Each visit of Mikheil Saakashvili to the USA brings up the same question: will he have a chance to meet his American counterpart or not? Of course, when George Bush was in the office, there was no room for doubts: Saakashvili was considered to be the President’s personal friend. However, Obama adopted a much more restrained attitude towards Georgia in the framework of his ‘reload’ policy in relations with Russia. A full-scale presidential meeting between Saakashvili and Obama in accordance with all protocol standards was held only once, in November 2010, at the NATO Lisbon summit. And, as far as the US President was concerned, this meeting was aimed solely at demonstrating to Moscow Obama’s sincere aspiration to convince Georgia not to impede Russia’s entrance to the WTO. Nevertheless, Timur Yakobashvili, Georgian Ambassador to the USA, told VK that the US administration doesn’t pressure Georgia in any way in the matter. All other meetings between the two presidents have been informal. This time, Obama and Saakashvili had only a brief conversation during a lunch hosted by UN General Secretary.
However, experts advise paying more attention to the general trend, to the content of these conversations, rather than to their formal setting. “Formally, Obama follows the ‘reload’ course and doesn’t pay much attention to Georgian leader, who is declared ‘enemy number one’ by the Kremlin," David Avalishvili, an independent expert, told VK. "However, the true political intention of the USA is reflected in its refusal to pressure Georgia on the question of Russia’s admission to the WTO and by its continuing financial help granted to Georgia, as well as by the intentional negligence of the main Georgian opposition figure – ex-parliamentary speaker, Nino Burdjanadze.”
Before his address to the UN General Assembly, Saakashvili held a number of bilateral meetings. He discussed possible ways of gas and oil transportation to Europe, as well as the construction of new oil-processing plants in Georgia with the Kazakh leader. The Swiss President and Saakashvili talked about WTO negotiations and the compromise suggestion on South Ossetia and Abkhazia, stipulating international observers’ control over their borders with Russia. Saakashvili also discussed the possibility of an EU-Georgian common trade zone and a visa-free border regime with the President of Lithuania.
As always, Saakashvili was extremely optimistic during his visit to the US, made a lot of jokes and gave a lot of interviews. In his address to the UN General Assembly Saakashvili called on Russia to stop playing dubious games and thinking of zones of ‘geopolitical influence’ . He accused the Russian government of a military occupation of Georgian territories, as well as in adopting a dictatorial policy of embargo and trade blackmail towards Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova and of attempts to influence ethnic minorities in Baltic countries. According to the Georgian President, “the cold war is over, but the old Soviet habit of fomentation towards ethnic and religious hatred is still strong in Russia”. In this connection he mentioned the region of the North Caucasus, calling it a ‘black hole”.
Georgy Khukhashvili, an independent political expert, estimates this criticism to be less harsh that that of the Iranian president aimed at the US. He pointed out that Saakashvili focused on promoting current political and social developments in Georgia in the eyes of his European colleagues, instead of attacking Russia.
Nevertheless, according to the Georgian ruling party spokesman, Saakashvili managed to highlight all the negative factors influencing today’s situation in the region, namely, Russian politics. MP David Darchiashvili said that “our Western colleagues should finally comprehend that such events as the occupation of Georgian territories and the World Trade Center destruction stand in one row.
Opposition figures, however, are disappointed by the fact that Saakashvili didn’t mention Georgia’s severe social problems, while focusing on the subjects of geopolitics, global trends, etc. Kakha Dzaganya, one of the opposition leaders, told VK that it is ridiculous to talk about global problems and trends while Georgian citizens are literally forced to leave the country because of shortages and other social problems.
Georgy Kalatozishvili, exclusively to VK
