The Saakashvili Saga Lives On

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/mikheil-saakashvili-fails-in-mission-to-reform-ukraine-a-1163344.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41219773

I'm not sure if anyone knows what to think about Mikheil Saakashvili and his changing fortunes. Depending on how you read the situation he either started the 2008 Georgia-Russia War or was its victim.

Certainly corrupt, he was eventually forced out of Georgian politics and after a stint in the United States he turned to Ukrainian politics in the wake of the Western sponsored coup in 2014.

Caught in a state of corruption and chaos Ukraine's Poroshenko forced him out and now in a bizarre episode... he's back.

What's this all about? It's hard to say. Saakashvili has long been tight with some powerful figures within the US Establishment including John McCain. For a time he was the West's darling in the Caucasus and they had big plans for him and Georgia. Tbilisi was looking West at the EU and certainly at NATO membership.

And then it all fell apart. Did he overreach in 2008 and thus sever his support? Perhaps in part, although he was certainly granted a warm welcome to the United States when he fled his native country in the wake of electoral defeat.

Is he still being backed by the US or has he gone rogue? The status quo in Ukraine is unsustainable and there are those in the West who would like to see Poroshenko gone but I must confess I find it hard to imagine that a new political bloc led by Saakashvili would be a solution anyone would turn to.

At best he's an agitator, a provocateur somewhat on the outs with his old handlers seeking a place at the table and some redemption. He may in the end just be a loose cannon who will need to be put in his place. Time will tell but you can be sure Moscow is watching very closely and with reason. Saakashvili (at least in the past) was closely tied to the elements within the US Establishment that are clearly gunning for Putin and if possible would put his head on a platter.