Self-Salvation Instinct Led Shevardnadze to Abashidze
The Dilis Gazeti; The Resonance
Georgian press talks about conditions in the Georgian government nowadays. The Dilis Gazeti overviews the reason of why the President dismissed the whole Cabinet and talks about his future supporters.
The President used to make single compromises during each difficulty till now. He would dismiss a minister for example, and the situation would settle down. “Single state officials would be sacrificed to the saint idea of “sustaining stability” and that was why there was peace and stability in the “nest” all the time”, the Dilis Gazeti says.
At this point the President was requested to fire his favorite Minister Targamadze. At the moment of temporary weakness Shevardnadze said that in case of Internal Minister Kakha Targamadze’s and General Prosecutor Gia Meparishvili’s resignation he would share the responsibility and leave the post together with them. The President could never imagine that Zhvania’s statement about his resignation would actually make Targamadze and Meparishvili resign, the paper says.
“The President was found in dead-end: he guessed the case would not end with the resignation of two state officials only and his opponents would insist on him realizing his earlier promise. That was why Shevardnadze fired all the ministers – when both executive and legislative branches are beheaded only a stupid person would demand the President’s resignation”, the paper assumes.
The Dilis Gazeti considers that Shevardnadze dismissed the Cabinet just in order to keep his presidency. “Shevardnadze tried to approve his behavior and said it served to Georgia’s welfare, which is very funny: when the country’s territory is bombed and you fire the Defense Minister, when winter is coming up and cold and power cuts pose threat to the population and you fire the Energy Minister, when this year budget is problematic and budget of the next year is to be outlined and you fire the Finance Minister… – it is hard to make the society believe that all this is done for the country’s welfare and it is not an instinct of self-salvation”.
When Shevardnadze presumed that he could not rescue the old, he began to accumulate new powers. “After Shevardnadze’s visit to Adjara leader of the Autonomous Republic Aslan Abashidze is thought to have become Shevardnadze’s one of the basic reliable forces”, the Resonance says. The Dilis Gazeti regards Aslan Abashidze as a new “targeting piece of meat” and says: “Shevardnadze was left without a political crutch and he is looking for the one who could defend him from responsibility in critical conditions”.
According to paper, the President has never been in such hard circumstances. He himself used to determine play rules till present and now he has to act according to the scenario offered by others. “The President has no right to make mistakes now – one incorrect step and young demonstrators will attack him again”, the Dilis Gazeti believes.
