THE NEW YORK TIMES: Two decades after the Rose Revolution, the former Soviet satellite is turning away from the West and back toward Russia. What happened?
Twenty years ago, on a clear spring afternoon in May, President George W. Bush appeared on an outdoor stage in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, to the rapturous applause of tens of thousands. For the tiny republic, which had seceded from the Soviet Union only to suffer through many years of stagnation, stolen elections and war, it was a moment of great hope. Just 18 months earlier, dissidents clutching roses marched on Parliament and peacefully forced the tainted government out. Thanks to what had become known as the Rose Revolution, Bush declared, “Georgia is today both sovereign and free, and a beacon of liberty for this region and the world.”
Standing alongside Bush that day was a beaming Mikheil Saakashvili — “Misha” to most of his countrymen, the fervently pro-Western political leader who engineered the Rose Revolution and was now Georgia’s president after winning an astonishing 97 percent of the vote in a clean election just 16 months before Bush’s visit. In that short time, he initiated a major anti-corruption effort, accelerated the nation’s drive to join both the European Union and NATO and quintupled the number of Georgian troops serving alongside the Americans in war-shattered Iraq. As Bush continued that day, “Your courage is inspiring democratic reformers and sending a message that echoes across the world: Freedom will be the future of every nation and every people on Earth.” » | Scott Anderson | Wednesday, August 20, 2025
