"This new building of our parliament is a symbol of the new Georgia, " Saakashvili said at the official opening of the yet-to-be finished legislature late last month against a backdrop of marching troops and military hardware.
Ms. NINO BURJANADZE (Speaker of the Parliament, Georgia): We did this to prove to everybody, to our people and to international communities, that we are really very serious about democracy, about democratic elections.
David Bakradze, speaker of Georgia's parliament, believes that Russia balked at taking Tbilisi mainly because the morale of Georgians did not collapse in the face of their threat.