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Michael is back in Tbilisi and appears on GPS. He sums up the events of the past few days by saying that not only did the Russians easily sweep aside the Georgian Army, but the invasion served to send a message from Moscow to the world... and no one has any intention or ability to answer back in any meaningful way.
JILL
DOUGHERTY, HOST, GLOBAL PUBLIC SQUARE: And now we
want to turn to Michael Ware.
Michael, you know, you are in Tbilisi, and initially
there were a lot of fears, apparently, among the
Georgians that the Russians would actually try to go
all the way to Tbilisi.
Now that we're in this situation, what is the level
of fear among the people? And also, what is this, do
you think, doing politically or any other way to
President Saakashvili?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT,
TBILISI, GEORGIA: Well, obviously, Jill, there is
some degree of unease amongst the Georgian
population. I think -- however, I think that they
themselves can see that the situation is beginning to
calibrate itself here on the ground.
I mean, to be honest, whilst it's well within the
Russians' military capability to take the capital --
where I'm standing right now -- should they so
desire, I don't believe that, at the end of the day,
the Russians would assess that that would be to their
advantage. I think that they would believe -- and, I
think, rightly so -- that that would be overplaying
their hand. And they don't want to blow the gains
that they've made.
I mean, just being purely pragmatic, in the
geopolitical scenario that encases this conflict, the
Russian military and political operation that's taken
place here has been a stunning success. Militarily,
on the ground, they swept the Georgian military away,
as though they were batting a fly, all but. That
Georgia military has tried to rally, but it still
offers no real resistance to the Russians.
And of course, no one from Europe, the West or the
United States, indeed, can or will come to their aid
militarily. And politically, there's very little
stick with which to beat the Russians, so, to provide
incentives or sanctions to force them to follow the
letter of the cease-fire as it stands right now.
But the Russian mission, from Moscow's point of view,
you would have to say has been breathtakingly
successful. Military, on the ground, as we said, but
politically they've sent the message to Georgia, to
the region and to Washington that I suspect they
fully intended to do from the beginning -- Jill.
DOUGHERTY: And Michael, just quickly, the people that
you're speaking to, the Georgians that you're
speaking to, are they -- they obviously would be
concerned about the Russian side. But are they
blaming anyone? Is it all the Russians? Or is there
any, let's say, political blame for the president of
Georgia?
WARE: Well, right now, I think it's too sensitive of
a time for us to begin analyzing that in fine detail.
However, I will say that there is a mood, or there is
a question mark over whether this Georgian
government, led by its president, did provide any
provocation to the Russians.
I mean, there's some talk that there's been goading
of the Russian position for several years now, for
quite some time, and that maybe some do, indeed,
question the wisdom of the military operation
launched by the Georgians just over a week ago.
However, the dominant feeling right now, for this
moment, is one of nationalism, one of holding
together, holding the line. I mean, this country has
been invaded by a foreign force. Now is not the time
to start pulling apart the leadership.
So, this is a rallying moment for the Georgians.
I'm sure, however, that there will be questions asked
in the aftermath, both looking internally inside this
country and, of course, externally at Georgia's
foreign sponsors, particularly the United States --
Jill.
DOUGHERTY: Okay. Thank you very much, Michael --
Michael Ware, Matthew Chance and Frederik
Pleitgen.