Opinion

by Jaba Devdariani. For decades now, socially and politically active Georgians have been waiting – even hoping – for the apocalypse. For the country to go forward, its morbid addiction to the final showdown must end. Ever since the Soviet troops have massacred and gassed pro-independence supporters here on 9 …

by William Dunbar On Friday night of 11 to 12 May, hundreds of riot police descended on two of Tbilisi’s most famous nightclubs. Brandishing machine guns and dressed in paramilitary regalia, the police terrorized the clubbers at Café Gallery and Bassiani, dragging dozens of revelers off the dance floor and …

Marc Behrendt, Director for Europe and Eurasia programs at Freedom House (FH), spoke to Voice of America’s Nana Sajaia on Georgia’s worsened score in FH’s recent Nations in Transit report and the Georgian government’s criticism that followed its publication. What were the most striking issues that you observed in Georgia …

Jeffrey Mankoff. Photo: Center for Strategic and International Studies / Flickr Jeffrey Mankoff is deputy director and senior fellow at the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Zviad Adzinbaia spoke with him on behalf of Civil.Ge about prospects of advancing U.S.-Georgia bilateral security …

Svante Cornell. Photo: screengrab from youtube, lecture at ADA University Svante Cornell is the director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a research center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) and the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ICDP). Zviad Adzinbaia spoke with him on …

By MP Sergi Kapanadze, European Georgia, former chief negotiator of Georgia at the Geneva International Discussions. At the next 43rd round of the Geneva International Discussions (GID), which takes place today, March 28, 2018, many eyes will be turned to Palais des Nations, to see whether the Participants will agree …

Repost from the official facebook page of the British Embassy in Georgia. On Sunday March 4, in Salisbury in England, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found on a public bench, slipping out of consciousness, and were taken to hospital by emergency services, where they remain in a critical …

Elena Pokalova is a professor at the National Defense University and an expert on security issues with a focus on terrorism and counterterrorism. On March 12, the Georgian Center for Security and Development hosted a roundtable discussion on radicalization and violent extremism that gathered government and think tanks professionals. Their aim: to …

by Ghia Nodia, Professor, Ilia State University Talking is better than fighting. The ability to resolve conflicts through negotiation rather than violence is what distinguishes a civilized society from a backward one. One cannot claim to be a truly modern person without sharing this view. Modern civilization may have failed …

Cars with Georgian license plates in Akhalgori, 2018. Photo: parliamentrso.org Ten years after Moscow rolled its tanks into Georgia, formalizing its politico-military presence in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region, Tbilisi has yet to formulate a policy that would uphold at least minimal human rights standards in the occupied territories, let alone …

A screengrab from the Islamic State’s Georgian-language propaganda video, 2015. Dozens of militants from Georgia have reportedly joined Daesh and other militants groups in Syria during the last few years. Experts have long warned that as the Islamic State disintegrated as a territorial entity, those who survived were likely to …

Giorgi Gakharia, the Minister of Interior. Photo: MIA Giorgi Gakharia was appointed the Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister in November 2017, switching unusually from the portfolio of the Minister of Economy. One of the crucial positions in the cabinet, the Interior portfolio implies the highest level of trust …

MEP Rebecca Harms chairs the 60-member European Parliament Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. Photo: facebook.com/RebeccaHarmsMEP/ MEP Rebecca Harms, who chairs the 60-member European Parliament Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, a parliamentary cooperation format uniting 110 lawmakers from the European Parliament and the Eastern Partnership countries, was in Georgia …

Lilia Shevtsova. Photo: UKRINFORM Civil.ge spoke on the internal and external politics of the Russian Federation, and on the upcoming presidential elections, with Lilia Shevtsova, associate fellow with the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House). Shevtsova, who previously served as chair of the …

Kintrishi Protected Area in Kobuleti, Adjara. Photo: facebook.com/protectedareas.ge Georgia is today deriving a major part of its GDP from tourism. That tourism is driven in large part by the country’s diverse and beautiful natural environment. Georgia’s environmental and cultural attractions are not only beautiful: they are a major economic resource. …

Giorgi Kvirikashvili at confirmation hearings in the Parliament, December 20, 2017. Photo: 1tv.ge Opinion of international relations analyst David Batashvili. Georgia’s present diplomacy regarding the Russian aggression is, overall, a correct and pragmatic one. Georgian Foreign Ministry openly states that we have a conflict between two nations – Georgia and …

Toivo Klaar. Photo: EUSR Office Toivo Klaar, long-time Estonian and EU diplomat, was appointed as the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia in November 2017.  Klaar, who led the Central Asia Division at the European External Action Service (EEAS) prior to this appointment, will …

South Ossetian and Abkhaz “foreign ministers,” Dmitry Medoev and Daur Kove, respectively, together with Grigory Logvinov, ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Nauru, February 1, 2018. Photo: mfa-rso.su Members of the Russian-backed Sokhumi and Tskhinvali authorities were on a visit to Nauru last week, where they met the …

Ghia Nodia, professor of politics, Ilia Chavchavadze State University. Ghia Nodia is a professor of politics and the director of the International School of Caucasus Studies in Ilia Chavchavadze State University in Tbilisi, Georgia. He is also a founder and chairman of the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development …

Anatoly Bibilov and Milorad Dodik, January 10, 2018. Photo: RTRS The Moscow-backed leader of South Ossetia, Anatoly Bibilov, was on a three-day trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina in early January. In Banja Luka, Bibilov held two meetings with Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik and took part in the disputed Day of …