Saakashvili is an "unpredictable, pathological, and mentally unstable drug abuser," says Medvedev.

Mikheil Saakashvili is a coke addict with a bipolar disorder. This is what the Western MSM is keeping quiet about. It's a huge embarrassment to western leaders who are looking to the ex-Soviet Republic joining the military-political organisation, NATO.

During the recent Caucasus Conflict the BBC caught Saakashvili chewing his own tie in a moment of anxiety. Then, on being challenged on Saakashvili's use of the European Flag, France's President Sarkozy while looking visibly embarrassed replied that no one could be stopped from using the European Flag if they so wished.

Now Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has stated publicly that Saakashvili is an "unpredictable, pathological and mentally unstable drug abuser":

“The Georgian head of state is not just a man we won’t do business with. He’s an unpredictable pathological and mentally unstable drug abuser. Western journalists, that interviewed him not so long ago, know it! A two-hour-long interview on the high – that’s over the edge for a head of state. If NATO needs such a leader - go ahead.”

Russia Today, 13 September 2008

The RT article, "I'll never forget that night" has had its sub-headline changed from "Saakashvili is a mentally unstable drug abuser - Medvedev". According to a leading RT journalist, several RT personnel had been present when Medvedev made the latter comment in a closed discussion with members of the Valdai Discussion Club.

According to the same journalist, Saakashvili has got an insatiable taste for coke as well as expensive wrist-watches. "If you want a meeting with Saak it is understood that he expects a watch worth no less than $15k."

A further report on Medvedev's allegations are, in reference to his comments about Georgia's possible NATO membership, on the Civil Georgia website:

“As far as Georgia’s NATO membership is concerned, I have already told you about it, it will clearly be one of the serious destabilizing factors for NATO itself and for Caucasus. It would have been only a half-trouble if there were balanced, wise politicians in the Georgian leadership – even if they were oriented towards overseas [referring to western orientation]; but it is another matter when there is a person as a head of state, with whom we will not only have any business, but also who is totally unpredictable, a person burdened with a mass of pathologies, who, unfortunately, is in an unbalanced psychological condition, [a person] who – am sorry but – takes narcotic drugs, which is a well-known fact for western journalists, who have interviewed him recently. Two hours of interview under the condition of a strong narcotic influence for a head of state – it is too much, it is overdose. If our colleagues from NATO want to have this kind of leader, then go ahead.”

Civil Georgia, Tbilisi, 13/09/08

You can see a report by RT on the Valdai Discussion Club speech here. Reference to Medvedev's comments are made in the final part of the video report.

Another commentator on a private forum observes that:

Tbilisi is a place where people enjoy vast social networks even if they don't have Internet access. My friends from there seem to be well aware of Mikheil's drug addiction.

Sadly, this problem is very typical among the people of his generation in the former USSR. In his case it's probably stemming from addiction to medicine he had to take for his bipolar disorder.

It’s a shame that his handlers and political entourage keep exploiting this sick man. I hope that Mikheil will be brave to seek professional help soon.

'Untimely Thoughts' - An Expert Discussion Group on Russia, 12/09/08

This may not be breaking news in Russia or in the Caucasus but most certainly is to those of us in the West who have been subject to an incessant barrage of disinformation and downright lies about recent events in the Caucasus Conflict where these days our embedded MSM behaves as if it were under Soviet-style reporting restrictions.

The prospect of a mentally unstable, drug-addicted sociopath leading an unstable ex-Soviet Republic with aspirations to joining NATO should be giving our western rulers nightmares. The disturbing fact that while not only is it failing to have that effect, that it is, on the contrary, only encouraging them to up the ante, to rearm the belligerent Georgians and to cheer them on to fully-fledged NATO membership should lead us to ask if the West, led by the US, is deliberately setting-up Georgia once more as its proxy in a premeditated, future hot war with Russia?

There is plenty of reason to believe so. It is widely held that such a confrontation might be sparked off in the Ukraine where another unstable regime, currently led by the unpopular Viktor Yushchenko, is in a rulership crisis. Many Ukrainians are of Russian origin and most Ukrainians would prefer to ally with Russia and not NATO:

Ukrainian citizens prefer integration with Russia and other CIS member countries to that with European and Euro-Atlantic structures, judging by the results of a recent poll posted at the Thursday press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine office in Kyiv.

A recent poll held by the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences' Sociology Institute polled 1,800 Ukrainians nationwide on August 15-27 by request of the Ukrainian Forum foundation.

Twenty-seven percent of the respondents said they wished full-scale political and economic integration with Russia and other CIS countries, while 26% suggested economic integration within the CIS trade zone. Only 17% wished the soonest EU membership, and another 23% supported more profound relations with the European Union and a free trade zone.

Forty-six percent said that the possible accession to NATO would cause Ukrainian destabilization, and about 30% said the opposite.

Interfax, 04/09/08

But, for geo-strategic reasons, the area is up for grabs by the West which has no intentions of Russia regaining its old hegemonic presence in the Crimea. Not only have Ukrainian politics been destabilised by western neocon organisations but the present, highly unpopular Yushchenko is a US puppet.

The problem facing Ukraine today is the President, Viktor Yushchenko.

What we are seeing, but has not been properly reported ... is an ongoing power struggle between the Office of The President and the people's democratically elected representative Parliament (Pure and simple).

Yushchenko and his political party Our Ukraine continuously seek to undermine Ukraine's economic and democratic development. They have opposed every effort to see Ukraine become at democratic parliamentary republic.

Ukraine Today, 09/09/08

A mentally ill drug abuser on the one hand and a would-be tyrant on the other. These are the West's 'allies' in an area of the world which is in any event a geo-strategic flashpoint. As most analysts agree, it is inconceivable that the Georgians would have unleashed their genocide on the small republic of South Ossetia without some encouragement from neocons in Washington DC who had already armed them to the teeth. And as has been suggested by a previous article published here at least one of the motives of the US might have been to test the resolve of the Russians, their allies and the European Union in the face of Russian retaliation. A test case, then, for the US war-machine against more serious conflicts it might have in mind to unleash in Eurasia.

One Russian strategic analyst proposes a possible false-flag incident which could lead to a much wider conflagration:

[A] provocation such as a murder of Russian sailors or a blow-up of a Russian warship will be organized in Sevastopol, the result being a civil war in Ukraine and a direct military conflict between the country and Russia.

Obviously, the US intends to use Georgia as a foothold in a campaign aimed at dragging Russia into a low-intensity conflict as it has been done in Vietnam. The response of the Ukrainian leadership has shown that it is ready to join Georgia in a military confrontation with Russia in case Washington asks it to.

Parallelly, the US will be bracing for an attack on Iran. The result will be McCain's victory in the coming presidential race. The American society has given him carte blanche to take drastic measures to deal with the countries which do not side with the US.

'Georgia: the First Step Towards Chaos Control (II)', Yuri Baranchik, Strategic Culture Foundation

Baranchik goes on to observe the disastrous failure of the unipolar US in exercising foreign policy and the highly dangerous time in which we find ourselves:

The fact that the US elite aims at instigating a series of regional conflicts shows that the US is no longer able to carry the burden of the global leadership, and the coming war is the last resort to retain it. However, the conflict will not last forever and sooner or later the US will have to downscale its military and political presence worldwide. The reliance on war demonstrates that the US elite's intellectual potential needed to maintain the status of the US as the only superpower is exhausted.

'Georgia: the First Step Towards Chaos Control (II)', Yuri Baranchik, Strategic Culture Foundation

Now that the US puppet and dictator, Musharraf, is no longer in control even Pakistan is now threatening to retaliate if the US continues to make cross-border attacks against its territory. While the US is now weak it becomes even more dangerous and liable to strike out at any one of the innumerable enemies it has created for itself world-over. When does threatening talk lead to something far worse?

Anticipating the likelihood of a serious political crisis in the Ukraine, the US talks tough:

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried pledged Friday that the United States would back Ukraine in a territorial dispute ... Fried's remarks echo comments made last week by Vice President Dick Cheney. During a visit to the ex-Soviet Republic, Cheney said the U.S. has "a deep and abiding interest" in the country's "well-being and security."

Wiredispatch.com, 12/09/08

The great irony of this particular report is the contrast between the US' verbal machismo and the more cautious approach exercised by the Ukrainians themselves!

However, Ukraine's defense minister said during a visit to Denmark Friday that a war with Moscow was unlikely because Ukraine is such an important link in Europe's energy supply.

Asked about a potential military conflict with Russia, Yuri Yekhanurov said he didn't "believe something like this might happen in the future."

A conflict would "have an influence on not only Ukraine but the whole world," Yekhanurov said, noting that 80 percent of the natural gas exported to Europe passes through Ukraine.

ibid

For Europeans, the situation is crystal clear. The days of the all-powerful US are now finally gone. It is in the interests of Europe to find a stable entente with Russia as a partner and an ally. If outright EU membership for Russia is inconceivable than it should be given nothing less than a most favoured nation status. The US won't like such moves and will do everything to stop them from happening. All the more reason why the EU should now work more closely with Russia and China and, at the same time, stand firm against any further warmongering from the White House.

Rory Winter