PRESIDENT WHO? — RUSSIA FLEXING MUSCLE — JUSTICE DELAYED — PICKING OUT FAKES
This is the Daily Dispatch, our editorial take on Georgia-related developments of the day, delivered to your mailboxes every day, except weekends, Tbilisi-time. That’s what the day looked like:
NOT IMPRESSED As you recall, Mikheil Saakashvili threw his proverbial hat into Georgia’s elections…or was it the spanner?! Many of his opponents and some (ex) friends seem to think so. Civil.ge has their reactions.
GAMES OF WAR Russia’s Southern military district is up in arms, flexing its muscles across the Caucasus range. The Russian MoD dispatches suggest that the artillery plays a particularly important role. Military bases in Georgia’s occupied regions are comprehensively engaged. In a good Roman tradition, while the Legions are marching, the proconsuls are called to Caesar’s august presence – both Mr. Bzhania and Mr. Bibilov are in the Kremlin where their patrons would mete out favors and/or the punishments…
JUSTICE DELAYED The ruling Georgian Dream MPs put forward a bill to alter the selection procedure for the Supreme Court justices, guaranteeing reasoned decisions and the room for appeal. Many of these addresses the areas recently highlighted as problematic in a report by GYLA, a prominent legal watchdog. Some 40 local civil society organizations, wondered – quite reasonably – why these were not enacted a year ago when the Supreme Court was packed with many controversial candidates. While these changes won’t generate any real change for now, perhaps they’d come in handy (much) later and will also please OSCE/ODIHR which criticized the procedure in 2019.
PALATIAL MYTH BUSTER President Salome Zurabishvili picked an uncharacteristic role of a myth-busting-commander-in-chief and slammed the recent fabrication of a “letter” ostensibly Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission allegedly wrote to the Georgian government proposing the installation of the refugee camps. A particularly dangerous malignant disinformation, yet one wonders whether a piece published in a relatively minor outlet required the presidential-level publicity.
That’s full lid for September 8, all the best!
