Much of August this column was devoted to recalling the Russian invasion of Georgia beginning August 7, 2008. An earlier column related my experiences at the front, the free world's weakness in the face of Putin's aggression and the abiding consequences thereof. Namely the invasions of Ukraine and all of Putin's other emboldened transgressions. Including the plight of Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia's then president, later an advisor to Zelensky, currently imprisoned and poisoned in his home country. We published a scoop, his public letter smuggled out of prison for the world to witness his struggle and remember how it all started in 2008. And now welcome to Part 2 of this column's 15th anniversary remembrance of that low, dishonest invasion.
I covered that war for the Wall Street Journal's (WSJ) editorial pages. I also got to know Saakashvili personally. It gave me a privileged close-up view of front-line actions and, more uniquely, a glimpse of backstairs super-power politics in a Putin war. In a rare instance of a media organ affecting global outcomes directly, the WSJ had a decisive effect on saving Georgia. Some of the revelations below derive from chats with Saakashvili down the years, and some from talks with editorial page personnel of the Journal (WSJ) at the time. These are world-wide exclusives published in this column for the first time. Georgia's President chose the path of embracing the West loudly and publicly at every turn. He was feted for it by the Bush White House and French President Sarkhozy and Western media. Saakashvili felt that staying quietly diplomatic would only allow the Kremlin to dial up pressure on Georgia in myriad ways. He saw Ukraine being bullied incessantly. Best to embrace the free world openly, he felt, and hold the West to its principles.
In part 1, this column outlined Putin's painstaking steps to justify regime-change in Georgia, the propaganda, the corruption, the KGB tricks, the intimidation of Western leaders. Putin invaded Georgia despite Condoleeza Rice's reassurances to Tbilisi that Russia would never invade. Georgia's Western allies blamed Saakashvili for provoking Putin. After the first few days, Georgia chose to impose a unilateral ceasefire on its own troops to stop the bloodshed. Western allies were not coming through. Their leaders were all attending the Beijing Olympics, where Putin personally informed Bush of the invasion, saying he was doing it to protect pro-Russia separatists (sound familiar?). His real message? The US has invaded Iraq, a Moscow ally, to impose regime-change and we are free to do the same where we choose.
For proper context, we should remember two factors. 1)The US was strategically overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan and dreaded confronting Putin in any way. 2) It was widely known that President Bush heeded only one media voice – the WSJ's editorial pages.
On August 11, 2008, four days after the invasion started, the WSJ published a large op-ed by Saakashvili headed “The War In Georgia Is A War For The West”. It didn't slow down Putin. His tanks rolled on and Russian warplanes buzzed Tbilisi. Seeing this, the WSJ followed up with an editorial rebuking the Bush White House for inaction, suggesting Bush should at least send Condi Rice to Tbilisi. Which is precisely what he then did, while also claiming this was planned all along. The warjets stopped swooping over Tbilisi. Putin's tanks halted at the outer provinces. In effect, the WSJ editorial board had saved the country from further harm but it couldn't itemize, for Bush, an entire road-map of how to deal with Russia.
Nor did Bush know what to do next. With the situation at an impasse, French President Sarkozy inserted himself into the mix, determined to posture as go-between, peacemaker, and all-round global statesman. The White House didn't like it, neither did Tbilisi, but Moscow seemed amenable. Sarkozy couldn't be slowed. He went to the Kremlin, then to Georgia, where in front of a noisy welcoming crowd he informed Saakashvili instantly that Putin was a psychotic and therefore Saakashvili must assent to everything Putin wanted or see the country destroyed.
Back at the administration's inner offices, Sarkozy revealed Putin's demands. They included acceding to a Moscow-appointed interim regime, giving separatist regions power over state decisions or full independence, revoking all plans to join Nato or the EU. Saakashvili replied that he would be lynched by his own populace. He stood his ground. Sarkozy called the Kremlin to say nothing doing and Medvedev answered. They awaited a response. Several hours passed. They tried Moscow repeatedly to no avail. Meanwhile, Sarkozy kept calling his famous ex-model wife in Paris and telling her of Saakashvili's recalcitrance. Nobody doubted that the Kremlin could listen in to their communication. Finally, a call came in to an outer office from Medvedev. The Kremlin had accepted the situation. Ceasefire and withdrawal but not from separatist areas. No renunciation of Georgia's EU and Nato hopes. August 2008. Exactly 15 years ago.
For his services, the Kremlin rewarded Sarkozy with massive contracts to build hi-tech war ships for Russia. Ultimately cancelled, of course, much against his will. He was recently convicted of corruption charges and sentenced to three years incarceration.
As the world knows, Putin's tanks withdrew only to re-encroach and occupy border areas so gradually that the world ignored it. Georgians didn't. Trade embargoes, warjet violations, separatist provocations and much else flowed out of Moscow. The world did nothing. Eventually, in late 2012, a Moscow-funded oligarch, with a slew of FSB dark-ops helping him, united the opposition and won the national election. Georgians had given up on the West. Ten years later, the oligarch still rules the country from the shadows. This process, of course, is what Putin has intended for Ukraine all along. Knowing that, the Ukrainians decided to fight. Ignoring Saakashvili's plight then and now has only led to disaster.