Revolution in Georgia

Washington Post: Eduard Shevardnadze, the statesman who did much to ensure that the collapse and transformation of the former Soviet bloc was peaceful, has now seen his own career as president of his native Georgia ended by a popular uprising. It's a sad end to a historic political career: Mr. Shevardnadze was forced out by mass protests after he tried to reverse the victory of opposition parties in a parliamentary election by ratifying blatantly fraudulent results. Yet the "revolution of roses," as some are calling last weekend's events in that small but strategically important Caucasian country, was good news for Georgia and its supporters in the West, including the Bush administration.
First, Mr. Shevardnadze left peacefully -- a last good deed from the Soviet foreign minister who helped manage the fall of the Berlin Wall -- and there was no violence in the streets of his impoverished and unstable nation. The new government is made up of pro-Western democrats, the legitimate winners of this month's elections, and they have pledged to hold new votes for both president and parliament in 45 days.
U.S. plays a role
To its credit, the Bush Administration has already done much to encourage democracy in Georgia. Last summer it dispatched former Secretary of State James A. Baker III to persuade Mr. Shevardnadze to sign an election agreement allowing for exit polls and parallel vote counts by international observers -- actions that ended up exposing the fraud and lending legitimacy to the popular rebellion. After the elections, the administration denounced the fraud and distanced itself from Mr. Shevardnadze -- in contrast to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who repeatedly phoned the president even as senior aides huddled with Moscow's ally, the regional autocrat, smuggler and vote-stealer Aslan Abashidze. Though Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov eventually helped to broker Mr. Shevardnadze's resignation, Moscow was clearly unhappy that its client's power grab had failed.
Georgia's new leaders now face the daunting task of organizing free and fair elections and neutralizing the resistance of Mr. Abashidze and other would-be spoilers. They will need considerable help from the United States, Turkey and other Western governments to succeed. Perhaps most importantly, President Bush can press Mr. Putin to accept independence and democracy in his neighbor -- or at least, to stop Moscow's clients from deliberately wrecking it.