Georgia Times reports that Prime Minister Nika Gilauri has sacked the Minister of Economy Lasha Zhvania. Yes, Prime Minister Gilauri has sacked the Minister of Economy. Given President Saakashvili is accused of acting quasi-autocratically, and given that there has been a succession of weak heads of government since the post was created in 2004, this seems like an unusual action, and Georgia Times notes the same. (Zhvania was the eighth Minister of Economy since 2004!)

Obviously, there is a back story. Civil.ge reports that a series of stories about disagreements between the PM and the Minister of Economy were recently aired on Imedi TV. This station is owned by a long-time ally of President Saakashvili. So, undoubtedly the President supported the decision, whether or not he initiated it.

In addition, the rift between the PM and the Minister of Economy is said to reflect a more general divide between ‘liberals’ and ‘regulators’. The latter are deemed to be those who support moves to align Georgia with the EU. Minister Zhvania was seen as a ‘regulator’. Given Saakashvili needs EU support (or at least does not want to alienate it), then it makes sense that he did not want to be seen to be behind the dismissal.

In another twist, the godfather of former Minister Zhvania’s son is Irakli Alasania of the opposition Our Georgia-Free Democrats party. In a news conference, Zhvania denied that he was going to join the opposition or that this relationship had anything to do with the dismissal. However, he also used the occasion to attack the PM.

All in all, apart from the decision itself, this is a nice case of the whole host of issues that can lie behind a simple headline.