Goose Steps and Hip Wiggles

Georgia Press Conference

Margarita Antidze and Caren Bohan write for Reuters: "President Bush gave backing on Tuesday to ex-Soviet Georgia in its efforts to regain sovereignty over two pro-Moscow separatist regions, as long as it was done peacefully.

"But, at a joint news conference in the mountainous Caucasus state, Bush avoided support for Georgia in a bitter dispute with the Kremlin over Russian bases on its soil, with remarks likely to have disappointed his host, President Mikhail Saakashvili."

Here is the transcript of the press conference.

Saakashvili told Bush: "Mr. President, you are a decisive and visionary leader."

Bush replied: "Mr. President, thank you for setting such a good example, you and your people. I appreciate the reforms you have put in place here. Georgia has come a long way very quickly. The President recognizes there's a lot of work to be done to leave the foundations, institutional foundations in place, so that no one will ever be able to overturn democracy. That's an independent judiciary, rule of law, free media. He was complaining about the media, which is a good sign. (Laughter.) It means you're free. I sometimes complain about ours, but not too publicly, of course."

About Saakashvili

Just who is this Saakashvili, who Bush says "loves democracy and loves freedom, and he loves the people of Georgia"?

As Peter Finn wrote in The Washington Post last week: "Saakashvili's overwhelming dominance of politics has led to charges from the country's opposition -- themselves Rose Revolutionaries who stayed out of government -- that Saakashvili is so taken with his preeminence that the revolution's democratic promise is being undermined.

" 'There are no checks and balances in this country,' said David Gamkrelidze, a onetime conspirator with Saakashvili and now head of the New Right Party, the only formal opposition group in Parliament. 'Saakashvili has authoritarian instincts. He cannot tolerate any criticism. And I hope that President Bush, in private, will speak to him about transparency, about democratic control, about the rule of law.' "

Here's a BBC profile: "Opinion polls suggest he has been the country's most popular politician for the last two years, and he appeared to have achieved a landslide victory in the 4 January election.

"But critics describe him as a demagogue and a populist with a strong lust for power."