Georgia denied Ukrainian request for anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles to Ukraine revealed Andrii Kasyanov, Ukraine’s top diplomat in Tbilisi. in an article published by European Pravda. The diplomat said Kyiv sees support from the Georgian government, the wider public, and the church, despite serious disagreements on security measures, welcoming Russian immigrants, and Mikheil Saakashvili’s treatment.
Radio Liberty, a U.S.-funded broadcaster, ran a scoop from Brussels, saying the draft EC puts Georgia ahead of Moldova and Ukraine in the EU bid by technical compliance criteria. The report will be published later this month. The article said the EU will take further decisions on the advancement of these three countries with due consideration of the political criteria, where Georgia lags behind the two EU neighbors.
Don’t miss a beat!
Saakashvili is “seriously ill” and suffers numerous “dysfunctions”: according to a testimony on Monday given by the American medical doctor, Shaheen E. Lakhan. Dr. Lakhan also claimed that Saakashvili’s convulsions and “unidentified, rapidly progressing dementia” are among his most serious diagnoses. The court adjourned the next hearing for 11 January. In the meantime, the Wall Street Journal published ailing Saakashvili’s plea to the West to save his life from “abusive and inhuman” conditions, to safeguard Georgian democracy.
The Facebook data monitoring proves that the ruling Georgian Dream party paid for an attack ad branding two watchdogs — “Transparency International-Georgia” and the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) — for “religious propaganda.” The ad which ran on social media referred to the fact of two watchdogs posting Christmas congratulations on Dec. 25, rather than Jan. 7 (when most of Georgia’s orthodox parish celebrate). It claimed this was “the most inappropriate manifestation of proselytism and religious propaganda, which is far removed from Christian morals and Georgian culture.” The Georgian Dream has recently stepped up its attacks on Western funded CSOs, while the fringe grouping in the ruling coalition proposed a “foreign agent” law to limit their activities. Five out of seven ads sponsored by the Georgian Dream only through this sole Facebook page on Jan. 5-8, painted opposition, journalists, and civic figures as anti-Orthodox Church.
The TV outlets and social media pages affiliated with the “Georgian Dream” promoted nearly identical conspirationist statements of at least two analysts close to the ruling party, saying that the “U.S. is governed by the “rich families” who want to run Europe as well as Georgia by the hands of their “liberal agents.” The statement was also picked up verbatim by the National Public Broadcaster.
Fact of the Day
Mtskheta-made Christmas crumpet, Meskhetian Khinkali, and folk traditions for pox treatment are to be put on an already long, official list of intangible cultural heritage, reported the Ministry of Culture.
