PART I: After Hubris, Comes Nemesis
The scene was downtown Tbilisi. The year 2005. And the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush proclaimed that before the winds of freedom blew from Baghdad to Beirut, it was Georgia’s Rose Revolution that inspired freedom-loving folks across the region. The president’s bouts of messianic fervor were imbued with religious and philosophical undertones. With a spirit of Christian militancy, Mr. Bush espoused a teleological determinism that freedom would one day guide Georgia to its emancipation from Russian captivity. However, what stuck in the collective psyche of Georgian society since the president’s visit, was not the ideological and philosophic underpinnings of his speech, but a more simplistic one-liner: “ Georgia is a beacon of liberty for this region and the world”. [Read more…] about ACURA Exclusive: Lasha Kasradze: From Promise to Punishment: How Washington Turned on The Republic of Georgia