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BECK: I'M BACK WITH THE PRESIDENT OF GEORGIA MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI. MR PRESIDENT, AS I SAID TO YOU BEFORE WE WENT TO THE BREAK MOST AMERICANS, THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT GEORGIA IS, THE COULDN'T FIND IT ON A MAP AND THEY DON'T KNOW WHY WE SHOULD BE INVOLVED HERE. MAKE YOUR CASE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE NOW AND TELL PEOPLE WHY AND WHAT'S THIS STORY REALLY ALL ABOUT AND WHY WE SHOULD BE INVOLVED
PRESIDENT SAAKASHVILI: WELL YOU KNOW IF YOU, THAT DEPENDS ON THE ANGLE FROM WHICH YOU LOOK AT. WHEN GERMANY WAS GOING TO ATTACK CZECHOSLOVAKIA IN 1938 NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN THEN THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE UK SAID "WHY WE SHOULD CARE AB CZECHOSLOVAKIA, IT'S A FAR AWAY COUNTRY OF WHICH WE KNOW VERY LITTLE." I DON'T WANT THESE WORLDS TO APPLY TO GEORGIA NOW. BECAUSE CZECHOSLOVAKIA IN 1938 WAS A STRUGGLING DEMOCRACY, GEORGIA IS STRUGGLING DEMOCRACY AS WELL. GEORGIA WAS PART OF SOVIET UNION WE WERE OCCUPIED BY BOLSHEVIK RUSSIA ALMOST 100 YEARS AGO EXACTLY IN SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES. THEY CLAIMED TO PROTECT MINORITY HERE, THEY CAME IN AND WE WENT THROUGH 70 YEARS OF COMMUNIST SLAVERY AND BASICALLY THE MUD OF THE COMMUNIST SOCIETY. WE IMMERGED FROM THAT TO BUILD A NEW COUNTRY, A COUNTRY THAT WAS-YOU ARE A RIGHT-A COUNTRY THAT WAS INITIALLY VERY CORRUPT VERY INEFFICIENT. NOW WE ARE, UNTIL NOW ONE OF THE FAST GROWING ECONOMY IN THE REGION. WE ARE GETTING THE HIGHEST CAPITA RATE OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT, WHY? BECAUSE WE BECAME ONE OF THE MOST UNCORRUPT COUNTRIES IN EUROPE ACCORDING TO THE EUROPEAN BANK. WE BECAUSE ONE OF THE TOP GOVERNANCE PLACES ACCORDING TO THE WORLD BANK, WE BECAME ONE OF THE TOP BUSINESS CLIMATE DESTINATIONS AHEAD OF MANY OF THE MUCH WELL KNOWN BIG ECONOMIES. SO GEORGIA HAS REALLY DONE THIS POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION, WE MOVED FORM SOCIETY WITH LAWLESSNESS AND CORRUPTION TO A SOCIETY WITH RULE OF LAW AND A SOCIETY WHERE THERE IS FREEDOM BUT THERE IS ALSO RESPONSIBILITY. SO THE POINT HERE IS RUSSIA IS CONTROLLED BY PEOPLE WHO ARE COMING FROM KGB BACKGROUND. ONE THING THEY HATE MOST OF ALL IN THE WORLD IS FREEDOM AND OF COURSE THEY HATE MOST OF ALL NATIONS THAT WANT TO BE FREE. GEORGIA WAS THE JEWEL OF THE EMPIRE IT'S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY AMONG THE FORMER SOVIET STATES AND THEY THINK THAT GEORGIA SHOULD BELONG TO THEM, AND WHAT HAPPENS TO THIS GEORGIA THAT HAS NO OIL AND GAS LIKE THEY HAVE, SUDDENLY DEFIED THEIR RULE AND SAID "LOOK WE DON'T HAVE OIL AND GAS, BUT WE HAVE FREEDOM AND WE HAVE RULE OF LAW", AND YOU KNOW WHAT RUSSIAN TANKS WERE ROLLING INTO GEORGIA YESTERDAY, AND WHAT WE DID, WE STAGED HUGE RALLY IN DOWNTOWN TBILISI.
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PEOPLE CAME OUT, WE HAD BIGGEST EVER NUMBER OF PEOPLE WAVING GEORGIA FLAGS AND SINGING GEORGIA ANTHEM. DEMOCRACY-THEY FIGHT AMONG EACH OTHER, THE POLITICIANS, BUT WHEN THE REAL STRUGGLE COMES PEOPLE DON'T DO CONSTANTLY HATE, UNLIKE RUSSIA WHERE THERE IS MORE PROPAGANDA BASICALLY IN THE MEDIA. WE HAVE FREE MEDIA WE HAVE FREE SOCIETY. WHAT'S AT STAKE HERE? YOU KNOW WE ARE NOT A PRO-AMERICAN COUNTRY. LAST TIME WE DISCUSSED I READ FROM TIME TO TIME THE FEDERALIST PAPERS, OF COURSE I AM BIG ADMIRER OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS, I MYSELF TO COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL AND GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, I PRACTICED LAW IN NEW YORK. ONE THING I LEARNED FROM AMERICA-NOT TO BE PRO-AMERICAN, WE ARE NOT PRO AMERICAN-BUT SOME JOURNALISTS SAID HERE WE ARE BUILDING AMERICA, WE ARE BUILDING A SOCIETY BASED ON THE SAME VALUES AS AMERICA. AND WHAT WE ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT THOSE VALUES ARE WORTHLESS UNLESS THE FREE WORLD CAN STAND UP FOR THAT. IF A SMALL COUNTRY IS BEING BUTCHERED JUST FOR THE DESIRE OF BEING FREE, IF WE ARE BEING BUTCHERED FOR THE FACT THAT WE WANT TO BE CLOSE TO THE UNITED STATES. YOU KNOW THE BOMBS THEY'VE BEEN THROWING ON OUR PEOPLE KILLING HUNDRED OF CIVILIANS FOR THE LAST FEW DAYS-I'M AFRAID TO SAY THOUSANDS, BUT HUNDREDS AT LEAST, I HOPE IT WILL NOT BE THOUSANDS-YOU KNOW THEY HAD AN INSCRIPTION ON THEM "THIS IS FOR AMERICA," "THIS IS FOR NATO," "THIS IS FOR BUSH." I TOLD PRESIDENT BUSH ABOUT IT TODAY BY THE WAY. SO RUSSIANS ARE FIGHTING WAR NOT WITH US AT THIS STAGE, BUT THEY ARE FIGHTING WAR WITH THE IDEA. THEY WANT TO KILL THE IDEA OF FREEDOM, AND BY PROXY THEY IMAGINE THEY FIGHT WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES.