The Imported Georgian “Revolution”

Interesting piece in the Washington Post today partially reveals how the recent “revolution” in the Caucasus nation of Georgia (Gruziya) was modeled after the Serbian coup of 2000. This confirms the rumors and news of Serbians “training” Georgian opposition groups over the past year. Now, Gruziya has been an obedient US vassal and bitterly hostile to Moscow, plus it sits on top of the projected Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline. Why would the Empire help topple its leader? For it is the Empire that did it; Serbians were just the cat’s paw…

I don’t know the answer to that. What I do know, is that Otpor was funded and trained by the US government. Reports in the Post, among other papers, spoke about “suitcases of cash” delivered to the Serbian opposition (DOS) prior to the September 29 elections and the October 5 coup. After DOS took power, Otpor’s membership shrunk rapidly, probably as a result of a drop in funding. Mission accomplished – so why bother?
Apparently, the new use came three years later, as Otpor was used to set up a carbon copy of its organization in Tbilisi. While no one’s mentioned American instructors and new suitcases of cash, it’s not unlikely they were involved. After all, who in Serbia or Gruziya has the kind of money to travel back and forth, let alone sponsor “training seminars”?
The Post also indicates that US Ambassador to Gruziya, Richard Miles, was in Belgrade prior to the 1999 NATO attack, and that Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov repeated his Belgrade performance by negotiating President Sheverdnadze’s resignation. Curiouser and curiouser.
I don’t know much about Georgian politics, so I’m loath to characterize any of its actors, but I do consider it indicative when one “civil rights” advocate involved in “training” the opposition quotes Lenin on the importance of revolutionary organization. The name of this Leninist’s organization? “Liberty Institute.”
How Orwellian.