In a sign of religion’s growing influence in the South Caucasus, the founding of an organization to represent Georgia’s Muslim population has sparked an emotional face-off with the Soviet-era body for the region’s Muslims, the Baku-based Caucasus Muslim Board.
Georgia has become the first post-Soviet country outside of the Baltics to ban former KGB operatives and senior Communist Party and Komsomol officials from holding public office. While many Georgians welcome the move, some critics worry that the measure could easily lead to civil rights abuses.
The Tbilisi city government’s takeover of management decisions for three popular resort towns is raising questions about whether Georgia’s promotion of tourism comes at the expense of self-government.
The Georgian government is facing pressure to open an investigation into the conduct of riot police during a May 26 protest in Tbilisi that left four people dead.
In the first decade-plus following the Soviet Union’s collapse, Georgians showed themselves to be a protest-happy people. But local experts say Georgian citizens are now losing steam, with apathy taking the place of activism.
A recent police move to break up a hunger strike by war veterans highlights a growing sense of frustration among those who fought in Georgia’s early post-Soviet wars. Many veterans for those conflicts in the early 1990s complain about what they see as a lack of respect and state assistance.
Rather than generate enthusiasm and buzz, the adoption of a new constitution in Georgia seems to have exposed a vast reserve of popular political apathy.
An outsourcing deal designed to enhance the reach of a government-run Russian-language television channel in Georgia instead threatens to bog down the station in controversy.
