It's like a "bizarre tragicomedy", said former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev about the life of Mikhail Saakashvili, the former Rugia.
He was elected ** at the age of 37 and was re-elected twice; At the age of 46, he caused public dissatisfaction and was forced to rely on his old mother to support him at home; He was thrown into prison at the age of more than half a hundred and was charged with multiple crimes.
Saakashvili's life has been a rollercoaster, with ups and downs.
In 2022, Saakashvili's brother Georgi and lawyer Shalva simultaneously revealed that his health was extremely poor. According to the diagnosis, he may be suffering from more than 30 diseases such as dementia and tuberculosis, and he is seriously mentally devastated.
He went on two hunger strikes for **, lost 20 kilograms in just half a year, and had to be transferred from prison to a clinic for long-term **. However, his physical condition is still deteriorating and he has now reached the point where he is unable to act, a far cry from the image he once had full of ambition.
How could a country's ** end up in such a miserable situation? It all started on August 8, 2008, the day of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games, when he took advantage of Putin's visit to China to launch an attack on the Georgian "Republic of South Ossetia".
The war sparked the Russian-Georgian conflict.
You know, Georgia has only 245 times the land area of Russia and a population of less than 4 million, while Russia has millions of troops, equipment and firepower far surpass Georgia.
Therefore, when the conflict broke out, Russia quickly mobilized its air force, artillery, and armored forces, demonstrating its overwhelming military superiority. Between the lightning and thunder, Georgia's network and transportation system suffered heavy damage, military bases, airports, ports, highways and bridges and other important facilities were accurately attacked, and air supremacy over the entire territory fell into the hands of the Russian Air Force.
Georgia held out for only 5 days in the campaign before choosing to surrender and withdraw its troops, and also recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Although on August 28 they publicly announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Russia, this seemed to have been foregone for a long time.
After all, Georgia's actions are clearly self-defeating. Why, then, are they taking the initiative to provoke Russia?
Saakashvili, as the ** of Georgia, bears the main responsibility for this incident. Born in Tbilisi in 1967, he received a high-quality education from a young age, graduated from Kyiv University with a degree in international law, and studied in France, Italy and the United States.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States quickly launched the program of "supporting the newly independent states", ostensibly to "cultivate democratic soil", "create a democratic atmosphere", "find democratic backbones" and "set an example of democracy" among the CIS countries, so as to establish a "new type of democratic state", but in fact it was using various means to draw the CIS countries into the capitalist camp and weaken the power of socialism.
According to official data, from 1993 to 2003, the United States invested $9 billion in special funds**, part of which was used to support the election of CIS opposition candidates, and part of it was used to provide free assistance to influential private enterprises and non-** organizations in the country.
During this period, the United States also bought and invested in a large number of television stations and newspapers to wage a war to build momentum for the opposition. In addition, the United States has also launched the "Russian Leaders Program", inviting 90,000 business elites and outstanding college students from the former Soviet Union countries to the United States for study, further study and investigation, in an attempt to imperceptibly instill in them the American-style democracy and free market economic system.
Saakashvili was a member of this program and became a prime example of success. He was bewitched by the bustling world of the United States and thought that everything was fine in the West.
What's more, Georgia, although once part of the Soviet Union and Stalin's homeland, actually had a deep hatred of Russia going back much further.
Georgia is located in the west-central part of the South Caucasus, and due to its strategic location, connecting Eastern and Western Europe with the Persian Gulf region, Georgia has long been subject to aggression and plunder. Until the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian Empire sent troops to suppress it, putting an end to the chaos and ** in Georgia.
However, the Georgian people mistakenly thought that they had found a "savior", but a few years later, the Russian Empire tore up the Treaty of Georgia and completely annexed Georgia, turning it from a protectorate into the "province of Tiflis and Kutaisi".
This not only deprived Georgia of its statehood, but also reduced it to a province. Therefore, it is not at all too much to describe Georgia's feelings towards Russia as "hatred of the lost country".
In particular, in 1922, Georgia, which had been independent for five years after the collapse of Tsarist Russia, was forced to join the Soviet Union again, which undoubtedly poured another barrel of oil on the flame of national hatred.
Since 1978, Georgia has been the first to start the independence movement. With the decline of the Soviet regime, Georgia unilaterally declared independence and abolished the Soviet constitution at the end of the 80s, and the anti-Soviet ** demonstrations in the country reached a climax.
This historical origins, ethnic hatred, popular aspirations, and personal fantasies of worship of the West have made Saakashvili a staunch pro-Western, ** activist.
With his outstanding education and ability, Saakashvili was successfully elected to the National Assembly after returning in 1995, and in 2000 he was appointed Minister of Justice of Georgia, where he achieved great success.
However, he was ambitious and not satisfied with the status quo, and the following year he announced his resignation and founded the United National Movement Party, which began to attack the highest positions.
In Georgia, there are many contradictions between the pro-Russian faction Eduard Shevardnadze and the candidate of the faction, Saakashvili. The United States is trying to prop up its own power in the CIS countries, and Saakashvili is loyal to the United States.
In November 2003, Saakashvili launched the "Rose Revolution", under the slogan of boycotting Shevardnadze, secretly supported by the U.S.-funded journalism**, labeling Shevardnadze a "fraud" and damaging his image.
In the ** elections of January 4, 2004, Saakashvili, manipulated by the United States, won by a landslide. In the Georgian parliamentary elections on March 28 of the same year, his party won all 150 seats.
Since coming to power, Saakashvili has embarked on the road of "breaking away from Russia and joining Europe" with the goal of joining the European Union and NATO. He aggressively pursued a policy of "de-Russification", removing all Russian-language signage and Russian in public places in the capital Tbilisi.
At the same time, he also appointed a group of important people with Western backgrounds, such as the French chief Zurabishvili and the chief of the general staff of the armed forces who graduated from the American ** school, Kapanadze, whose ambitions are very open.
It is worth mentioning that Saakashvili also visited Ukraine as a "quasi-**", met with Yushchenko, an opposition force supported by the United States, and the two talked freely about the "revolutionary" experience, and even signed a cooperation agreement.
Saakashvili's American tendencies were recognized by the American side, so much so that when the then American Bush Jr. visited Georgia in 2005, he personally shook Saakashvili's hand and praised Georgia for being so"A beacon of democracy"。
However, whether it is anti-Soviet, pro-Soviet and anti-American, or neutral, it is the result of a country's independent choice, and there is no absolute right or wrong. But the problem with Saakashvili is that he trusts the United States too blindly, as if he were an avid fan.
He believes that as long as you blindly follow the United States, you will be able to smoothly join NATO and be protected, and as long as you rely on the support of the United States, you will not have to be afraid of Russia. However, he underestimated Russia's strength and determination, and at the same time overestimated America's sense of responsibility and conscience.
Saakashvili tried to reoccupy South Ossetia in 2008 by waging the Russo-Georgian war, while pleasing the United States. However, he believes that Russia will choose to swallow its anger, as it has done in the past, and that the United States will fully support Georgia.
However, after experiencing a difficult period after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has basically recovered its vitality and can no longer endure NATO's step-by-step pressure and the squeeze on strategic space.
Therefore, they decisively carried out a joint operational counterattack by land, sea and air, demonstrating their formidable power to the whole world.
Before the Western world could react, the Russo-Georgian campaign ended in a complete victory for the Russian army. Despite the fact that Russia has always been friendly to Georgia, which is vital to Russia as a gateway to the South Cazus, the loss of Chechnya could lead to instability and a catastrophic blow to Russia.
But this battle made Russia realize that Georgia "comes hard, and does not eat soft." As a result, Russia quickly deployed elite heavy troops on the Russian-Georgian border and held Georgia tightly in its hands.
At a press conference at the time, Saakashvili lost control of his emotions in full view of everyone, biting his tie nervously, fully demonstrating his panicked mentality.
Saakashvili's obsession is amazing, he is desperate to break off diplomatic relations with Russia, and even appeals to Western countries: "If our allies leave us, then Georgia will cease to exist, because Russia will not allow any adversaries on our soil." ”
However, although the United States is strong, its fear of Russia has made them choose to remain silent. In addition, despite its geographical importance, Georgia is a small country with few people, and its influence and criticality are not enough to cause large-scale conflicts.
In the end, Georgia's pleas for help were ignored by Western countries, and Saakashvili was abandoned by the United States.
In addition, his performance has forced the United States to abandon him. In the early days of his presidency, Saakashvili pledged to build Georgia into a "poverty-free Georgia" with a GDP of $30 billion, and he promised the nation an increase in basic wages and a monthly allowance of 1,000 lari (about $670) for families without income.
However, the reality is quite the opposite: during Saakashvili's administration, prices in Georgia skyrocketed, incomes plummeted, unemployment soared, and the gap between rich and poor widened.
The monthly salary is as high as thousands of lali, and the pension of ordinary workers who have worked for most of their lives is only 52 lali (about 40 U.S. dollars), and they can only rely on eating bread and drinking white water to make ends meet.
Coupled with the $1 billion losses caused by the Russian-Georgian war and the ban on the export of wine, mineral water and other products, Georgia's economy is becoming increasingly depressed and the people are living in difficulty.
Saakashvili was embroiled in a criminal scandal on suspicion of being involved in the February 2005 ** Prime Minister Zurab Zhivania. The motive of the core leader of the "Rose Revolution" seems to be the fear that the other side would threaten his dominance.
In addition, his rule faced various problems such as defeat in the Russian-Georgian war, economic malaise, and the hardships of the people, which caused his approval rating to plummet. Eventually, in a state of spitting, Saakashvili was forced to ** at the end of November 2013.
Georgian Georgy Margvelashvili, when he took office, made it clear that he was ready to improve relations with Russia. In order to achieve this goal, the new ** dissociated himself from his predecessor** Saakashvili and issued a warrant for his arrest in August 2014.
In desperation, Saakashvili had no choice but to move to Ukraine and change his nationality to Ukraine. At that time, Ukrainian ** Poroshenko was also a staunch supporter of anti-Russian, so he warmly welcomed Saakashvili, who was like-minded with him, and directly gave him the post of governor of the Ozad region.
It turned out that "people's hearts are not enough to swallow elephants", and Saakashvili actually coveted the throne of Ukrainian Prime Minister. He created the "New Power Movement Party" in 2016 and openly claimed that he wanted to *** Poroshenko.
Poroshenko never expected that he would be bitten back by luring a wolf into the room. In a fit of rage, he stripped Saakashvili of his Ukrainian citizenship and expelled him from the country.
With nowhere else to go, Saakashvili was forced to flee to the Netherlands, where he lived in a small apartment and supported by his mother's help. Until October 1, 2021, he secretly returned to Georgia in an attempt to rise again in the local elections, but was imprisoned for it.
Falling from a high position to a prisoner, the bumps in the identity made it impossible for Saakashvili to adapt. In particular, after being denied remote access to the trial and being convicted directly, he began a long hunger strike**.
Now, he is sick and on the verge of a mental breakdown, and the United States, which he once trusted, has disappeared without a trace. It once used the power of the United States to ascend to the top position, but after losing its use value, it was abandoned by the United States without hesitation.
This, as Medvedev said, Saakashvili's life is like a tragicomedy.