Mikheil Saakashvili’s peak

Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

President Saakashvili is bored without power. Saakashvili has to live out the last days of his presidency in his huge palace. To entertain himself, he decided to climb Mount Kazbek – a peak in the eastern part of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Chain, which is 5047 metres high. In Georgia it is called Mkinvartsveri, i.e. “glacier.”

Kazbek is not only the most beautiful, but also the most dangerous peak in the Caucasus. It is called “climbers’ killer”: the higher than 4 km weather changes every few minutes and snow covers treacherous clefts. Even though Saakashvili planned to climb the peak using a safer path, he needed intensive training – he has never climbed mountains.

However, Saakashvili decided to take a risk – he often tries to demonstrate courage after the well-known episode during the five-day war when he ran away frightened by the sound of a Russian strike aircraft. That is why the President sometimes drives a small aircraft, pretending he is alone in the cockpit, whilst an experience pilot is always near him. The same thing happened when climbing Kazbek – experienced climbers followed the President, as well as the former aide of President Putin, Andrey Illarionov. It is difficult to say how the Russian economist occurred in harness with Saakashvili, but Illarionov long ago began to admire Saakashvili’s reforms and thinks he is not guilty of starting the war of 2008.

After several attempts, Saakashvili and his friends managed to climb on to the peak of Kazbek and raise the flags of Georgia and Russia there. “Despite all difficulties, I conquered Mkinvartsveri together with one of the leaders of the Russian opposition, Andrey Illarionov. We used mountain-climbing ropes and other equipment,” the new climber wrote. Moreover, he reports that he devotes the climb to “the innocent victims of the aggression against Georgia in 2008 and the future friendship between Russia and Georgia.” According to Saakashvili, “standing on the peak of Kazbek, you can see how outstandingly beautiful is our motherland – Georgia.” It is not bad for the President to think his country is the most beautiful in the world. On the other hand, he usually admires his country while insulting others. For instance, recently he spoke to students and heavily criticized the idea of the Eurasian Union. His statements were not only beyond diplomatic ethics, but also beyond simple respect for other countries: “The Eurasian Union is a sinker, a dumb well, all-pervading corruption, Eurasia is rubbish. If you are crud, you have every chance of gaining access to the Eurasian Union,” the President states. He said that Vladimir Putin “would be glad to welcome Georgia to the dumb well, because under Ivanishvili the country meets the requirements of “rubbish and cruds”, while for joining the European Union “a society free from corruption and ruled by a meritocracy should be built.”

Obviously, Moscow didn’t pay attention to his statements, but what about other members and candidates for membership in the Eurasian project? What does their silence mean?