Tamada Tales

Georgia has arrested a Turkish man allegedly involved in the killing of a Russian pilot in Syria, an incident that led to a fierce row between Russia and Turkey in 2015.

Georgia and its breakaway territories have launched a tit-for-tat blacklist battle in an attempt to sanction individuals they blame for crimes against them.

Next time Matt Damon gets marooned on Mars, he may be whiling away his days sipping Saperavi instead of farming potatoes as he did so laboriously in the 2015 blockbuster, The Martian. Georgia, an ancient wine-making redoubt, is putting its best space science and viticulture minds together to develop grapes fit for growing on Mars.

Protests led by a murdered teenager’s father are set to continue in Georgia as negotiations with top government officials on June 4 failed to resolve the standoff.

The Syrian government recognized the independence of Georgia’s breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia in a gesture of thanks to its largest patron of late, Russia. Georgia responded by severing diplomatic relations with Syria.

Gay rights groups in Georgia called off a planned rally on May 17 after threats of violence and continued tensions following riots in Tbilisi over the weekend, effectively ceding the city to religious conservatives and small neo-Nazi groups. But individual activists, defying the LGBT groups’ decision, still came out to rally.  

Two Russians are having a conversation following the peaceful revolution in Armenia, goes a recent joke. “Wouldn’t it be great if people came out to the streets to kick out Vladimir Putin like what happened in Armenia?” One says. “Yes, but we don’t have enough Armenians in Russia,” replies the other.

Safe sex has become the latest battleground in Georgia's culture wars after a court effectively outlawed a brand of condoms featuring religious jokes.

Georgia’s richest man Bidzina Ivanishvili has emerged from seclusion to take back the reins of the ruling Georgian Dream party in an apparent attempt to iron out bitter divisions that have emerged in the party that he created six years ago.

An unusual meme swept Georgia’s internet last month. Netizens were posting photos of themselves as they lay flat on their backs, eyes closed, oxygen tubes stuck in their noses.