Op-eds

Thornike Gordadze, former Georgian minister for European Integration, argues in a “Le Monde” opinion column that the 2008 Russian-Georgian war gave Vladimir Putin the certainty that brutality paid off. Yet at the time, this war that only lasted few days, did not seem to be of great importance. Ten years …

To reflect on the 10 year anniversary of the Russo-Georgian war, we continue asking: Ten years after the war, what would you say was its impact on Georgia’s trajectory? This time, our respondents are four Georgian professors – Ghia Nodia, Tornike Sharashenidze, Eka Akobia and Kornely Kakachia. Ghia Nodia, director …

To reflect on the 10 year anniversary of the Russo-Georgian war, we have asked Georgia-watchers: Ten years after the war, what would you say was its impact on Georgia’s trajectory? Ted Jonas, lawyer: It’s difficult to disentangle the impact of the war on Georgia’s political and economic trajectory because so …

Op-ed by Michel Kazatchkine, former Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, and member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy. The Parliament of Georgia is currently engaged in a promising debate to reform its drug laws, possibly by ending the criminalization of drug use …

A divide within the ruling Georgian Dream party has come to head yesterday, as Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has announced his resignation citing differences of opinion with his party comrades, as well as – importantly – GD founder and leader Bidzina Ivanishvili. While the departure of PM Kvirikashvili has been …

Moscow aids and benefits from Nazi rise, but the roots of intolerance are home-grown I first met Petre Ghutidze in front of Tbilisi State University in 2014 at the demonstration to defend Sakdrisi Gold Mine; he was in charge of an amateur rock concert in support of ancient gold mine …

Op-ed by Mikheil Janelidze, the Foreign Minister of Georgia. This article originally appeared in the New Atlanticist, online publication by the Atlantic Council. Last week, Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria illegally recognized Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (so-called South Ossetia), two historic regions of Georgia, as independent states. This was done undoubtedly at the behest …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Grab from video footage showing Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko (left) granting Ukrainian citizenship to Georgia’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili (right) after announcing his appointment as governor of Odessa region in southwestern Ukraine. May 29, 2015. People are speaking a lot – perhaps too much – about Mikheil Saakashvili these days, whether …