So was this country ripe for revolution? Hardly. With wellabove average indicators for literacy, freedom and life expectancy ,compared with other states in the Caspian basin, its 'political landscape could be a lot bleaker' according to New Internationalist. 'Only now, almost single-handedly held together by former Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, is it emerging as a (relatively) stable member of the world community.' This is despite the refusal of the IMF to lend to Georgia for poverty reduction programmes.

Shevardnadze had argued that the $2.9bn pipeline could damage the country's ecology and had been warned by the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) consortium that the whole project was at risk if it did not sign the environmental assessment by the end of November.

Azerbaijan, which is a shareholder in the BTC consortium and will use the pipeline to export its crude oil, said earlier Thursday it was "very worried" by Georgia's refusal to sign the environmental impact report.

"Georgia is doing things right now which we find hard to understand and since we do not have much time, it worries us a lot. We have to resolve this issue by the end of November," President Aliyev (himself accused of rigging elections by international monitors) said before flying to Prague.

BP had sent the Georgian government an urgent reminder 'of the importance of the timing of the project'.

Foreign diplomats have been lining up to welcome the regime change. A White House spokesman said that the Bush administration is pleased with the resignation and will support Georgia's new interim government. The Azeris stressed that the revolution 'will by no means affect the traditionally friendly relations' between the two countries.

 http://www.baku.org.uk  http://www.burningplanet.net

Sources: New Internationalist, Reuters, SpaceDaily.com, CNN, Baku Ceyhan Campaign