Georgi Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi, exclusive to VK
Mikhail Saakashvili accused the Russian leadership of harboring "anti-Georgian insidious plans" and of thr bribery of Prime Minister Ivanishvili, advising his countrymen to prepare for a brighter future, when Russia through nationalism comes to freedom and democracy.
Speaking to students in their residence of Avlabar, Saakashvili explained why, in 2008, Moscow decided to use military force against Georgia: "In those years, the price of oil was at its absolute peak, and it was even said that it will rise to $ 500 per barrel ... Russia expected to make hundreds of billions of dollars by this. Of course, in this situation, Putin did not consider anyone or anything and decided to attack Georgia. "
Now, according to Saakashvili, "Russia continues to build wire fences in the occupied territory, and again uses the provocation, undermining our image in the international arena." According to the president of Georgia, "compliant policies" of the current government led by Bidzina Ivanishvili has no effect, as "Putin believes that the current government of Georgia should give up everything, not just the part ... He gave the Prime Minister of Georgia $ 2 billion and that therefore feels entitled to demand from him everything".
Georgian leader is likely to mean that the Kremlin did not prevent Ivanishvili to sell significant assets in Russia. According to experts, in 2011-2012, Ivanishvili really managed to gain for the bankof "Russian credit", agro-industrial corporation "Stoylenskaya Niva", pharmacies "Doctor Stoletov" and the construction companies involved in development of Moscow, one to two billion dollars. In Georgia, there is a perception that concluding the transaction of such financial scale is possible only with the tacit approval and support of the Russian government, especially since many businessmen who gained Ivanishvili’s property are known for their closeness to the ruling circles.
Conspiracy theories are always based on a certain psychological type of part of Georgian society and political class, especially opponents of Ivanishvili. However, psychologists often say, "If you are paranoid, it does not mean that you are not being watched." Saakashvili believes that a critical moment for the country will come right after the Olympic Games in Sochi. "Before the Olympics even Russia will restrain itself, but imagine what it'll do right after the Olympics!", he wanted to frighten the audience of students. Saakashvili called prescription against "the insidious plans of Russia" the refusal to sign any treaty with Moscow: "Shevardnadze signed everything that he was given and the results were devastating."
"Having exposed the aggressive plans of Moscow", Saakashvili went on to forecast the future of the Russian state, explaining the need for such an analysis by inevitability of major changes in Russia: "These changes will occur much more quickly than many people think. Russian nationalism will replace Russian imperialism. Russian nationalism is much safer for Georgia, at least initially, than imperialism. Having passed the stage of nationalism, Russia will become a democratic country with which everything will be easy and comfortable. "
The most interesting and remarkable of the escapades of the president seems to be his speculations on nationalism and empire, in the discourse of their incompatibility, as well as a very strange statement that Russian nationalism is less dangerous for Georgia than imperialism.
By and large, Georgia as a country would cease to exist and just would not take place as a state without the Russian imperialism in the end of 18th – the beginning of 19th centuries, when fighting for access to warm seas and geopolitical "springboard jump" to the coveted Constantinople as the most important factor of the triple identity of "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality" Russian Empire saved and preserved Georgian identity from total destruction, until the physical extermination of the ethnic group, as the carrier of the identity.
It is a historical fact, even if it is very "uncomfortable" today, but with regard to Russian nationalism, it is unclear why Saakashvili said that it is "less dangerous" or even the "transitional phase" before democracy.
The rapid flow of presidential thoughts makes it impossible to catch the logic based on historical examples to demonstrate its correctness. At least the bloody history of Europe over the previous two centuries suggests that just an attempt to create a "nation-state» («Etat - Nation») has led to untold hardships and even attempts to complete the extermination of peoples living in the neighborhood or “within the nation”, according to the ideological progenitors of modern fighters against long noses and swarthy skin color under the perfectly national slogan "Stop feeding the Caucasus ", sometimes spilling into the call to "kill the black".
