Eurasianet

In our weekly briefing: Restrictions easing, COVID denialism persists, foreign suitors come visiting in hope of business, and the latest annual horse jamboree.

The government said the system was useless against the Omicron variant, but critics accused them of pandering to anti-vaxxer sentiment.

Tbilisi’s world-famous nightclubs were the country’s last businesses to reopen following the COVID lockdown. But it took a confrontation with the authorities to make it happen.

Similar systems have been used around the world to encourage vaccinations. But under Georgia’s, you may be better off not being vaccinated at all.

Middle-class Afghans with the means to navigate Tajikistan’s bureaucracy see the country as a springboard to the West.

In recent years the Caucasus country has become a magnet for Iranian students, business owners, and dissidents. But now many report they’re not being allowed to enter.

While clumsy on COVID-19, Turkmenistan is being more sure-footed, or consistent at least, on the Afghanistan front. Plus, unsustainable agriculture. Our weekly briefing.

The government signals it is taking COVID a bit more seriously, without admitting the virus is running rampant. And Ashgabat gets down to business with the Taliban. This and more in our weekly briefing.

There has been a surge in the number of Pakistanis visiting for tourism.

Poor and rural families are not equipped to handle online school. Now they fear another academic year is going to start with schools still closed.

Georgia’s mortality rate is among the world’s highest, and just under 6 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.

Iranians have been flooding into Armenia to get COVID vaccines, causing Tehran to complain and Yerevan to tighten the rules.

A few months ago, the thought of taking a Chinese COVID vaccine was unthinkable to Georgians. Now it’s the norm.

Recent growth indicators seem impressive only compared to the disaster that was 2020.

After some early success in fighting COVID, Georgia let down its guard. Then I did, too.