Eurasianet

Georgia’s quest for Chinese investment has mainly resulted in a half-built city and a half-empty mall. But Georgians are pulling out all the stops.

After the Russian foreign ministry threw them under the bus, Georgian officials were forced to change their story about who initiated a landmark meeting between the two sides.

Both sides, and Georgia’s western partners, hailed the talks as a promising first step. But they were received with skepticism among some in Tbilisi.

The nation’s protest movement has restarted. It’s now aiming straight at the billionaire party leader Bidzina Ivanishvili.

When a major infrastructure project ends, aggregate foreign investment can drop. That doesn’t mean the economy is heading south.

An embattled banker and promoter of a major East-West transit project is calling on supporters to challenge Georgia’s billionaire leader in next year’s election.

The uncharacteristic restraint appears to be related to the unhappy memories the victim brought up both to the current government and the opposition.

The minimum wage now amounts to only $7 a month, by far the lowest in the region. And Georgia’s business-friendly political consensus is not interested in change.

The Georgian capital has become a stage set for a Hollywood action flick; some joke that the name of the film franchise is just driving as usual in the city.

Analysts say tensions between Georgia and its breakaway region are the highest they’ve been since the 2008 war with Russia.

Many Georgians have demanded their country’s top cop step down. Instead, he is stepping up.

The incumbent, an ex-KGB agent with Vladimir Putin’s support, will face a veteran in a September 8 runoff.

The dramatic exit was the latest turn in the saga in the ownership struggle for the opposition TV network Rustavi2.

A Georgian anti-LGBTQ warrior’s vigilantism has long gone unchallenged. One lawyer is trying to change that.

Local families rushed to move belongings out of their farmsteads, as masked Russian soldiers began fencing off their property from the rest of Georgia.

The owner of Rustavi2, who just wrested back control of the station, now says he wants to sell it. Government critics see an elaborate plot to gag an opposition-friendly outlet.

Residents call the moving border a “creeping occupation” because the Russian military has pushed deeper into Georgian territory since the war.

Has Georgia’s powerful leader met his political match in another financial titan?

After being weakened by massive protests, Georgia’s ruling party has regained its footing and has taken several steps to neutralize government critics.

Georgia said the plan would be illegal, while Abkhazian authorities tried to pre-empt criticism that it would deepen the territory’s dependence on Russia.

Both Armenia and Azerbaijan are staying out of the exercises.

The TV news network at the center of the struggle, Rustavi2, has played an outsized role in the country’s recent history.

A European court ruling opened the door for a government-friendly owner to take control of the country’s top opposition outlet, the management of which has vowed to fight.

Mutual accusations involving icons and pistols have exacerbated the ongoing dispute over the two generally friendly neighbors’ border.

The remote, Muslim-majority region is often seen as separate from the rest of Georgia. But increasingly, Pankisi residents share the same frustration as other Georgians: an overbearing, unresponsive state.