Translated material
Georgia is a little bit in position
The opposition will ask Saakashvili about the war, visas and coffee
Yesterday, the Parliament of Georgia ahead of schedule, five days before the due date and the day before the arrival of American Vice President Dick Cheney in Tbilisi from Baku, lifted martial law in the country, effectively making it semi-military, since the state of emergency remains in the uncontrolled territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Tbilisi calls them “occupied.”Martial law was introduced on August 9 for two weeks and extended on August 23 for another two. Vremya Novostey's sources in the Georgian parliament explained the decision to cancel it ahead of schedule by economic considerations. According to official data, the damage to Georgia in connection with the Caucasus conflict exceeded $1 million. “Foreign investors who were ready to take part in economic recovery were denied insurance and loans in their countries while martial law was in effect in Georgia,” said VN's interlocutor in the Georgian parliament.
Martial law not only provided for the possibility of mobilizing reservists, which was done by President Mikheil Saakashvili, but also regulated restrictions, including on the holding of rallies and demonstrations by the opposition. However, the oppositionists themselves agreed on a moratorium on criticism of the authorities during the war. But now representatives of the opposition say that the time has come to analyze what happened in order to establish the degree of responsibility of the leadership of their country. “A disaster has occurred,” Akaki Asatiani, leader of the Union of Georgian Traditionalists, told VN. - We must understand its reasons. The country is collapsing."
The opposition appears mainly in the press. Georgian television companies, with the exception of the small “Caucasia,” are engaged in an information war with Russia. At the same time, the broadcasting of Russian television companies in Georgia is still turned off. Responsibility for this was taken by the State Minister for Reintegration, the President's Special Representative for Conflict Resolution Temuri Yakobashvili, who admitted that it was his idea. Georgian public television and Rustavi 2 broadcast statements of Russian leaders (president, prime minister and foreign minister) only selectively and only if necessary. There is still no access to sites with the “ru” domain.
The largest cable broadcasting company, Ayeti, which transmitted the signal from Russian TV channels, told our newspaper that “they don’t yet know whether broadcasts will resume after the martial law regime is lifted.” Those channels that used to have ORT, RTR or NTV now show American CNN or other Western channels.
Although the Georgian opposition's access to the media is now limited, its leaders intend to ask President Mikheil Saakashvili "thorny questions." This is the formulation of the leader of the “United Opposition” Levan Gachechiladze, who in an interview with the Georgian newspaper “Alia” said that he was consulting with experts to “fill in” these questions. He is interested in the reasons for the military miscalculations of the Georgian leadership, as well as the issue of political responsibility of the authorities. Gachechiladze said that if he had won the presidential elections on January 5 (he won 27%, half as much as Saakashvili, but the opposition considered the vote rigged and did not recognize its results), he would not have allowed a military outcome. Ex-chairman of parliament Nino Burjanadze also promised to ask hard-hitting questions to the authorities. She left the ruling team in April, creating the Foundation for the Development of Democracy, but now does not rule out returning to politics with her own party.
The opposition Republican Party VN said that they expect early parliamentary elections to be held in 2009. The current parliament was elected on May 21, but most of the opposition refused to work in it. “New elections are necessary, but we need to change the system of power altogether, move from a presidential republic to a parliamentary one,” Akaki Asatiani tells VN. In his opinion, this would make it possible to build a more equitable structure of power, including to prevent such harsh breaks with Russia in the future. “It is regrettable that there is a severance in relations with the neighboring people of the same faith, but Moscow should also think about this,” Asatiani is sure. The opposition immediately stipulates that Russia’s response was “disproportionate.”
Yesterday, fulfilling the request of the Georgian Foreign Ministry, Russian diplomats lowered the flag at the embassy and removed the sign. On August 28, the Georgian parliament initiated the severance of diplomatic relations with Russia. And now the employees of the Russian embassy are preparing for evacuation, probably by plane from the Ministry of Emergency Situations (regular air traffic between our countries has been interrupted). From time to time, picketers from among the Georgian president's supporters bring junk, including old toilets, to the Russian embassy building in Tbilisi. During the war, Georgian television showed footage of people in Russian military uniforms carrying toilets and other utensils from captured military bases.
Georgia is also evacuating its employees from Moscow and will leave only the consul and his two deputies in the Russian capital. It is not yet known whether the consular department of the Russian Embassy in Georgia, which also suspended its functioning, will resume work. But yesterday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko announced that the issuance of visas to Georgian citizens was suspended in response to similar actions by Georgians.
Georgian citizens were happy about the lifting of martial law yesterday. After all, because of the war, the supply of foreign goods has decreased. The shelves have thinned out, there are shortages of soap and washing powders. “There is no coffee, and it is not known when they will deliver it,” they told VN at the “House of Coffee,” which sold Mexican, Colombian and other tonic grains. How can I write articles without coffee now?!