Stories about Georgia from July, 2007
Caucasus: Attitudes towards NGOs
Social Science in the Caucasus unveils some figures on how people in the three countries Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia perceive non-governmental organisations.
Georgia: Art-Gene Festival
Bringing together folklore from all Georgian regions, this year's Art-Gene festival proved to be very successful. Nutsa has posted plenty of pictures of the event.
Former Soviet Union: “Escape from Moscow”
Mart Laar, Estonia's former prime minister, writes about certain countries’ successes and failures in parting with the Communist past.
Caucasus: Arms race
Onnik Krikorian is concerned that with all states in the Caucasus increasing their military spending, an arms race and – worst of all – new military conflicts can become a likely future scenario.
Eastern Europe: Swedish Blog Update 2007
In his comprehensive review, Vilhelm Konnander writes that, unfortunately, Swedish foreign minister is no longer blogging about Eastern European affairs, but otherwise, "the Swedish blogosphere on Eastern Europe is undergoing expansion and some of the necessary stabilisation to form the dynamic density needed for a blog community. [...] A disadvantage for the international audience is that blogs, with few exceptions, are in Swedish."
Georgia: Fundamentalist church?
Georgia on my Mind is concerned that the Georgian church might be on a path back to the middle ages and is not as hospitable as Georgian society. Her reason to think so? Wearing skirts has become obligatory for female visitors in some of the country's churches.
Caucasus: Governance
HansG looks at a new World Bank study that compares the quality of governance in the world. He has a closer look at the three countries in the Caucasus – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and highlights trends of the last 10 years.
Georgia: Controversial murder
Melissa is appalled that the murder of a famous politician is being brought into connection with the repatriation of the Meshkhetian Turks. The murder victim, Guram Sharadze, had always spoken against inviting the ethnic minority to return to Georgia.
Central Asia: Clash of opinion
Josh Foust engages in an extremely interesting discussion with an Uzbek journalist (working for a Russian news agency) about Western promotion of democracy in Central Asia.
Russia: Sochi and Abkhazia
TOL's Steady State offers an Abkhaz perspective on the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Russia: Sochi, Lobsters, Georgia
Mark MacKinnon posts a few quick notes on Sochi-2014, Putin's meeting with Bush, and Russia's relations with Georgia.
Caucasus: The state of democracy
Social Science in the Caucasus has a closer look at the The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2007 Index of Democracy, in which Georgia and Armenia are classified as hybrid and Azerbaijan as an authoritarian regime.
Georgia: Meshkhetian Turks
The Meshkhetian Turks’ origins are clouded in controversy, and whether or not Georgia should allow this 300,000-strong community to return to their past homeland is dividing the political establishment. Steady State first posts a valuable backgrounder about the ethnic minority and then proceeds to evaluate the why's and why not's...
Georgia: Art-Gene Festival
Along with pictures, Nutsa reports on the Georgian Art-Gene Festival, which brings many customs from the regions to the capital Tblisi.
Abkhazia: Tensions continue
The breakaway province of Abkhazia has reasons to be concerned about Georgia's muscle-flexing alongside its border, says Steady State.
