This article focuses on the paradoxes inherent in the Rose Revolution in Georgia. The Rose Revolution and its colored companions precipitated two disappointing reactions in the former Soviet space: first, disillusion with popular democracy movements, and second, what Vitali Silitsky calls ‘preemptive authoritarianism’, or the ability of post-Soviet regimes to anticipate popular challenge. I connect the ideology and style of the Rose Revolution with the constitutional crisis of November 2007 in Georgia, and with the Russo-Georgian war of August 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]