News platforms by donor-funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been among the most influential sources for shaping how Georgia’s politics are understood abroad. Here are their five biggest tricks that wouldn’t be possible today. Their stories travel far and get picked up by international outlets and policymakers. But some of those stories haven’t always stood up … Read more
The response from European and American politicians and organizations to the Mzia Amaghlobeli case—centered on a media owner and journalist who slapped a police chief—appears to be part of a broader effort to pressure the Georgian Dream government, which many in the West increasingly view as authoritarian and aligned with Russian interests, writes Sopo Japaridze. … Read more
When a government-friendly TV channel recently reported that German Ambassador Peter Fischer’s spacious apartment in downtown Tbilisi belongs to the wife of a leading opposition politician, that was obviously a story. A diplomat’s potential conflict of interest in the host country’s domestic political wranglings? That is exactly the kind of thing that stirs a journalist’s … Read more
American diplomacy lost a man who weighed with authority on the Euro-Atlantic partnership, at a point in time when this relationship is being remoulded. Georgia lost a friend and an anchor to the West, precisely at a moment where we still wander in a changing geopolitical sea without a rudder. Ambassador John Kornblum will be missed. … Read more
Georgia will hold parliamentary elections in 2024. That is unfortunately aligned with the electoral cycle of US Presidential elections and campaigning in the EU-27 as we near the European Parliamentary elections. The Republican primaries’ debate in the US offers the first indication of a resurging neo-isolationism. As for Europe, polling suggests the far-right forces are … Read more
Democracy is about transparency, and it is essential every now and then to call a spade a spade and say in public what is being discussed in private. That is especially the case when national interests are at stake. When three Georgian Dream MPs (Honourable Khundadze, Subari, Kavelashvili), turned recently and instantly into independent legislators, … Read more
We were seated at the conference table in the office of Mikhail Saakashvili (aka “Misha”), the former President of Georgia, to discuss tensions with Russia. It was June 2008, just prior to the outbreak of war with separatist forces in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. I noticed photos with Senator John McCain, stacked on the floor … Read more
Ukraine, which is looking for ways toward peace, is ready to give up the NATO perspective. We have been hearing about NATO’s open door for years, but now we’ve also learned that we can not enter there and we have to admit it, says Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian president, who has become an idol for … Read more
On the 18th day since the start of the Russian aggression, more and more people, as well as politicians and experts, say that Ukraine will win the war. Russia has failed to crush either the Ukrainian army or its people. The more atrocities it inflicts, the stronger the resistance of the Ukrainians. It has already … Read more
For the first time in Georgia’s recent history, its PM used the shocking term „anti-Christian forces“ in his public discourse. Today, such an “eschatological” motif may look a little unusual, to say the least. PM Gharibashvili touched on the sensitive strings of the identity of the majority of ethnic Georgians, further dividing the already polarized … Read more