Georgia is getting alot of attention lately because of the Bush visit. Natalia Antelava for the BBC in Tblisi writes a rather uncritical report of the visit. Many Georgians I have spoken to are not only pissed off at the Bush visit, but are angry at Saakashvili. Natalia notes:
Yet Georgians do not seem to mind the fuss. “It’s great that he is coming. For a man like that, of such political prestige to come to our small country, that’s really outstanding. I and all my friends want to go and hear him speak,” said a student, Avtandil Murvanidze. “And we are getting a whole new beautiful city!” he added.
Is it me or does that make Georgians sound like uncritical plebs? Nowhere in the article are criticsms of Saakashvili or Bush – criticisms many Georgians are making. As one of my friends noted:
“Pash-ole von Bush. Pash-ole von Saakashvili, chen bozo-shvili”.
That’s actually two languages – ‘Fuck off Bush’. ‘Fuck off Saakashvili’ in Russian. And then ‘chen bozo-shvili’ is ‘you son-of-a-bitch’ in Georgian.
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One response to “Georgia spruces up for Bush visit”
I was in Tbilisi last week and the huge fuss was really a bit irritating, and also the official stance that Bush’s visit was to have a huge impact on Georgia. I think it only irritated Russia, and I do not think that’s the right policy if you want to get the job done with the Russians. And we really want their bases out.
And the preparations for the visit reminded many of the Soviet era parades, where everybody was supposed to be present, and above all really happy! That was a little pathetic.