FT.com - Saakashvili’s Resignation Eminent - Saakashvili’s grip on power in doubt? - by Roman Olearchyk in Tbilisi and Isabel Gorst in Moscow

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Saakashvili’s Resignation Eminent - Saakashvili’s grip on power in doubt? - by Roman Olearchyk in Tbilisi and Isabel Gorst in Moscow

Georgia’s pro-western president Mikheil Saakashvili is a gambling man of sorts, notorious for betting high in Tbilisi’s passionate and cut-throat politics – and usually winning. But by pitting his country’s tiny army against mighty Russia, he may have taken one gamble too far.The fact that Russia hates him so much is a big factor in Mr Saakashvili’s favour in Georgia, but the outcome of the conflict could severely weaken his five-year domination of Georgian politics. If he is blamed for precipitating the Russian onslaught, Georgians could turn against him. What is far less certain is whether any alternative leader would be more accommodating to Moscow. “Maybe the Russians should, indeed, topple him,” said Bella, a middle-aged Georgian woman distraught at this week’s devastation.