Cover -- Contents -- List of photos -- Acronyms -- Preface -- Map of Georgia -- 1. The geopolitical setting - a renewed Great Game -- A troubled area -- The new Silk Road -- The Western Offensive -- A regional alternative? -- Russia's Comeback -- Chechnya - all about oil? -- New Russian strategy -- Will Obama make a difference? -- Notes -- 2. Puppet or buffer? -- Paradoxes -- National or private religion? -- Georgianization -- Javakheti - far from Tbilisi -- A transit country -- Puppet or buffer? -- Notes -- 3. A history of failed independence -- Long before Christ -- Georgievsk 1783 - occupation or protection? -- The first modern independence -- Soviet Georgia = occupied territory? -- Notes -- 4. The dissolution of the Soviet Union - blessing or disaster? -- Perestroika -- Social collapse, political pluralism -- On the brink of civil war -- Western indifference to Russian suffering -- Notes -- 5. The breakaway regions - Russian stooges or freedom -- South Ossetia -- Abolishing the autonomy -- Years of relative calm -- Attempts at reconquest -- Abkhazia -- Countdown towards war -- The fall of Sukhumi, and Georgian mass flight -- Russia - culprit or scapegoat? -- Renewed tension -- Peace efforts -- Waiting for a Georgian de Gaulle -- Notes -- 6. Gamsakhurdia, the tactical fanatic -- April 9, 1989 -- Good liberator, poor administrator -- Dark legacy -- Notes -- 7. Shevardnadze. the failed saviour -- Contradicting moods -- Shevardnadze's comeback -- Shevardnadze's first 'realistic' phase -- 2000: cracks in the wall -- Shevardnadze turns to the West -- Escalation -- Preparing for Shevardnadze's exit -- Back to Russia? -- Notes -- 8. Kmara - enough! The Rose Revolution -- Did the opposition win? -- Fear of Abashidze -- Peaceful takeover -- Was it a CIA-led coup? -- Notes -- 9. The revolutionary honeymoon -- Successes and failures.

The presidential election of 2004 -- The brain of the revolution -- Towards one-party democracy? -- Reconciliation with Russia? -- Deteriorating relations with Russia -- The end of the honeymoon -- Notes -- 10. The death of Zhvania - the revolution loses its brain -- A Green realist -- Zurab as political psychotherapist -- Was Zhvania assassinated? -- Repercussions of the death of Zhvania -- A great loss -- Notes -- 11. Saakashvili, the failed liberator -- Minister, mayor, president -- The November crisis, 2007 -- The presidential election of 2008 -- The parliamentary election of 2008 -- Good for business, not for the poor -- Notes -- 12. The Ossetia War 2008 - a conspiracy, but by whom? -- The final escalation -- 'Operation Clear Field' -- Ceasefire -- The Aftermath -- Contradictory conspiracy theories -- A struggle about democracy? -- Countermoves against Russian re-emergence? -- Dissident voices -- The European Union blames Georgia most, which embarrasses the EU presidency -- Notes -- 13. After the war: renewed political clashes -- Attempted coup - or fake? -- Repressive tolerance -- Notes -- 14. Georgia and Russia, the prodigal son and the Big Brother -- Russia's whiplashes -- Escalation -- No anti-Russian feelings -- Russians against anti-Georgian policy -- Is a Russian carrot impossible? -- Notes -- 15. Georgia's future: Caucasian, European and nonaligned -- NATO: no solution -- Why not a Finnish option? -- Cyprus repeated in the Caucasus? -- What carrot for Russia? -- Russian neocolonialism - or just globalization?? -- Options for Georgia -- The need for alternative policy -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.