Can an Exiled Georgian Rescue Ukraine?

Just eight months ago, former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili languished in Brooklyn, "plotting a triumphant return" to his homeland, according to the New York Times. As of last weekend, however, he is a citizen of Ukraine and governor of Odessa, a region in the southwest of that country. His appointment is an effort by President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine to prove reforms are possible, and may be part of a plan to make Saakashvili prime minister in place of Poroshenko's reluctant ally, Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

In Georgia, Saakashvili is a wanted man, accused of a range of crimes, including spending $11,000 of government funds for Botox injections and using excessive force to dispel anti-government protests in 2007. Though the ex-president has called the charges a "farce" and the U.S. State Department has hinted they constituted "political retribution," they mean his chances of returning home were slim. Georgia's ruling coalition, which beat Saakashvili's supporters in the 2013 elections, is the country's most popular political force. According to a recent poll by the National Democratic Institute, only 16 percent of Georgians would vote for Saakashvili's party.