On November 14th The Moscow Times published an article by Yuliya Latynina headlined 'Ivanishvili Is Georgia's Chavez.' The article is devoted to the recent arrest of the head of the General Staff, Georgy Kalandadze, and 4th Brigade commander Zurab Shamatava.
"Even Russia does not use such repressive measures against political opponents. Despite harassment by the authorities, anti-corruption whistle-blower Alexei Navalny and opposition activist Sergei Udaltsov both remain free. After 12 years in power, even President Vladimir Putin has not sunk to the same level of arbitrary rule that the popularly elected Ivanishvili has demonstrated after just one month in office. And this is a prime minister who promised to lower prices, triple pensions and rule Georgia from his personal mansion," the article reads.
"I think Georgia has suffered a catastrophe comparable to the one that befell Germany with the election of Adolf Hitler and Chile with the election of Salvador Allende," Latynina says. "There is no doubt that Ivanishvili will do two things. First, he will destroy the state machinery that President Mikheil Saakashvili created and that had done such a good job of serving people's interests. Second, he will have to find some way to distract Georgian voters who are waiting for him to fulfill his grossly exaggerated campaign promises. Georgians have stopped paying their taxes and paying off their loans. Georgian taxis stand idle while drivers wait for the price of gasoline to fall 30 percent. Some citizens are probably even waiting for Ivanishvili to raise the dead."
"But the only thing that can distract the people is a witch hunt. Unfortunately, with the aid of democratic elections, Georgians have put their country in the same league as Venezuela, Iran and Russia," Latynina believes.
