Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is getting a lot of interesting press coverage this week – and like his public persona, there are those who hold him in awe, and those who blame him entirely for what’s happened (if you haven’t yet read what the Russians say about him, hold onto to your keyboards…). Here are some more interesting snippets of how his personality is being portrayed.

“Why Americans swoon for the former Soviet Republic of Georgia,” by Ilan Greenberg, Slate.com

I got to know Georgia—and Saakashvili—when I profiled him for the New York Times Magazine. For almost two months I shadowed Misha. In Slovakia for a regional summit, walking next to Saakashvili along Bratislava’s cordoned streets, the Georgian head of state hooked his arm on my elbow and offered to trade gossip about his senior staff. In Tbilisi, Saakashvili gave me carte blanche access, not once ordering me out of his office. In a region where governments routinely conflate tribe with nation, Saakashvili pointedly switched languages to inclusively address ethnic minorities. One evening I answered my cell phone to hear the cackling voice of the then 37-year-old president, who called to tease that his evening was more interesting than mine. I had been crank-called by the president. Stockholm Syndrome was inevitable.

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