New parliament elections are scheduled March 28, and Saakashvili said the recent rising tension between Adzharia and the central government likely arose from Abashidze's fears of losing power in the parliament vote.
Abashidze should be very leery, the up coming parliamentary elections are not unbiased.
PACE delegates have already issued a number of warnings. A report on the functioning of democratic institutions in Georgia debated after Saakashvili addressed the assembly raises concerns at recent political developments in that country.
"The assembly notes its concern about the current reshaping of Georgian political life and the risk of a disappearance of all parliamentary opposition after the forthcoming elections and, in consequence, of any true institutional counterweight," reads a resolution adopted at the end of a one-hour debate. http://www.rferl.org/features/features_article.aspx?id=223D2379-F6CF-4D37-962C-FF6B7D8ACDF9&m=1&....
The Stolen Alternative Since the major Russian TV channels, obediently bowing to the generally accepted version of the events in Tbilisi, describe them as a "velvet revolution"—concealing the tragic truth from Russians on the eve of their own Dec. 7 parliamentary elections—the only source of detailed information from Georgia for the Russian audience is Aslan Abashidze's Ajara TV. This channel was disconnected from Tbilisi on the day of the revolt, along with the state TV company, giving Soros' Rustavi-2 a monopoly. For months before, Rustavi-2 had been slandering the leader of Ajaria, describing the aged Aslan, a Georgian nobleman, as an old Communist apparatchik and potential dictator—though Abashidze never danced around the statue of Stalin, and his highly professional TV company broadcast not only the best classic Soviet movies, but also the masterpieces of European and American cinema art.
Abashidze's mass media relied upon the feelings and tastes of a thinking intellectual and an industrious peasant, not just following their expectations, but trying to upgrade their education. For several years, it had been a source of hope for a decent life, in which human happiness was associated with productive labor. It had been a very strong alternative to Rustavi-2, which played on the impulsive instincts of poorly educated youth to revolt against alleged "corruption."
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