'Dove of Peace' Declares Infinite Love to 'Devilish' Russians

On July 15th, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili appeared on Belarusian television. His speech was mostly dedicated to Russia, although he did not forget Belarus either.

Photo: 'Dove of Peace' Declares Infinite Love to 'Devilish' Russians

Saakashvili started with saying that he did not understand why Russia was refusing to cooperate with him.

"It's hard to understand what they want, we wanted to make advances, but every time we would make concessions about something, they (Russia) would want more and more," the president of Georgia said.

Saakashvili also stated that he was firmly intended to develop Georgia's relations with Russia.

"We refuse to choose between bad and worst, we wants to choose between good and best," he said.

As it was expected, Saakashvili spoke a lot about South Ossetia and Abkhazia. He thanked Belarus for not recognizing their independence. He also noted that Russia was supposedly putting pressure on the Belarusian administration as far as this issue was concerned, although he did not substantiate his point of view about it.

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His next remarks made many jaws in Russia drop. The Georgian president spoke about his love for the Russian language and culture. He stated that the tense relations between the two countries exerted negative influence on the cultural ties between the two countries.

"I always said that I am maybe the last or the last but one president of Georgia who can cite Pushkin, Lermontov, Brodsky and Esenin. The new generation will have no understanding of Russia and where this country is," Saakashvili said.

He also confessed that he was making his son study the Russian language. "He says that no one around him studies Russian and asks me why he needs to do that." As a result, he added, the Georgian children may not know anything about Russia.

That was obviously an exaggeration. Georgia's text books on history state that Russia had been occupying Georgia for 200 years. It looks like the Georgian president has "forgotten" about the latest "achievements" of Georgian historians.

Afterwards, Saakashvili did his best to set the "good" Belarus against the "bad" Russia. He particularly praised Belarus for being always open for the imports of Georgian wines and mineral water. Afterwards, he set out a hope that both Georgia and Belarus would be moving towards their EU membership.

" Belarus is Europe . One only needs to become integrated. There are many obstacles on the way and a lot of misunderstanding and many other things that have to be reconsidered. Europe is not perfect either, I would not be idealizing it. We perfectly know that there are different interests and estimations. Europe may even have an arrogant approach at times, but is there an alternative?" Saakashvili said and added that he was intended to sign non-visa and the free trade agreements with the European Union during the next couple of years.

If we judge Saakashvili on the base of this interview, he seems to be a pro-Russian politician - a dove of peace, so to speak. It is not hard to understand why he had said those things to Belarusian viewers. The majority of Belarusians consider the Russian language as their mother tongue and the Russians - as a brotherly nation.

Now let's compare his recent appearance on the Belarusian TV channel with the statements that he had released several days ago, when visiting the city of Batumy. He was talking about the Batumy-Kutaisi-Poti triangle in Western Georgia and added that Abkhazia was supposed to become the fourth party in the project.

"As long as the devils hold our main city of Sukhumi, this triangle - Batumy, Poti and Kutaisi - will be formed in two or three years," Saakashvili said.

He did not specify what exactly he meant by the word "devils," although it is clear from the context that he was talking about the Russians.

Does that mean that the Georgian president is apparently in love with the culture and the language of the "devils?"

Mikhail Saakashvili has always been known for his ability to say different things to different audiences. In his motherland and in the West he speaks about the "Russian occupation", and then for Russian-speaking audiences he claims that he is so full of love to Russia.

It goes without saying that Saakashvili perfectly understands why Russia turns her back on him. He attacked South Ossetia, a part of Russia, and then terminated diplomatic ties with the Russian Federation, which is equal to declaring war. Can Russia do anything with the man who has cut all possible ways for a dialogue? Is there anything that Russia could discus with him at all?

Vadim Trukhachev
Pravda.Ru

Read the original in Russian