Interlude présidentiel
Ca fait quelques jours que je bosse pas mal, alors j'ai pas trop le temps de publier une nouvelle note. Mais j'ai plein de sujets en tête, et mardi promis je fais quelque chose. Pour patienter un petit discours de notre ami Micha sur Bakouriani (c'est en anglais mais les Géorgiens parlent le langage de la vérité, vous comprendrez forcément).
Georgian president makes bombastic speech on tourism, sport
Imedi TV
[Saakashvili, wearing skiing suit, addressing crowd of mostly young people] Greetings to you all. I want to say how pleased I am that we are finally starting to resemble and be better than normal European countries. (...)
I want to tell you one thing. Georgia has gold mines. We are still a country where there are very many people in hardship. But you also know full well that we have resorts that are the best in Europe - Bakuriani and Gudauri. By the way, we also have Mestia and many other places where downhill skiing can develop and where many tourists can come.
As early as September, for the first time in Georgia, we will have a European-standard airport in Tbilisi, which means that any foreign tourist can come and bring money into Bakuriani households and Bakuriani residents' pockets. They will come together with you [Georgian visitors], and we will become a normal European resort like Austrian, Swiss and other European resorts.
We are not inferior to anyone. There are very few downhill skiing resorts in the world. These resorts are Georgia's gold mine. This is our mine now. Do you want it to be used by all of us for the benefit of our country? [cheers of approval] We will do this all together.
Georgia is a country for tourism, the best country. They can talk as much as they want about a war breaking out here tomorrow and troubles and disturbances starting after that - nothing like that will happen. We are a normal, settled, fun-loving and clever people who like a very good life. No matter what problems we have, we will get our country on its feet, we will turn our resorts into - [changes thought] I have been to resorts across the whole of Europe. I go to conferences and various other events as president and I have seen them all. None is better than Bakuriani and none is better than Gudauri.
(...)
I want to tell you - [changes tack] Where is our skier Abramishvili? Where is he? Let him come here. Two days ago I received our [figure] skater Elene Gedevanishvili. [Abramishvili appears] Come here. This boy competed against 100 people who have their personal psychologists, their personal psychotherapists, their own people applying some kind of stuff to skis, several personal trainers. He beat them all [as heard] and finished 29th in a field of 100 people. This is very little, but how old are you? [Abramishvili answers] He is just 17. [Applause]
Our other skier [as heard] Elene Gedevanishvili, whom I received two years [as heard] ago - [changes tack] The Russians trained her and told her that she should become a Russian citizen if she wanted to continue her career. We told her, leave these Russians alone, we will hire the best American trainer for you, will pay you money and will give you a scholarship. Go, learn and win a gold medal for Georgia, or silver, or gold - we will be happy with any medal because we are a sporting state, we are a state with a healthy spirit, healthy physical training.
We are as good as anyone else, as good as the Austrians, as good as the Swiss, as good as the Germans, as good as the Swedes, Norwegians or Russians because we have the most beautiful resorts, the most beautiful mountains, the most clever people, the most daring young people, and we can achieve the most. Is that right? [applause]
That is why this year we, the Georgian authorities, will build - together with businessmen - several new ski lifts and several new runs for you. We will fight for the Olympics to be held here. Let's hope it will be held here. If not, that would be no problem either. You must know that it is not the main thing for us to produce world and Olympic champions or to produce new Abramishvilis and Gedevanishvilis. The main thing is for all of us to be healthy, sensible, happy and fun-loving people confident in our own abilities. [cheers of approval]
In the last two years we built more roads than were built in [the preceding] 30 years. We have built more ski lifts than were built in [the preceding] 40 years. We have built more sports routes [as heard] than were built throughout the Soviet period. That is because we are free. We know one thing, which is no-one will be able to humiliate us and laugh at us any longer. Despite continuing attempts, they will no longer be able to recruit our athletes. We will teach everyone that we are Georgians, we are strong, we are sporting people, we are successful, we are modern people, we are Europeans, and the strongest Europeans in Europe. [applause, cheers]
(...)
People, why are we inferior to anyone? Why should we be going on to a skating rink in order to lose? Why should we go on to a football field merely to lose? Why should we go on to a ski run merely to lose? Are our ski runs inferior to anyone else's? Why should we go on to any other arena, battlefield or contest merely to lose? Are we inferior to anyone?
We are being told that we should move away to the edge and they will do everything for us. I'm sorry, but that won't do. They were trying to get in our way. Do you know what freedom is? When no-one gets in your way and you fully achieve the goal you have set yourself. We should show the whole world that we are Georgians - when I say Georgians, I mean Georgians, Georgian Azeris, Georgian Armenians, Georgian Ossetians, Georgian Abkhaz, Georgian Jews, Georgian, I don't know, Americans, Dutch and so on - and that we are the strongest. [applause] We are the strongest, are we not? I always suspected that .
I promise you, I promise you that there will be artificial snow machines in Bakuriani as early as this autumn, there will be a new run, there will be a new ski run, there will be a new ski lift in Gudauri, there will be hundreds of new grounds for our footballers, basketball players, wrestlers and so on. The rest - [changes tack] I will do everything possible for you and we will do everything possible for you. The rest - you are here, the strongest Georgians - the rest is up to you. [cheers, applause]
Forward to future victories together with you. Thank you.
hu hu hu