TBILISI, DFWatch – Independent Georgian media units Friday signed a memorandum of mutual defense, vowing that any harassment on any of its member will lead to coordinated action by all the others. It comes after a crisis at the small independent TV station Maestro, which is still broadcasting under emergency conditions; the result of a … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – President Mikheil Saakashvili says it’s the Georgian nation the government of Russia has problems with, not the Georgian government, like it claims. Saakashvili’s statement was a response to an appearance by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Wednesday, when he criticized one of his opponents because of his Georgian origin. Putin had gathered … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze says there are currently no negotiations with the United States about deployment of missile defense installations on the territory of Georgia. After the announcement of a meeting between the presidents of the U.S. and Georgia on January 30, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin spoke about the possibility … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Nearly 18 000 employees in Georgia work under stressful or hazardous conditions, according to the Georgian Trade Unions, which suggests compensating them for financial loss due to early retirement. In many dangerous professions, there is a mandated upper age limit, but no compensation for the loss of income until they reach pension age, … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – American human rights group Freedom House indicates that Georgian democracy has not recovered from the backlash, but remains at a comparable level to right after independence. Seen overall, the trend is that democracy is improving, but in the wake of the turbulence which Georgia experienced a few years ago it is still … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – The four surviving Georgian crew members from a Turkish tanker that sank off the coast of Albania will return home today. Avto Basiladze, Koba Partenadze, Vladimer Varshanidze and Ioseb Katamadze were flown from Tirana to Istanbul yesterday and were given further medical examinations there before returning to Batumi sometime today. One Georgian … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – A Georgian parliamentarian from the governing party welcomes the idea of Georgia as location for parts of the U.S. missile defense system. Davit Darchiashvili, who heads parliament’s EU integration committee, said it while commenting statements by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that if America places parts of its missile defense in Georgia, … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – The leader of Georgia’s breakaway region Abkhazia is opposed to so-called neutral passports being introduced. Neutral identity papers is a form of documentation used in Georgia for persons who are from the breakaway parts. Last summer Georgia’s parliament introduced a neutral passport that may be offered for people who live in Abkhazia. … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – One of the topics of Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili and U.S. president Barack Obama’s January 30 meeting will be ways of responding to international security challenges. It’s the Georgian president’s administration which writes this in a press release Wednesday. Saakashvili and Obama have met several times before, but this will be the … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – People at a Chinese settlement south of Tbilisi say the police came and questioned them two days after DFWatch wrote about the place. The Interior Ministry denies that the police was there. DFWatch December 6, 2011, reported on a Chinese market where women and children seemed to be living under cramped conditions … Read more