President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia

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Original source: World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2004
Author: World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland

Saakashvili was re-elected in the early Georgian presidential election of 5 January 2008.

According to Georgian Central Electoral Commission, as of 8 January 2008, which already included the votes from more polling stations than the earlier reports, Saakashvili was leading with 52.

Saakashvili has also occasionally used aggressive language, an example of which was reported by Amnesty International around the time of the President's inauguration.

Mikheil Saakashvili was born in Tbilisi, capital the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union, to a Georgian intelligentsia family.

After graduation, while on internship in the New York law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb Tyler in early 1995, Saakashvili was approached by Zurab Zhvania, an old friend from Georgia who was working on behalf of President Eduard Shevardnadze to enter politics.

Saakashvili was chairman of the parliamentary committee which was in charge of creating a new electoral system, an independent judiciary and a non-political police force.

Saakashvili was sworn in as President in Tbilisi on 25 January 2004.

Saakashvili is a popular supporter of free market and believes that less government involvement in businesses is a good idea.

President Saakashvili was born in Tbilisi, Georgia on 21 December 1967, and is eldest son of three brothers.

Saakashvili was determined that the protests would be determinedly non-violent, lawful and constitutional.

President Saakashvili lives in a 3-room apartment in a private residential building in Tbilisi with his wife, Sandra, and their two sons.

In an interview, embattled Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says Russia intends to occupy Georgia and overthrow his government.

Saakashvili has closely allied himself with the United States, often irritating Russia.

American-educated, Saakashvili has been a constant in Western media this week, making his case that Russia is to blame for the current conflict.

TBILISI, Dec 12 (Xinhua) -- Georgia hopes to establish.

Saakashvili denies that the alliance has suspended his country's membership plans.

Before this summer's war with Russia, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili was itching to do battle and authorities mistook messages from.

Mikheil Saakashvili was elected president of Georgia after a bloodless revolution in 2003.

Saakashvili has been a staunch ally of the United States in the volatile Caucasus region, dispatching troops to Iraq to show his support.

Saakashvili has cast the attack as a necessary response to a Russian invasion, but no evidence has emerged to verify the claim, and political opponents have said he acted rashly.

Saakashvili has moved against corruption, pledged to revive Georgia's economy, steered his government closer to the West and vowed to unify the fractured country.

Russia Aside, Georgias Chief Is Pressed at HomeBy ELLEN BARRYMikheil Saakashvili is facing pressure from Russia and domestic rivals at a time when an economic downturn could upend Georgias political order.

Mr Saakashvili was quick to grasp that popular sympathy against the Russian Bear and his own openness to the media were the only assets that Georgia could deploy against the Kremlin's military machine.

As such, Mr Saakashvili was a crucial national asset for Georgia.

Mr Saakashvili was at university in Kiev when the Soviet Union collapsed and Georgia became independent in 1991.

Mr Saakashvili had walked into a carefully laid trap.

Mikheil Saakashvili has leaded the session.

Saakashvili was born in Tbilisi, the capital of what was then the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union, in 1967.

Saakashvili had always intended to return to Georgia, and in October 2000 was appointed justice minister by Eduard Shevardnadze, the country'sthen president.

In 2003, Saakashvili was elected to replace Shevardnadze, who stepped downfollowing thebloodless Rose Revolution.

Despite his overwhelming victory in 2003, Saakashvili had also tried to stay on good terms with Shevardnadze.

When Shevardnadze resigned, Saakashvili described it as a "courageous act" and predicted "history will judge him kindly.

meaningful help from his Western allies.

Russia Aside, Georgia Chief Is Pressed at Home: Mikheil Saakashvili is facing political pressure from Russia and.

nytimes: Russia Aside, Georgia Chief Is Pressed at Home: Mikheil Saakashvili is facing political pressur.

A grim Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Friday that he signed a cease-fire agreement that requires the immediate withdrawal of all Russian forces from Georgian soil.

Russia is attacking Georgia to achieve "regime change" and crush Georgia's pro-Western democracy, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Monday.

The opposition parties are crying foul, claiming that Mikheil Saakashvili has rigged the election.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has said he would temporarily fulfill the executive duties of prime minister following the apparently accidental death of Zurab Zhvania.

Two months after his so-called Rose Revolution swept away President Eduard Shevardnadze, Mikhail Saakashvili was sworn in as president of Georgia Sunday.

Thirty-six-year-old Mikheil Saakashvili was elected president in 2004 with a mind-boggling 97 percent of the vote, and a mandate to fight corruption, return Georgia's two breakaway regions and accelerate the country's integration with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union.

with his wife, Sandra, and their two sons.

Saakashvili was soon mounting daily protests - drawing tens of thousands of discontented supporters - against parliamentary elections marred by fraudulent practices.

Saakashvili is also struggling with another republic, South Ossetia, which has the support of Russia.

Saakashvili has been cultivating relations with the West.

Smart takesMikheil Saakashvili says yes, Georgia hit Russia.

Saakashvili Is Non Compos MentisEUObserver: "Georgia may have staged the shooting of a convoy carrying the Polish and Georgian presidents, say leaked Polish security service reports.

Georgia Without the SpinIts time for the West to realize that Mikheil Saakashvili is no saint and that Georgia is not quite an innocent victim.

Anne Applebaum says it's time to realize Georgia's Saakashvili is no saint.

Georgian President Remains on the DefensiveMikheil Saakashvili is facing political pressure from Russia and domestic rivals at a time when an economic downturn could upend Georgia's political order.

Saakashvili defends S Ossetia warPresident Mikhail Saakashvili denies seeking a green light from Washington for Georgia's assault on South Ossetia.

Georgia thought it had US backing to use force, ex-envoy saysBefore this summer's Georgia-Russia war, President Mikhail Saakashvili was itching to do battle and authorities mistook messages from the United States as encouragement to use force, Georgia's former ambassador to Russia said yesterday.

Saakashvili Takes ParisA president and an intello walk into a Left-Bank bar.

UPI Almanac for Tuesday, Jan 6, 2009.

MOSCOW, Dec 23 (UPI) -- Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili may be seeking to renew relations with Moscow after his hopes for NATO membership were derailed, local media reported.

Mikheil Saakashvili was born on December 21, 1967 in Tbilisi, capital of what was then the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union.

After graduation, while working in a New York law firm, Saakashvili was approached by Zurab Zhvania, an old friend from Georgia who was working on behalf of President Eduard Shevardnadze to recruit talented young Georgians to enter politics.

In January 2000, Saakashvili was appointed Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Mikheil Saakashvili is married to Sandra E.

Levzur seems to have a dislike of anything to do with ex-President Shevardnadze, such as the fact that Saakashvili was recruited to join his party.

I realise this has been debated already, but it seems to me that if Mikheil is the Georgian form of Mikhail, and if Saakashvili is Georgian, we ought to call him Mikheil.

the situation in the Kodori Gorge is far from over, so saying that Saakashvili has been succesful there based on one incident is a rather selective analysis of the situation.

So it makes me very very sad to see the direction Saakashvili has chosen.

My impression of Saakashvili is a rather negative one.

Armenian News is reporting ] that Mikheil Saakashvili has suffered a heart attack and is 'in grave condition.

Mikheil Saakashvili is the president of Georgia and the leader of that nation's largest political party, the United National Movement (also ENM, for Ertiani Nazionaluri Modsraoba.

In 1995, President Saakashvili was elected as a Head of Constitutional, Legal Issues and Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Georgia.

Mikheil Saakashvili Mikheil Saakashvili was born on December 21, 1967 in Tbilisi.

A charismatic leader, Georgian President Saakashvili is well-worth hearing.

Its time for the West to realize that Mikheil Saakashvili is no saint and that Georgia is not quite an innocent victim.

Media warrior: Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili is a master of spin.

From the earliest hours of the conflict, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili took to the airwaves to appeal for international sympathy and assistance.

Mikheil Saakashvili has overseen important reforms and has inched his country closer toward becoming a genuine European democracy, but the United States is now badly in need of a Georgia policy based on both countries real interests, not one mans savvy marketing campaign.

A lover of Georgian wine and Western culture, Saakashvili is described as supremely confident and even autocratic.

Saakashvili says his forces were provoked into action in South Ossetia; Russia accuses him of launching an offensive move against his nemesis.

Saakashvili has been the Bush administrations poster child for pro-Western movements.

Now Saakashvili is complaining that the West has failed to come to his side.

Saakashvili was touring the Georgian city of Gori dressed in a flak jacket Monday when his security detail threw him to the ground for fear that they were about to be attacked by Russian warplanes.

Tall and brash, Saakashvili has been a larger-than-life character.

Afterward, the press joined the president and his administration—among the youngest in the world—to the opening of a new amusement park, where Saakashvili took a ride on every new roller coaster (ostensibly as a safety check before children arrived) and encouraged his colleagues to join him.

And immediately after April, immediately after Bucharest and I can tell you now that Russians perceived Bucharest, and I mentioned it and then some of the Western commentators made fun of me, saying that, oh, it this hot-headed Saakashvili says this rubbish again.

As to the ceasefire, one reason that it is important to have it signed -- and it is my understanding that President Medvedev will sign a similar document -- the same document that President Saakashvili has signed if he has not already.

It's midnight, but Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili is just hitting his stride.

During the interview, Saakashvili said Georgia is promoting a phased withdrawal for the base with no concrete completion date—as long as the withdrawal starts immediately.

Saakashvili said that formally 3,000 Russians are stationed at the base, though he believed the real figure was much lower.

To respond to the communitys demands, Saakashvili said he is promoting an incentives-based approach, that includes transferring some public services, such as the passport department, away from the regional seat at Akhaltsikhe to Akhalkalaki (a demand made by community leaders), and giving local government responsibility for budget management.

In contrast to other ethnic minority groups in Georgia, including Ossetians and Abkhaz, Saakashvili said Javakheti Armenians are enthusiastic about learning Georgian.

At the same time, the Independent notes that Saakashvili is pressing NATO not to abandon its promise of membership to Georgia (and Ukraine) at the Bucharest summit last April:The Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili, has urged NATO members to bury their differences and agree to a compromise that would accelerate his country's membership of the Western military alliance, despite the fallout from Georgia's six-day war with Russia.

Membership is the goal, President Saakashvili said during a teleconference call from Tbilisi.

RFE/RL wrote:A spokeswoman for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Russian troops manning a checkpoint in the area fired the shots.

Former Georgian defense minister Irakly Okruashvili charges that President Mikheil Saakashvili had long planned a military strike to seize back the breakaway region of South Ossetia but executed it poorly, making it easy for Russia to retaliate, Reuters reports.

Saudi Arabia may be the world's largest oil producer and one of the richest countries on the globe, but when it comes to getting their message across and engaging in public relations – something they very badly need – the kingdom trails far behind smaller nations emerging from decades of totalitarianism.

Mikheil SaakashviliPolitical LeaderBorn: 21 December 1967Birthplace: Tbilisi, GeorgiaBest known as: President of Georgia since 2004Mikheil Saakashvili is the president of Georgia and the leader of that nation's largest political party, the United National Movement (also ENM, for Ertiani Nazionaluri Modsraoba.

Two months later Saakashvili took office as president, having won a quick election by an overwhelming majority.

But what separates US from Saakashvili is that we understand that history, geography and economics dictate close ties to Russia.

Saakashvili is evidently mesmerized by the US.

policy, or in basing Georgia's foreign and domestic policy solely on distancing the country from Russia, as Saakashvili has done.

Maybe presenting both sides of the arguement (whether Saakashvili is good or evil, not in absolute terms) would be more fair.

Presidential candidate of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili has held a meeting with the population of Kvemo Kartli today.

Mikheil Saakashvili met the voters in Bolnisi, Marneuli, Gardabani and Rustavi.

Presidential candidate of the United National Movement, Mikheil Saakashvili has met professors and students of Iakob Gogebashvili Televi State University in Kakheti today.

In an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24's Ulysse Gosset, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili discusses the conflict with Russia - a crisis former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has described as a global cataclysm.

The Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili is a menace to world peace.

Of course Saakashvili was actually repeating verbatim the words of that Idiot in the White House, George W.

Saakashvili is not tented by the devil like the reporter said but the devil lives in Saakavishvili.

For example, Saakashvili has never in any of his interviews during this conflit he started regret the lost of lives whether it was Georgian or Russian.

GEORGIAN President Mikheil Saakashvili has said a visit by NATO's key political decision-making body sent a strong signal of support for the former Soviet republic after its five-day war with Russia.

Gachechiladze says he has been robbed of the second-round play-off that would have ensued on 19 January if Saakashvili had fallen below the 50% mark.

Mikheil Saakashvili is speaking of a brilliant victory, while the opposition can barely contain its fury at what it calls massive electoral fraud.

Mikheil Saakashvili has acknowledged his mistakes in Tbilisi - in particular the need for more defence of property rights - but he still has a lot of ground to make up, probably too much for his United National Movement to win in the spring elections.