A warship carrying a shipload of grinning, hand-shaking US navy officials sailed into the Georgian port of Poti on August 11 and hosted a round of squabbling by the country’s two rivaling leaders, Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili and President Mikheil Saakashvili.
As the US commanders raised glasses of wine to peace and security in Georgia, the two top Georgians on board made anything but peace. President and prime minister fired jabs at each other across their well-wishing hosts and if it were not for the presence of US Ambassador Richard Norland, the two might have gone elbowing one other right over the side of the ship.
Much like two rivaling fashion divas, they began with remarks on apparel choices. “What’s that thing you are wearing?” the prime minister asked the president, as the two exchanged a frosty handshake, in reference to a red poppy brooch on Saakashvili's lapel. “Where did you get this?” Ivanishvili continued.
“I can get one for you,” the president responded. “And it is supposed to mean what?” Ivanishvili pressed on. “It’s a symbol of the memory of our fallen soldiers [killed in the 2008 war with Russia],” Saakashvili responded.
It was then that US Ambassador Norland felt it was a good time to interject with a toast to "the success of US-Georgian security cooperation." But the pair just could not let such a high-profile, face-to-face encounter go to waste without some other tiffs, too.
“I sure hope you are not in cahoots with Georgia’s enemy,” Saakashvili told Ivanishvili during what was supposed to be a welcoming speech for the crew of the USS Bulkeley destroyer. The president further suggested that the prime minister does not love his homeland since he thinks that Georgia bears its share of the responsibility for the war with Russia.
At this point, Ivanishvili, who had fidgeted behind Ambassador Norland throughout Saakashvili’s address, could not take it anymore. “It is not Georgia. It is you who bears the responsibility,” he declared, shaking his finger at the president.
And, again, Norland, while it's not clear how much he understood of the Georgian, smiled and bent for a word with Ivanishvili.
For many Georgians, the squabble was an embarrassing display of their leaders' short tempers and the face of the political system they have gotten themselves into. In a resulting maelstrom of online debates, many griped that, even at events dedicated to Georgia’s strategic partnerships, the two can focus on nothing but each other.