Georgia recently launched a campaign to fashion itself as a champion of North Caucasus rights and the center of a peaceful, prosperous Caucasus. In theory, the campaign is all about good vibrations. In practice, though, the initiative could have more to do with a tit-for-tat for Russian intervention in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, some observers say.
When news first surfaced that Georgia would introduce a new civil defense program for schools, attention focused on the prospect of teachers with no military background scrambling to learn how to load and fire assault rifles. But two months into the program, educators and lawmakers describe a course that appears closer to Boy Scouts training than to the ROTC.
Officials in Georgia confirmed November 5 that they have broken up a Russian spy ring involving “dozens” of people, who for years had passed Tbilisi’s military secrets to Moscow, possibly including information about tactical and strategic plans during the 2008 Russia-Georgia war.
