He did a lot of good for many years
But he did not properly recognize the forces he lhelped unleash.
He played a big part in allowing the USSR to wind down in a peaceful fashion, and to follow a path towards greater, if imperfecct, liberty.
Freedom and hope are hard to put back in the bottle.
That he resorted to a Mexican style of ballot box stuffing to retain power but could not speaks well of the future of Georgia.
Ed