Georgia’s pro-western president Mikheil Saakashvili is a gambling man of sorts, notorious for betting high in Tbilisi’s passionate and cut-throat politics – and usually winning. But by pitting his country’s tiny army against mighty Russia, he may have taken one gamble too far.

Thousands of Georgians flooded on to the streets of Tbilisi on Tuesday to demonstrate their support for the president, in the face of Russian calls for his resignation. They held posters saying “We love you Misha,” the diminutive of Mikheil by which Mr Saakashvili is universally known.