TBLPOD17nov2016

Misha leaves Odessa starts national party in Ukraine feuds with Bokeria and thinks Trump is smart, Mogherini wants Geo EU visaless, Izoria has an army plan, Georgians protect Germans from Taliban, final CEC numbers, Avar female genital mutilation, Putin wants to subsume Armenian army, NATO exercises, Kumsishvili meets OPIC boss, Patriarch to Russia for birthday party, Kremlin sponsored demos in Kiev, Dekanoidze resigns as Ukraine police chief, Geo for UN tourism spot, Gubaz leaves Forum, Diaspora ministry goes GYLA mad, EU NATO church talks succeed, Petriahsvili attacker sentenced, Tabula TV hiatus, UN livestock deal, lari dive, Trump Tower Batumi and Silk Road Group, 126 new enterprises, gas pipeline, Brandy in Gremi, Double B on Galaktioni, Aerosmith, Annas Life, GeoCapital video

One thought on “TBLPOD17nov2016

  1. The Meme this week is a video from a camera in front of GeoCapital’s office. GeoCapital is a microfinance organization. A taxi backed into a planter, knocked it over and drove off without doing anything. And hour later somebody in a hoody was near by and set the planter right, scooped up all the dirt and put the plant back. A small, nice, beautiful gesture. It has gotten over a hundred and fifty thousand views, ten thousand likes, and four thousand shares in less than a day.
    Link: https://www.facebook.com/Geocapital.ge/videos/1230501076996389/

    THINGS TO READ

    The New Yorker has a piece on child brides in Georgia. Early marriage became more common after Georgia seceded from the Soviet Union, and now rural Georgia has one of the highest rates of early marriage in Europe.
    Link: http://bit.ly/2fZ7KzV

    Jam-News publishes the views of some Georgian foreign policy experts on Donald Trump. Somewhat surprisingly, Nodar Kharshiladze of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies expects Trump to have a more active policy in Eastern Europe than Barack Obama did.
    Link: http://bit.ly/2fZ7SOO

    Former British Ambassador to Georgia Alexandra Hall Hall writes about Trump’s win for the Atlantic Council. She argues that it’s even more important for Georgia than last month’s Parliamentary Elections. Her prediction is that the change in policy won’t be overt. Trump’s America will continue to proclaim support for Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic ambitions, but probably won’t do anything to support those aspirations in practice.
    Link: http://bit.ly/2fkhGD7

    Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty devotes the Power Vertical Podcast to Trump’s victory. They discuss the support, or lack of support, the new administration could provide to Ukraine. They also speculate on the personal relationship that Trump could have with Vladimir Putin.
    Link: http://bit.ly/2fZdOal

    Foreign Policy has a piece on German Chancellor Angela Merkel. With the US potentially retreating from its traditional role as a guardian of democratic norms, values, and institutions, Germany needs to step up and play a larger role. They could become the leading normative force in the Atlantic region.
    Link: http://bit.ly/2fIGAgl

    While many of us fixate on Donald Trump’s victory, Tornike Zurabishvili of The Clarion reminds us that illiberal populism is a big deal in Georgia, too. The Patriots Alliance got into parliament by appealing to voters distaste for cosmopolitanism. They want a state that puts the local interests of “ordinary people” first.
    Link: http://bit.ly/2eJCwiQ

    Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty also covers the trial of Russian Economic Development Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev, who’s being charged with corruption in connection with the sale of a five billion dollar stake in a state-owned oil company. He was arrested on Monday night on suspicion of taking a 2 million dollar bribe. Russia watchers think the scandal could scuttle the government’s attempts to sell off a large stake in Rosneft, the world’s largest publicly-traded oil company.
    Link: http://bit.ly/2f7M31S

    Misha publishes an op-ed in the New York Times on why Ukraine’s reformers are failing to stamp out corruption. They’re being obstructed by the real power brokers in Kiev, who depend on a network of patron-client relationships to stay in power. He’s now taking his talents to Kiev so he can stamp out corruption at its source.
    Link: http://bit.ly/2g1L5TR

    EurasiaNet considers what Saakashvili’s resignation as Odessa governor might mean for Ukraine’s other Georgian reformers. Ukraine’s deep-rooted corruption and rotten bureaucratic structures might be more than the Georgians bargained for, and they haven’t made as much progress as they hoped.
    Link: http://bit.ly/2glSqRS

    Social Science in the Caucasus looks at numbers for reading and book ownership in Georgia. Unsurprisingly, owning books is correlated with higher levels of education. Some households report owning no books at all, though.
    Link: http://bit.ly/2fZ95a4

    Freedom House Release its Freedom on the Net report for 2016. Georgia improved its ranking and is now in the group of “Free” countries roughly on par with Italy. The report found that online censorship is rare although the government briefly blocked access to WordPress and Youtube. Those were isolated incidents when the authorities were trying to stop the spread of pro-Daesh videos and unauthorized sex tapes depicting Georgian politicians, so they didn’t hurt the country’s ranking very much.
    Link: http://bit.ly/2glXPbr

    The European Alumni Association in Georgia publishes its weekly podcast covering the following issues: visa liberalization; EU grants for rural development; Georgian honey exports to the EU market; the expected budget deficit in Georgia for 2017; America’s new president and the views of EU leaders; and several other topics. The podcast is in Georgian.
    Link: http://bit.ly/2g1K4eI

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