Guest post by Emily Hauser Reasonable people can certainly hold differing opinions on the question of the death penalty. I am, personally, opposed to state executions under any circumstances, but I do understand those who feel that monstrous acts deserve the harshest possible consequences – I also understand the desire to remove the monsters from […]
Protest rallies in Georgia, begun over the weekend in Tbilisi and Batumi, seem to be headed for violent confrontation today (Wednesday afternoon in the US, early Thursday morning in Tbilisi) after apparently failing to achieve the goals of their organizers or to attract widespread public support. It’s not that the latest opposition movement (called the […]
Armenia I’ve already written at length on the wreckage of the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation process, surely the biggest story of 2010 for Armenia and perhaps the entire Caucasus. So let’s turn to a few less-reported issues from Armenia, including the prosecution of journalists and activists. On 28 December, Davit Kiramijian, 19, and Sargis Gevorgian, 18, received […]
For decades, being tough on crime has been a go-to mantra for American politicians regardless of party affiliation. Frequently that means increasing prison terms and choosing retributive justice over rehabilitation in the treatment of prisoners. Over the weekend prisoners in Georgia staged a peaceful strike in protest of these conditions. It appears that the strike […]
It’s only the media–not a special, dedicated tunnel team–who might believe the identification of Guzman as the tunnel mastermind qualifies as breaking news.Any agent who’s worked the southwest border for a while already knows that if a tunnel or any other kind of operation is high-end, it’s almost certainly the work of “El Chapo”…
Big news out of Georgia (which is where I am until 17 November), where thirteen men were arrested on charges of spying for Russia, Georgia’s nemesis. Most of the men were arrested in October, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs made the announcement on 5 November, perhaps due to Reuters breaking the story a week […]
Corruption in the police force is commonplace in countries with high levels of petty bribery. In Georgia, the solution was to fire the entire traffic police force and rehire through objective procedures. In neighboring Armenia – where the government is either more gradualist or less committed, depending on your viewpoint – the Achilles project is […]
As expected, President Saakashvili’s United National Movement (UNM) won nation-wide in Georgia’s recent municipal elections, with Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava winning re-election with a vote of over 55% in the Tbilisi race, competing against eight other candidates. UNM got a stunning 66% of the popular vote across the country, a convincing mandate, although a little […]
Georgia is gearing up for nation-wide municipal elections on 30 May, with the most closely-watched contest in Tbilisi, the capital. Incumbent Gigi Ugulava, a close associate of President Saakashvili, will run against a large slate of opposition candidates, including the charismatic Irakli Alasania, who was once ambassador to the UN before he turned against President […]
The chill in US-Azerbaijani relations may be thawing soon. After months of perceived snubs from Washington and acrimony out of Baku, which included a recent announcement by Azerbaijan that they have pulled out of a scheduled military exercise with the US, a Turkish newspaper reports that the two countries have discussed a possible visit to […]
Can corruption really be fought? That is, can you change a society from one whose everyday wheels are greased by bribes to one in which petty corruption is rare and shunned? Can you, say, turn Uzbekistan into Britain? The textbook examples of such change are Singapore and Hong Kong. Both faced corruption as a commonplace […]
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