Tamada Tales

Accusing the government of “stealing” the presidential election, Georgian opposition forces have called for snap elections and a series of reforms to lead the country out of political crisis.

“No to the Nazis!” scream billboards across Georgia as they depict a malevolent-looking former president Mikheil Saakashvili, surrounded by his loyalists, their faces contorted in menacing grimaces against a blood-red backdrop.

Members of an eccentric Georgian political group have collectively flashed their behinds at Russian border guards, and say they will keep doing so to protest Russia’s military presence in Georgia’s breakaway territories. With their attention-grabbing act, the libertarian Georgian party Girchi (Pine Cone) displayed – along with its members’ nether regions – its intent to keep pushing the boundaries of Georgia’s political no

If you are an eligible Georgian bachelorette with no dowry, worry not: the government has you covered. Under a new initiative from the Ministry of Justice, all newlyweds will get a copy of the national epic poem – The Knight in the Panther’s Skin – as a gift or, as the Ministry has phrased it, a “dowry,”

The presidential bid of an obscure Georgian millenarian prophet proved surprisingly successful in several regions after voters reportedly confused him with former leader Mikheil (Misha) Saakashvili.

Cruising aficionados take note. Starting next summer a new Russian cruise liner will be offering tours of an unlikely destination: the Caspian Sea.     

“The Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is almost upon us and in times like these it is imperative that the president of Georgia is the agent of God’s will on earth.” Such is the electoral platform of Mikheil-Gela Saluashvili, a candidate for president in Georgia.

“You have to feel sorry for our Western friends,” a prime-time host on Russia's First Channel said with evident irony. “Just think about it: You are friends with this nice Georgian guy; you call him Batono Mishiko; you drink wine together… and then it turns out that he is a murderer,” the host, Kiril Kleimyonov, said on the October 18 edition of the show Vremya.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau famously loves multicultural dancing. So when his Armenian host and counterpart Nikol Pashinyan hit the floor this week in Yerevan, Trudeau moved right in.

The onset of fall has brought to Russia, as it often does, flu and conspiracy theories. Back in the news is Moscow’s seasonal talk of an imminent American biological attack, to be launched from medical research labs in Russia’s neighborhood.