The country is banking on new hydropower projects to solve energy problems. But the communities most affected don’t trust government assurances that the dams will be safe.
Following a new eruption, western embassies in Tbilisi sought to restore talks aimed at preventing the country’s political crisis from spiraling out of control.
International law requires Tbilisi to invite the Russian diplomat to an upcoming meeting. But it would violate Georgian law, and the public reaction would be volatile.
New Year’s is the main winter holiday in the post-Soviet world, after the communists took Christmas customs and melded them into the more secular January 1. But Georgia’s mekvle tradition long predates this shift.
The Georgian government held a mass demonstration partly to claim that its supporters can outnumber protesters, a well-established tactic in Georgia’s political playbook.
Before it took power seven years ago, the Georgian Dream party asked citizens to put their wishes for the country in a box. Now, as the party is girding for critical elections, Eurasianet peeks inside.
Georgia’s behind-the-scenes ruler has made his most extensive comments to date on Georgia’s ongoing political crisis, also indulging in long digressions into psychoanalysis and motherhood.
“In Georgia, people used to go to demonstrations organized by politicians. What we achieved is that now politicians come to the demonstrations organized by people.”
Georgia has recently seen a burst of protest activity around political, cultural, and geopolitical issues. But a new poll highlights how the economy is by far Georgians’ biggest concern.
Thousands of protesters attempted to shut down parliament after the government promised and then reneged on electoral reform. Police removed the demonstrators, but the political crisis seems far from finished.
Georgians again took to the streets after the government backed down on a promise to reform an election system that gives a big leg up to the ruling party.
The Oscar-nominated “And Then We Danced” faced violent opposition from far right groups, and police were forced to guard theaters throughout the weekend.
