thoroughly measure everything and decide what kind of steps to take in the future. I do not like the word “pause.” We will definitely ramp up efforts to normalize relations with this country to the fullest possible extent. Along with the Georgian statesmen, we will put our heads together to outline the future action plan and decide how to cooperate in the future. In my mind, we will meet each other before the New Year. The precise date of the meeting will most likely be scheduled soon,” stated Mr. Karassin.
“If we believe political expert Ramaz Sakvarelidze, Georgia seeks to mend ties with Russia more vigorously than the latter. In the words of Mr. Sakvarelidze, Russia is an occupant and holding a dialogue with Georgia definitely does not fall within its interests. He also affirms that the powers that are against the dialogues between Abashidze and Karassin are simply serving the interests of the aggressor country. “Russia has grabbed our territories and a dialogue with our authorities does not obviously suit it today,” asserts the expert.
“As for political expert, Tornike Sharashenidze, he does not rule out that the Georgian authorities are involved in some kind of secret negotiations with Russia. According to him, the aforementioned format has exhausted its resources and is now unable to bring us any prolific results. “It’s obvious that the Georgian government needs a communication channel with Russia. They may easily be engaged in some secret negotiations with this state and we, ordinary people, may simply be kept in an information vacuum,” concludes the expert.
