''I Should Have Screamed More'' - Saakashvili on 2008 War

Institute for War&Peace ^ | August 7, 2019 | By Vazha Tavberidze

[NorseViking]

Former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili opens up over the disappointments, betrayals and deals made in the run-up to the 2008 war.

This is a full transcript of the exclusive interview the former president of Georgia gave IWPR.

IWPR: Looking back at things from a decade-long perspective, do you think the West has learned any lessons from the 2008 war?

Saakashvili: The thing is, the West is motivated by several instincts and one of the main instincts is appeasement. They always want to delay the problem, they always want to refer to the past, to the future, anything but the present. Nobody wants trouble and the [Western] politicians’ basic instinct is to keep trouble away, to ignore it or to pretend they don't see it and that it’s not real.

Is there a sense of personal disillusionment?

Yes and no. At the beginning I was very idealistic about the West and I thought that it was motivated by exactly the same values as I am, something special based on the rule of law, democracy of society. It’s not to say it’s completely gone - these are still the main principles. In the West, you can always appeal to conscience, they might not always hear you but you can break through; can you always break through? No. Are they susceptible to manipulation or self-manipulation? Sure they are. But are they still the best ones available? Yes, they are. That's how I look at it now, I look much more soberly, I think that they can be very hypocritical, they have double standards, they also have this attitude which I think might be a remnant of colonialism, but they genuinely think that the smaller newcomers at the table are not supposed to succeed. Henry Kissinger told Sarah Palin

[ClearCase_guy]

Quite interesting.

[NorseViking]

Saakashvili lies but I find his perspective interesting too.

[sauropod]

bkmk

[mac_truck]

Nobody wants trouble and the [Western] politicians’ basic instinct is to keep trouble away, to ignore it or to pretend they don't see it and that it’s not real.

Lol... Saakashvili's basic instinct was to run and hide. Here he is 'keeping it real' on the streets of Tblisi when for no apparent reason he thought he was being attacked by a Russian aircraft.

[NorseViking]

Saakashvili has a brain damage due to a cocaine abuse but overall an interesting person.
One thing why I find this interview interesting it seems like he is a disaffected neocon right now and starts to spill the beans. Only between the lines for now.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Interesting article but Saakashvili deflects a lot. Of course the Russians goaded him into fighting.

The other thing I thought was poor was him bad mouthing Sarkozy. I read that Putin was so pissed off at Saakashvili he was getting ready to roll into the capitol and hang Saakashvili in the square. Sarkozy flew to Moscow and told Putin if he wanted to be a player with the big boys in the west (which he desperately does) that he needed to calm down and forget it and come to an agreement. Sarkozy likely saved Saakashvili’s neck.

[NorseViking]

That’s for sure.
All in all his maniacal fixation on NATO membership against all odds was a factor of this failure.
He had to restore control over all the rebel republcs to be eligible and opted for military ways which worked in Ajara and Abkhazia but backfired in Osetia after Russian OSCE forces were chewed by the Georgian offensive.
The response was imminent and nobody in a sane mind would have sided with him after that.
MSM made a great job to deflect for Saakashvili and present the war as an unprovoked Russian invasion but the facts surfaced sooner than later.
It doesn’t make sense for him to call Condi Rice and Steinmeyer liars. That he said as they have deceived him in their assertions sounds more like they have warned him not to do that he later did but in a diplomatic way.