PRAGUE — Georgia's recent instability has dealt a blow to its international reputation as a new democracy, and poses a challenge to the European Union as well.
Faced with street protests in November, President Mikheil Saakashvili claimed that Russian-Georgian tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili was conspiring to bring down the government. So he closed the opposition-leaning private Imedi TV station (owned by Patarkatsishvili) and introduced a state of emergency for nine days, before calling an early presidential election for Jan. 5.
Ever since Saakashvili's inauguration in January 2004, following the 2003 "Rose Revolution," Georgia's government has displayed EU flags on official occasions. Georgians share that enthusiasm.