Natelashvili calls President of Georgia to resign

Shalva Natelashvili, leader of the oppositional Labour Party of Georgia, has accused President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili of provoking the war in South Ossetia and advised him to resign voluntarily. According to Mr Natelashvili, "this power should grow an idea in their heads that their resignation will save the country."

We remind you, however, that on August 14 all the leaders of Georgian opposition parties appeared on TV and stated that it was not the proper time to be in the opposition, and that they supported the actions of the government.

According to Natelashvili, "today, Georgia needs the government, which should be neither pro-Russian, nor pro-American, but pro-Georgian. This should happen without any actions and putsches."

In Mr Natelashvili's opinion, Georgia fell victim of Russia's fight with the USA, and the reason was in wrong policy of the authorities. "As a result, we've lost ancient territories and thousands of people, and we have a sort of geopolitical trifles instead of map of Georgia," he said.

"I say with all my responsibility that but for the war Russia would never recognize Abkhazia's and South Ossetia's independence," Natelashvili has noted, as the website "Our Abkhazia" writes.

"The only way out today is voluntary retirement of the present Georgian leaders," the Georgia Online Agency quotes Natelashvili's words at today's briefing.

Let us note here that The Washington Post writes that US administration needs a new strong leader of Georgia to have an opportunity to distance their support of Georgia as a country and democracy away from support of discredited Mikhail Saakashvili's regime.

Mr Saakashvili has failed to pursue the correct policy of his US patrons; he did the bidding of Ossetians' provocations and started the war in the Caucasus, thus having untied the hands of Putin's aggressive regime and involved the USA in unnecessary confrontation, writes the edition.

Therefore, now the States need a new leader for Georgia - Saakashvili has soiled himself not only with war, but also with dispersal of oppositional demonstrations and stopping oppositional TV channels.

In this context, the newspaper believes that an attractive candidate is Nino Burdzhanadze, ex-speaker of Georgian Parliament, who quitted the coalition with Saakashvili and stands for respect of the freedom of speech and fundamental human rights.