Giga Gigi yelled at, pre-election violence, Marneuli mess, UN IDP resolution, Osset elections, Turks in Abkhazia, Margvel and Biden in Kiev, piss cut protest, Barroso in Tbilisi, church protests evangelism and gender, soldiers to CAR, Vasiani training, coal mine fire, FDI numbers, Aldagi split, more golden arches, Khevsur road, good tax numbers, no consumer protection from parliament, Shevy people back, 23 year olds, Ajara money via TI, Pankisi Sufis
TBLPOD.com
A discussion in English of the week in Georgia (the one near Chechnya not the one near Alabama) Don't know what a podcast is? Don't worry, just click on it and listen. კეთილი იყოს თქვენი მობრძანება! თუ ინგლისური იცით, დააჭირეთ ისარს და მოისმინეთ კვირის საინტერესო ამბები
Don't know what a podcast is? Don't worry, just click on it and listen. That's it. Nothing scary about it.
კეთილი იყოს თქვენი მობრძანება! თუ ინგლისური იცით, დააჭირეთ ისარს და მოისმინეთ კვირის საინტერესო ამბები.
The MEME this week is some new Tbilisi street art circulating on Facebook, showing famous pop icons queuing to give police officers a urine sample for drug testing, in protest of the country’s strict drug policy. Link: http://on.fb.me/1kSMEkN
THINGS TO READ
A great new analysis of South Ossetia by the brilliant Stephen Jones in open democracy, talking about East v West is only one of many things going on here and prevents potential solutions from appearing if anybody cared enough to pursue them. Link: http://bit.ly/1xTedjk
A new collaboration between The Guardian and Eurasianet.org, called the “New East network.” See their project “Born After the USSR,” featuring interviews with everyday 23-year-olds from the 15 ex-Soviet republics about their lives and how each country diverged after the Soviet breakup. Link: http://bit.ly/1oMaOMS
For more details on political rivalries, mishaps, and democratic improvements, read NDI’s interim report assessing the pre-election political environment before the June 15 elections.. Link: http://bit.ly/TRJQKg
Read a TI Georgia investigation looking at the various assets of Batumi mayoral nominees. Link: http://bit.ly/1qaJWKt
And also check out TI’s report on the expenses of the Ajara Supreme Council for business trips, gifts, and receptions. Link: http://bit.ly/1pRJWwx
An article by Cafe Babel Tbilisi — with a little infographic help from NGO JumpStart Georgia — that takes a look at Tbilisi’s mayoral candidates. Link: http://bit.ly/1oWzHYo
An ethnographic exploration by Tara Isabella Burton for AlJazeera English about the female Sufi mystics of Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge. Link: http://alj.am/1o2sYxX
The pee cup thing is really quite bad. The government has often used it as a punitive measure for business owners who are not cooperating. In Batumi a a year or two back, every male who came in and out of one bar after 10 was taken to the police state for pee tests, because the owner was not testifying in a court case.
Meant to say police station 🙂