Home/Daniel Larison/McCain And Saakashvili

McCain And Saakashvili

In many ways he’s McCain’s McCain—a passionate and unorthodox reformer, and a stalwart freedom fighter ranged against the Russian bear. ~Owen Matthews

In many ways, Saakashvili is a perfect example of how absolutely meaningless the word “reformer” is, since self-righteous nationalist prigs who believe themselves to be on a mission of restoration and revitalization such as Saakashvili are dangerous, intemperate fools who bring disaster on their own countries more often than they fix serious problems of corruption and abuse of power.  Indeed, the zeal of many of these “reformers” is such that it justifies corruption and abuse of power in the name of the cause of reform–Saakashvili is a living example of this tendency.  Indeed, he is McCain’s McCain–belligerent, reckless and absolutely convinced of his own moral superiority such that he has no qualms about plunging his country into hell to prove a point. 

These descriptions in this article are exactly the sort of misleading journalism that has inspired at least a decade of senseless pro-Georgian sentimentality in Washington and helped give Saakashvili the false encouragement that the West would aid him in his reckless gamble.  Say it with me: he is not a freedom fighter, he is an authoritarian nationalist.  Just like his Washington patron.

about the author

Daniel Larison is a senior editor at TAC, where he also keeps a solo blog. He has been published in the New York Times Book Review, Dallas Morning News, World Politics Review, Politico Magazine, Orthodox Life, Front Porch Republic, The American Scene, and Culture11, and was a columnist for The Week. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Chicago, and resides in Lancaster, PA. Follow him on Twitter.

leave a comment

Latest Articles