Georgia: Parliamentary Election Dissent

Steady State is critical of the outcome of this week’s parliamentary election in Georgia and reminds its readers that it was called after opposition protests ironically demanded an early vote, a state of emergency was declared, and Saakashvili did exactly what he initially refused to do. That is, hold the parliamentary election in the Spring. The blog also criticizes the Western media and international observers for being more concerned with foreign rather than domestic policy issues.

Here is how this thing works: the OSCE is unlikely to give a negative assessment outside the usual “in line with the standards, but a step backwards”. If they do assess the elections as illegitimate, they could spark a civil war easily — which is the last thing they would want to see happen.

They also can’t be jubilant because there is simply not much to be jubilant about. So they are bound to take some middle ground and push Georgians to “work harder”. The truth is, even apes can learn how to hold free and fair elections if they want to; but if there is no will, its useless.

The westerners on the other hand worry of Georgia’s external problems more than the internal ones. If anything major about Georgia is hitting headlines, you can be sure its a scuffle with Russia. Spies, terrorist attacks, invasion of the territory, incursion into airspace, supporting the separatists, shooting down the drones, economic sanctions, visa restrictions — you name it, and it is between Georgia and Russia.

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One way or another, Georgia is seen in the west through “evil Russia” prism — pretty much whatever happens there. For instance: “The Economist” headline — “Mikheil Saakashvili’s party wins, but tensions with Russia persist” — half of the article is about tense relations with Russia, almost more news or analysis worthy than what kind of games the revered Misha is playing. It’s simply incomprehensible how the level of interest towards Georgia is missing what should be in theory more important.

Anyways… The opposition is upset. They mull about more protests. They might get desperate. Hopefully things don’t get out of control…