US-backed Georgian president's exaggerated claims fuel tensions with Russia

It was a claim that could have provoked a dangerous Kremlin response: The United States is readying to take over airports and ports in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The claim, by US-backed Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili on Aug. 13 was swiftly shot down by officials in Washington, who denied any such designs on Georgian soil. Yet, it was the latest in a string of overstated pronouncements by the US-educated Georgian leader that are further fueling tensions with Moscow. His comments–along with a stream of biased, conflicting and often false information coming from both Russian and Georgian officials–have made it hard to figure out what is really happening in the world's latest hotspot. Saakashvili has been conducting daily interviews in his fluent English on international television networks and making frequent televised speeches at home. On Aug. 13, he said in an interview on CNN that Russian troops were "closing on the capital, circling," and planning to install their own government in Tbilisi. Associated Press reporters in the area saw no sign of an impending coup. An AP reporter saw dozens of Russian trucks and armored vehicles heading south from the central city of Gori in the direction of Tbilisi, but they later turned away. Saakashvili said Russian troops moving deeper into Georgia "even steal toilet seats." He later said on Georgian national television that the US arrival of a military cargo plane with humanitarian aid "means that Georgia's ports and airports will be taken under the control of the US Defense Department." Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell responded, "We have no need, nor do we intend to take over any Georgian air or seaport to deliver humanitarian aid.... We have no designs on taking control of any Georgian facility." Saakashvili has repeatedly compared the Russian incursions to Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939, to the Soviet crackdown in Prague in 1968 and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. In his TV address, he said, "Russia has lost more airplanes than in any conflict of this scale since 1939." While such figures are not publicly available, the calculation seemed unlikely given how brief the fighting has been and how uneven the two countries' forces are. He also cited rumors that Russia was planning to bomb a rally in Tbilisi the day before. The rally ended peacefully.