Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s enigmatic billionaire powerbroker, appears fixated on Western reactions while ignoring the mass protests engulfing his nation.

Even if the Abkhazian opposition manages to capitalize on its success by putting forward a successful candidate in the upcoming presidential election, the next leader will still have to find common ground with Moscow.

Any future effort to revise the regional order in post-Soviet Europe and Eurasia must address the region’s protracted conflicts. It will be impossible to address the other disputes over the security architecture and economic integration without parallel steps on the conflicts.