Obama suggests Saakashvili should think about successor

The first bilateral meeting between US President Barack Obama and his Georgian counterpart Mikhail Saakashvili could be the last. Obama promised to support Georgia on its way to NATO and sign a free trade treaty with Tbilisi, but only in case of “continuation of reforms, aimed at democratization and supremacy of law.”

“We hope Georgia will hold free and fair elections,” the US president emphasized. He meant the presidential elections 2013. Without fulfillment of this condition American promises seem to incorrect, and even Tbilisi admits it.

According to observers, a particular content of American proposals will be formed before President Saakashvili will leave his position.  It might happen before 2013, the head of the information-analysis agency Vestnik Kavkaza, Alexei Vlasov, thinks.

“Today Mikhail Saakashvili is the only obstacle on the way of Georgia toward NATO. Members of the North Atlantic alliance are afraid of the unpredictable Georgian president, who can involve the republic and the whole alliance into a military conflict with Russia at any moment, like in 2008,” Vlasov told Izvestia.

At the same time, Tbilisi will soon be needed by the US and NATO as a base for a military campaign against Iran. A wide-scale construction of hospitals in Georgia is in fact preparation for a hospital base for American soldiers, who will come from the Iranian front. Such a problematic person as Saakashvili is not favorable for Washington in such situation.

Alexei Vlasov thinks that most possible successors of the current president are Premier Nikolaz Gilauri and the mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava. The capital’s mayor is preferential for Americans, the expert says.

“In November 2011 Ugulava visited Baku. And Azerbaijani President welcomed him at the top level, while the US embassy in Baku conducted secret consultations with Tbilisi’s mayor,” Vlasov said.

Considering the character of Georgian policy, it won’t be a surprise if Saakashvili announces early resignation in favor of Gigi Ufulava, the expert adds. It would be the first time in the history of independent Georgia, when president is changed not through overthrowing.

Izvestia