Mr Varshalomidze talks wistfully of times before the Russian revolution, when Batumi had 18 foreign consulates.

ECONOMIST: Ajaria, a Georgian success story

Incidentally, Batumi is also the site of a preliminary round of talks between Georgia and the European Union starting today.

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Where Mr Abashidze was habitually accompanied by a phalanx of black-clad toughs, Mr Varshalomidze strolls around Batumi, Ajaria's capital, with a lone bodyguard.

ECONOMIST: Ajaria, a Georgian success story

The commander of an army brigade based in Batumi declared his loyalty to Mr Abashidze, only to find most subordinates going the other way.

ECONOMIST: The comic opera ends | The

He said he was especially impressed by the Black Sea coastal town of Batumi, where Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was on hand to show him around.

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The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Dallas and the USS McFaul delivered more than 230, 000 pounds of aid to the port of Batumi, south of Poti, when they arrived in recent weeks, the Navy said.

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Mr Saakashvili had to tread carefully in Ajaria because of a sprawling ex-Soviet base near Batumi, a legacy of the days when this was a cold-war frontier between the Red Army and Turkey, a NATO member.

ECONOMIST: The comic opera ends | The