At home, Saakashvili appears to remain immune to public discontent at his handling of the war and economic woes in a country with 17 percent unemployment.

In April and May, angry demonstrators took to the streets of Tbilisi demanding his resignation, and blocked the six-lane traffic artery running past the parliament.

However, Georgia's fractured opposition parties appear unable to rally around a single candidate who could challenge Saakashvili's charismatic leadership.

The latest contender is Irakli Alasania, Georgia's former representative to the UN. His newly formed party, Our Georgia, is calling for a democratic opening of the political landscape, to set the tone for early elections.

If nothing else, the opposition is united in its criticism of Saakashvili's 'one-man state,' a point made by Public Defender Sozar Subari.

'The main problem is that all decisions are made by one person and his friends,' Subari said.

While such a concentration of power was seen as expedient to push through much-needed changes, opposition politicians argue that the lack of consultation also led to bad choices, such as the decision to to go to war with Russia.

In addition to the human toll, the war caused an estimated $1 billion of structural damage. Even worse however, was the effect on investor confidence which saw foreign funding dry up.

A generous $4.55 billion international aid pledge gave the economy an initial boost, only for it to succumb to the effects of the international economic crisis.

Georgia's political turmoil, caused in part by economic woes, has further dented the country as foreign investors remain wary of instability within Georgia and with its neighbour, Russia.

'The damage from the war and the political uncertainty that has developed since then ... has really hurt in terms of confidence,' said Edward Gardner, the IMF's senior representative in Georgia.

For now, at least, the tensions over Abkhazia and South Ossetia appear to have reached an uneasy stalemate, as both Russia and Georgia have more to lose than to gain by rekindling the conflict.

Internally, the political threat to the president has dwindled for the time being. Bolstered by Biden's visit, Saakashvili ensured the remaining demonstrators were cleared in front of parliament.

While anything can happen ahead of presidential elections scheduled for 2013, for now the Georgian president appears to have risen again, phoenix-like, from the ashes.