Tbilisi may have refused to let the insult slide because Georgia’s coronavirus response has become an electoral platform for the governing party, which faces a parliamentary vote this fall.
Facebook has pulled the plug on a fake news operation in Georgia that had been capitalizing on the coronavirus pandemic to sway public opinion in favor of the government.
Kazakhstan is still far from being the developed market economy its leaders pine for. And the current crisis risks shunting the country back toward a more traditional, state-directed stance.