DFWatch staff After being rejected by the journalists of Maestro TV, financier Bidzina Ivanishvili’s has found new allies in the anti-Saakashvili grassroots movement behind last May’s demonstrations. The People’s Assembly in a statement says Ivanishvili represents a fresh, new start to Georgian politics, and that his program fully matches the goals of the assembly. People’s Assembly is … Read more
The daily life of ordinary people continues to be plighted by borders which were drawn unilaterally by Russia in 2008.
The financier Bidzina Ivanishvili is satisfied so far with the impact he has had, after announcing he would challenge the ruling party in the next election by founding a new party and buying a TV station. According to his press secratary, Irakli Tripolsky, Ivanishvili’s first statement “caused deep resonance in the society”. Next step will … Read more
French president Nicolas Sarkozy told Georgians Friday that the country must strengthen democracy through further reforms if it wants to move closer to EU membership. A few thousand people were in or around Freedom Square in the center of Tbilisi while Sarkozy held his speech this afternoon but many seemed uninterested and left before he … Read more
The reason journalist Shalva Ramishvili wanted to get into Mikheil Saakashvili’s vineyard on Sunday was that the president was hosting a number of other TV journalists there. Georgian TV viewers have become accustomed to these events, which are often broadcast live on several of the national channels, all of which are widely believed to be … Read more
President Saakashvili maintains that the deadly police action last May was necessary. President Mikheil Saakashvili has no regrets about issuing the order which led to the police clearing the area in front of parliament the night before the Independence Day rally. An opposition movement led by former parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze had gathered around 300 … Read more
The United States ambassador at the time thought that two recordings which were televised by Saakashvili’s government right before the presidential election in January 2008, decided the final outcome in his favor. The two clandestinely acquired tapes purportedly proved that one the president’s challengers to the presidency had plans to commit a coup d’etat. The … Read more
As Georgia makes a new push to find more investors who will have a stake in its most strategically important assets, like the post and railways, the state will keep a controlling share of the stocks. Chair of the financial budgetary committee, Zurab Melikishvili, made the promise today during a debate in parliament about a … Read more