Following the contested parliamentary election in Georgia on Saturday, the West must not be quick to pass judgment and must seek to understand Georgians’ fears — which the Kremlin’s propaganda is playing into.
Tag: georgia
After the killing of Georgia’s best-known trans woman Kesaria Abramidze, and a harsh new anti-LGBTQ law, Holod spoke with another well-known Georgia-based trans woman, Sofi Beridze, about homophobia in the country, as well as her birthplace, Moscow.
Europe’s fate is also being played out in countries outside the EU, where East and West are battling for influence. In Georgia on Tuesday, the government bowed to pressure from Moscow, and passed a law on “foreign influence” modeled on a Russia law.
Demonstrations suppressed by the forces of order are taking place daily in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi around a draft law on “foreign interests”, considered by the protesters to be a “Russian law.” At stake is Georgia’s future, between the European Union and Putin’s Russia.
Beginning with Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Moscow’s actions against its supposed “brotherly” neighbors have yielded decidedly mixed results. Yet there are certain outcomes of Russian aggression against Ukraine that have weakened the West and the post-Cold War global order.
If anything, the fourth indictment leveled against former U.S. President Donald Trump will only increase the fervor among his diehard fans.
Warfare is not only traumatic for people and infrastructure but also has a large impact on the natural environment. The environmental damages of the Ukraine war will likely be be so great that even neighboring countries will suffer their effects.
As Russia loses in influence in Central Asia, Ukraine has an opportunity to take over a key role in relations between countries in the region and the European Union.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revealed fault lines in Georgia. Many in the country strongly condemn Russia, but some pro-Russian voices have positioned the country as a Kremlin ally. In an exclusive interview with Ukrainska Pravda, Georgian President Salomé Zourabichvili draws the line on what side of history her country will ultimately stand.
Protesters in Georgia blocked the adoption of a Russian-inspired “foreign agents” law, leading to threats from the Kremlin. Writing for La Stampa, Georgia-born political scientist Nona Mikhelidze explains why the events put Moscow on edge.
Russia is losing in Ukraine not just because of Putin’s madness and the heroism of Ukrainians, but also because Russia’s army is built for rapid invasion and occupation, not for the type of grinding war it is now fighting in Ukraine.
Russians fled the war to neighboring countries, bringing with them billions of dollars worth of wealth. The influx of money is both a windfall and a problem.
Sisters Rante and Satu Vodich fled Russia because they could no longer bear to live under Putin — but their mother believes state propaganda about the war. Her daughters are building a new life for themselves in Georgia.
The prospects of Ukraine and other countries joining the EU force Europe to rethink the very basic way it functions. This moment of crisis can be a bonafide opportunity for the European Union, but will require a level of courage and ambition that has been lacking.
Putin has not forgotten about the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, which wants to decide in July whether to join Russia. People here still remember when the Russian army invaded while the West looked on. And there is growing worry that this could soon happen again.
Under Putin, the phrase “Russkiy Mir,” translated as “Russian world” but also “Russian peace,” has driven Kremlin’s foreign policy. It’s built on the idea of a civilization that stretched well beyond Russia’s borders, but it is Putin himself dooming Moscow to fade in importance, and the ancient capital of Kyiv to rise from the ashes.
In the year since the arrest of Vladimir Putin’s last opponent a new Cold War has begun. In the absence of internal enemies, Russia’s increasingly powerful yet isolated ruler must turn to external targets.
? Здравейте!* Welcome to Monday, where an apparent coup is underway in Sudan, Colombia’s most-wanted drug lord gets caught, and Michael Jordan’s rookie sneakers score an auction record. We also focus on a report that the Thai government is abusing the country’s centuries-old law to protect the monarchy from criticism (lèse-majesté) to target pro-democracy activists […]
? Szia!* Welcome to Friday, where President Biden suffers a blow as the vote on his trillion-dollar agenda gets delayed, Australia and South Africa are set to ease COVID restrictions, and a wild encounter leaves Shakira shaking. For Russian daily Kommersant, Anna Geroeva reports on how Lake Baikal, the world’s largest and oldest lake, is […]
‘Cow Fitbits’ and artificial intelligence are coming to the dairy farm, but some farmers aren’t impressed.
TBILISI — The Georgian capital is built upon a hill, sandwiched in the midst of towering peaks. The same can be said about this country, wedged between powerful regional neighbors. As Georgia’s economy and aspirations rise, Tbilisi’s growing middle class is flocking to private schools to educate its children. There’s just one problem: some of […]
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On This Day – January 2
At least 24 people are still missing after severe flooding in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi that left at least 12 people dead. Potentially dangerous animals — including hungry tigers, lions and wolves — are on the loose too, as heavy rainfall damaged their zoo enclosures, allowing them to escape. Images of chaos and destruction in Tbilisi […]
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Eurovision Contestants 2015: Georgia
Nina Sublatti, Georgia’s entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, wrote the song she will perform, “Warrior”, in just three hours in the middle of the night. This seems incredible when you know the lyrics are made up of such beautiful prose as “I’m a warrior/Isolated/World gonna listen to me/Violence/Set the free/Wings are gonna spread […]
The world bid farewell to a Nobel author, several international actors, a guitar hero and the last foreign minister of the Soviet Union.
PARIS — After he was in a car accident, Serge Fortuna was left with an infected wound that wouldn’t heal. When his doctors started talking about amputation, he refused and decided to try something else: a trip to the Republic of Georgia for phagotherapy, a treatment that uses specific bacteria-fighting viruses to heal antibiotic-resistant infections. […]
Georgia’s outgoing President Mikhail Saakashvili has been a darling in the West. Now that his opponents are in power, his fate will tell us much about the nation’s young democracy.
A visit to the dictator’s birthplace in the former Soviet republic of Georgia where a complicated relationship with the notorious native son plays into current tensions with Russia.
TBILISSI – A new French prime minister will soon be installed. But not in France – in Georgia, in the former Soviet Union. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has nominated Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire leader of the opposition, as prime minister. For those who didn’t know: Ivanishvili had been French by citizenship, not Georgian. Luckily for […]
KOMMERSANT (Russia) RADIO SVOBODA (Russia) TBILISI – Celebrations continued into Tuesday morning in the capital as the opposition coalition “Georgian Dream” led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, scored a surprise victory in Georgian parliamentary elections. Pro-government forces conceded defeat, saying the opposition obtained 51% of the vote. According to the opposition television channel, the results were […]
Russian military helicopters are searching the mountains of Abkhazia, a break-away republic of Georgia, for suspects in a Wednesday ambush on Abkhazian President Alexander Ankvab. The leader survived the attack. Two of his bodyguards did not. Could Moscow
After the Kremlin-backed candidate appears to lose at polls, the Supreme Court overturns the results. But Alla Dzhioyeva, who took 56% of the vote, won’t go down without a fight.
Bidzina Ivanishvili made billions in Russia. But his heart has always been in Georgia, where he’s openly criticizing the “Rose Revolution” he himself helped fund. With an eye on next year’s parliamentary elections, the oligarch is now ready to launch his