TBLPOD20march2014

ZZ vid, BI Margvel dis, Odisharia too, visa free to Israel, EU speed up, Bendukidze questions, Kodua arrest, Data arrest, Friday phone protest, Aug 2008 exits, Targamadze leaves Burj, Rustavi mayor race, UNDP guy says 14mil to Abkhaz, Crimea fight, Garibash at TSU, gold mine goes, Turk troop Armo flip out, Mokalake wants to train journos, new Partnership Fund factory, salary jump, dead fish, Khobi Jahovas, UK visa move, Sukhishvilebi cancels Russia, Intercon to open on Kostava, MP Roland Akhalaia investigation, “We are Ukrainians” song, surveillance (still), Rimple on Sakdrisi, Mishga Guardian, TV market, state views, peace rank, Mchedlishvili on Adoration, Tamar Mepe talk in London

5 thoughts on “TBLPOD20march2014

  1. The MEME this week : Georgian singers shot a video in which they express solidarity with the Ukrainian people by singing “We are Ukrainians.” Link: http://goo.gl/dtdCma

    THINGS TO READ
    TI Georgia’s blog post about illegal government surveillance. Link: http://goo.gl/AVkPLx

    An article by Paul Rimple in the EurasiaNet.org about Sakdrisi. Link: http://goo.gl/A0M9Lf

    Misha’s article in the Guardian. Link: http://goo.gl/sQ8VSS

    An article on Agenda.ge about the audit controversy of a TV market measuring company. http://goo.gl/M4M7LU

    Media Development Foundation & Georgian Democracy Initiative released the second issue of the newsletter No to Phobia. You can subscribe to the newsletter by emailing MDFgeo@gmail.com Link: http://goo.gl/ZCN85h

    A post by Dustin Gilbreath about how Georgians view the state today—as a parent or as an employee. Link: http://goo.gl/1DqHB7

    A blog by Paul Goble about Russia’s “Surreal” Geography. Link: http://goo.gl/nx6vff

  2. You got a wrong movie schedule. Rustaveli Cinema is not showing “Endless Love” Saturday 10:15, they are showing “300 – Rise of an Empire” Saturday 22:15 and Wednesday 19:45 . https://www.facebook.com/events/678880035501497/ There are also several other movie events, e.g. Indian Film Week March 22-24, Stanley Kramer’s Films at Kolga Cinema House, Big Lebowski at Dive Bar on Sunday, Monday Movie Night at Riffer,…
    Check “Tbilisi Movies” group on facebook for all the latest infos https://www.facebook.com/groups/632537860145808/

  3. Anyone who has negotiated with Kakha Bendukidze knows very well that he drives an extraordinarily hard bargain. Additionally, the very idea of a private agricultural university at the time he bought the Agrarian University was completely revolutionary; in most developing countries an Agriculture University is the least prestigious choice of school, usually state-owned and charging very low fees, as few students of quality wish to attend. Most people here and abroad thought he was nuts to spend his own cash on what would probably be a giant money pit.

    To his credit, the school has improved its facilities greatly and the quality of teaching is improving. It has a long way to go to meet European norms but nothing happens overnight.

    A US government-funded initiative to establish a new Agronomy faculty attached to a different State institution may be giving some people in government the confidence to launch attacks on its privately-owned rival to drive it out of existence or expropriate the privatised asset. While this may not have been the intention of the US government, it is a timely reminder of the unintended consequences of aid money distorting the private market.

  4. The issue as I see it, is not the revolutionary idea of his purchasing the university, or using his own resources to improve it, but how he was able to get it a such a low price, and the lack of transparacy involved in the sale. Perhaps, if he had to pay the market price, he would not have gone through with the purchase, or if he did, then perhaps the GoG could have used those funds to try and improve the countrys dismal education sector, which the previous government allowed to fall to the worst in Europe and former Soviet republics.

  5. Oh yea, I forgot to add, that there was only one major yawn in the recent podcast. In the previous weeks, there were several each show

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