Georgia's president under pressure to resign (USA Today)

[Force Lord]

Saakashvili is feeling the heat...

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesters thronged the streets in front of Georgia's parliament Thursday, calling on the president to step down in the largest opposition demonstration since last year's war with Russia.
The opposition blames President Mikhail Saakashvili, a U.S.-educated lawyer who has built close ties to Washington, for the disastrous war last August and says he cannot lead Georgia forward because of his antagonistic relationship with Moscow.

Saakashvili, meanwhile, has vowed to serve out his term, which ends in 2013.

The protest was held on the 20th anniversary of a deadly anti-Soviet demonstration that galvanized Georgia's fight for self-determination and led to Georgia declaring its independence two years later.

Tira Guledani, a 70-year-old psychologist, called Saakashvili mentally ill and said many Georgians remain upset for the war with Russia.

"You have to treat him, he is sick," she said. "We want normal relations with Russia, not war. We lived well with Russia. He spoiled everything."

Nearby, Georgy Kirvalidze, a 19-year-old student, pointed at a wall bearing a well-known photograph of Saakashvili cowering under bodyguards during a Russian attack last August.

"Our president is a coward. Cowards are always cruel," he said.

Earlier, Saakashvili made an unexpected visit to a memorial honoring the victims of the 1989 demonstration, located in front of parliament.

"We have to be steadfast and united," the president told reporters as he approached the memorial, where a few hundred people, including some opposition leaders, were gathered. A banner saying "People for Saakashvili's Resignation" hung overhead.

Police forces have promised not to intervene, but the city was on edge, with residents fearing the protests could lead to violence. Ahead of the demonstration, there was little visible police presence.

Among the politicians who joined the opposition after the war are former parliament speaker Nino Burdzhanadze, who was one of Saakashvili's closest allies, and Irakli Alasania, who was Georgia's ambassador to the United Nations. Former Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili was also to lead a group of protesters.

"They will elect a new government that will have their trust and strong support and also will have a real chance to begin a dialogue with Russia," Alasania said before the protest.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said he would refuse to deal at all with Saakashvili, whom Russian leaders depict as bloodthirsty and unbalanced.

Saakashvili called Tuesday for talks with the opposition but was rebuffed.

"There can be dialogue with the government only on one issue — the resignation of Mikhail Saakashvili," said Levan Gachechiladze, who challenged Saakashvili in the 2008 presidential election.

Some Georgians continue to support Saakashvili, who has presided over substantial economic growth.

For others, Saakashvili was discredited by defeat in the five-day war. It set back his goal of regaining control over two Russian-backed separatist regions.

"Let's imagine we live in a civilized European country, as the current president likes to imagine Georgia to be, and its leader starts a war that he loses disgracefully," said Georgy Tarkhnishvili, 40, a physicist. "Does he stay in power? Of course not."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

On a completely unrelated note, I now have 50 posts!

[Ilya Muromets]

This isn't really surprising. Saakashvili's little attempt at posturing got Georgia a lot of ordinance thrown at it by lots of angry Russian soldiers and didn't bring it any significant ties to NATO in the process other than some rhetoric tossed around by the Bush administration in his "support." The Russian military response can't have been good for the country, especially at these times. Toss in those video clips around that 'Net that made Saakashvili look rather unhinged and cowardly, not really doing anything for the image of his country, and you can see why most Georgians probably want him out.