July 17, 2009
The Pragmatist: Georgia's Irakli Alasania Emerges As Political Alternative
by Brian Whitmore
TBILISI -- It's hard to imagine Irakli Alasania eating his tie.
And
that's just one way he contrasts with Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili, who absentmindedly began chewing his red silk necktie on
television in an apparent fit of nerves during last summer's war with
Russia.
Where Saakashvili is mercurial and
impulsive, Alasania is calm and reassuring. While Saakashvili thrives
on confrontation, Alasania instinctively seeks consensus. And whereas
the gregarious Saakashvili revels in drama and the limelight, Alasania
prefers to go about his business quietly and modestly.
But
there is one area where Saakashvili and Alasania are absolutely in
sync. Both are committed to bringing Georgian fully into Western
institutions including NATO and the European Union.
Alasania
resigned as Georgia's ambassador to the United Nations in December to
enter politics back home. On July 16, he announced the formation of a
new political party called Our Georgia--Free Democrats, which he hopes
to use as a vehicle to broker a peace between the country's warring
political factions.
In a recent interview with RFE/RL in his
Tbilisi office, Alasania was a model of cool composure, dressed neatly
in a dark blazer and white shirt -- but no tie.
He explained
that the time had come for Georgia's long and bitter standoff between
Saakashvili and the opposition to come to an end.
"These months of demonstrations have led to no tangible results, but they demonstrated something," Alasania said.
"The
government alone cannot cope with this crisis, and we in the opposition
understand that just street actions and demanding the president's
resignation will not lead to the goals we want to achieve," he said.
"So the only thing left is to cooperate, to sit down at the negotiating
table, and work things out."
Many Georgians, weary of the
exhausting high-wire act that has been Saakashvili's presidency, are
increasingly looking to Alasania as someone who could break the
country's political impasse and finally fulfill the dashed hopes of the
2004 democratic Rose Revolution -- possibly as Saakashvili's successor
as president.
Nino Danielia, who teaches media management at the
Caucasus School of Journalism in Tbilisi, explains the long and bitter
standoff between Saakashvili and his opponents has left many Georgians
looking for a fresh alternative.
"I don't know how things will
develop, but I think Irakli Alasania is the guy that can fill this
niche," Danielia says. "I like his arguments, personally. I think it is
clear what he doesn't like in the existing situation and how this can
be solved. This is especially true when he is talking about conflict
resolution. I think that he knows what he is talking about."
Two-Way MistrustAfter
leaving his UN post, Alasania initially supported opposition figures
like former parliamentary speaker Nino Burjanadze and Levan
Gachechiladze in their calls for Saakashvili's resignation.
But he soon distanced himself from them subtly and indicated a willingness to negotiate with the authorities.
Saakashvili's
resignation, he said, is less important than ending the political
impasse and securing long-term reforms in the electoral system, courts,
and state-run media. Most importantly, he says public trust needs to be
restored.
"There is two-way mistrust in society now," Alasania
said. "By taking away the freedom of the media, [the authorities show
that] they don't trust journalists to report objectively. But they will
report objectively. By taking away the independence of the court
system, they [show that] they don't trust judges to make proper
decisions. All of this has created mistrust and cynicism that
everything that we stood for four years ago is dying."
He
added "that regardless of the differences we have now, within society,
within the opposition, between the opposition and the government, we
now have a chance to pass this test and come to a national agreement."
A
native of the Georgian port city of Batumi, the 35-year-old Alasania
served in various posts in the foreign and defense ministries,
including stints in Georgia's embassies in the United States, Canada,
and Mexico.
A Rising Diplomatic StarIn
February 2005, Saakashvili tapped him to be his special representative
in talks with breakaway Abkhazia. It was a post that had personal
significance for the young diplomat.
When Alasania was 19 years
old, his father, KGB General Mamia Alasania, was killed together with
other Georgian politicians when the Abkhaz capital, Sukhumi, fell to
separatist forces in September 1993.
Despite this tragic
history -- or perhaps because of it -- Alasania was able to win the
trust of Abkhaz separatist officials and establish a good working
relationship with them. He was instrumental in resuming the
Georgian-Abkhaz Coordination Council, a tool for direct talks between
the two sides, in March 2006.
Alasania argued that the best way
to bring Abkhazia and South Ossetia back into Georgia since their
independence declarations last year is to make Georgia a more
attractive place for them.
"The only way to deal with this is to
demonstrate to the Abkhaz and the Ossetians that we are building a
truly democratic state and democratic institutions. This will take away
the fear they have," Alasania said.
"If we can show them this,
I believe that in years to come, when we are solidly on the path of
European integration, then they will really rethink whether they want
to be part of Europe together with Georgians, or whether they want to
be part of [Russia's] Krasnodarsky Krai."
In June 2006,
Saakashvili named Alasania as Georgia's UN envoy. During the
Russia-Georgia war in August 2008, Alasania earned widespread praise as
Tbilisi's main international representative, coming across as a calm
and reassuring voice during and after the five-day conflict.
Moscow's Worst Nightmare?Alasania
stresses that Georgian relations with Russia did not need to
deteriorate to the extent that they did, and gently suggests that
Saakashvili's bombastic style played a role in intensifying the
confrontation
"The best thing you can do [as Georgia's
president] is not to solicit any aggressive behavior from the Russian
side with your rhetoric," Alasania said.
"You can keep going
with your business of building democratic institutions, integrating
more deeply into European structures, but not being so vocal about
using this against Russia or [acting like] you are doing this to harm
Russian interests. Rhetoric contributed to straining this relationship."
He
added that Georgia needs "to have a truly normalized situation with
Russia and to try to find some common ground because we are neighbors,
we cannot escape this." At the same time, Alasania said he would not
waver in Tbilisi's longstanding goal of joining NATO.
"The
political forces that I represent are going to be very strong in
securing Georgian interests," Alasania said. "We will never let Russia
legalize what they gained by using aggressive force in Georgia. They
[Russia] will see us as very committed to Georgia's future in the
European security architecture."
Lincoln Mitchell, a professor
of international politics at Columbia University and author of the book
"Uncertain Democracy: U.S. Foreign Policy and Georgia's Rose
Revolution," says the combination of Alasania's smooth diplomatic touch
and pro-Western policies would make him a strong representative of
Georgia's interests in its dealings with Moscow.
"What he can do
for Georgia is bring Saakashvili's ideals without Saakashvili's
baggage, and that is what Georgia desperately needs," Mitchell says.
"And
that is [also] what Russia needs to see. A President Alasania would be
cautious, thoughtful, mature, and he would still want to join NATO. He
has a strong position on Abkhazia, but unlike Misha [Saakashvili] he
can actually talk to the Abkhaz. And he still wants to be pro-Western.
This is the worst fear, if you are sitting in Moscow."
'But Is He A Vote Getter?'Mitchell
and others note that it would be difficult -- if not impossible -- for
Moscow to vilify and caricature Alasania the way it has Saakashvili.
Not
that they haven't tried. A strong signal that the Kremlin fears
Georgia's rising political star came in September when nationalist
State Duma deputy Vladimir Zhirinovsky, during a meeting with Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin, launched into a tirade against Alasania,
calling him "anti-Russian" and a "CIA agent."
But before he
starts dealing with the Russians, Alasania needs to win public office.
Presidential elections are not scheduled until January 2013, although
the opposition has been pressing for an early vote -- which Saakashvili
staunchly opposes.
Most analysts expect early local or
parliamentary elections after reforms to the electoral system are
negotiated. Alasania might be expected to play a key role in any of
these scenarios.
While Alasania has been winning plaudits,
particularly among the Tbilisi intelligentsia, doubts remain whether he
has the political skills to win the votes of Georgians, who tend to
favor charismatic, larger-than-life figures like Saakashvili.
Mitchell says Alasania's greatest strength -- his calm and measured style -- could equally turn out to be his greatest weakness.
"He's
not a natural on-the-stump politician. He needs to work those skills
more, he needs to improve those skills," Mitchell says.
"Alasania
is clearly, among the opposition figures, one of the few who could
conceivably govern," Mitchell says. "But is he a vote-getter? He hasn't
proven that yet and he certainly has work to do there."
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