Georgian Prime Minister Resigns

it says here, on health grounds, after 3 months in the job. He seems to have a kidney condition which requires intensive treatment. Poor soul.

He was Saakashvili's fourth prime minister; the previous one had lasted for about 9 months.

Saakashvili is under pressure from the opposition to resign, over the war last August. Finally it is becoming clear to the Georgian population what happened there. But will he resign? Will he heck!

Hmmm

Seems the Georgian prime minister has returned from Germany following his medical examination, presumably healthy. Says the President of Georgia:

'Your healthy condition caused huge nervousness in our neighbor Russia. I think now Russia will get calm and embark on dealing more global issues of its inner politics’.

Yes, right. I am sure the Georgian prime minister's brief absence caused endless sleepless nights in Russia.

Obama and Georgia

This article suggests that Georgia may feel a little chill from the win of Barack Obama in the US presidential election. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Georgia, or rather its president, has been rather self-satisfied in recent years, only hearing what it wants to hear from foreign governments and international bodies. The article goes on to say:

"Georgia had to meet NATO at least halfway," said
Lincoln Mitchell, a professor of international politics at New York's
Columbia University. "And what it got under the Bush administration was
the constant message: 'Have bad elections? We'll cover for you. Make a
foolish decision and get pulled into a war with Russia? Here's a
billion bucks, don't worry about it. Keep cracking down on media and
civil liberties? It's OK.'"

It's about time things on human rights, social protection including health and I am sure a number of other matters were cracked down on by those bodies Georgia wishes to join. Under current performance Georgia may dream of joining NATO, but as for joining the EU - forget it!

Who started the war?

Interesting article here about the Georgia/Russia war. It suggests Georgia started the war, despite Georgia's vehement protestations. International observers (in Tskhinvali?)including a Finn, a Belorussian and a Pole, describe the firing on Tskhinvali as indiscriminate, with at least 48 rockets falling in civilian areas (this is blamed on the inexperience of the Georgian military).

The Georgians, naturally, dismiss this report. 'Who counted these rockets anyway?', they ask. Would have thought it ain't that difficult to count a rocket that landed, would you?

Changes, changes

So, after the war with Russia, it's time to change the Georgian government again. About time, too - it's lasted for almost the whole year!

The prime minister has been dismissed, after negotiating hard with donors over the 4.5 billion USD donation for Georgia following the war. Remind me again who started it?

The PM (37) is going to be replaced by the current Georgian ambassador in Turkey (35), whose chief qualification for the job is to attract Turkish investment into Georgia.

Georgia, the wonderful investment location.....with an unstable government in an unstable region, a probably declining economy, huge interest rates, no protection against bank collapses....right....

Cultural destruction in Georgia

This Wall Street Journal article describes the Russian destruction of Georgian cultural artefacts since the war (though many of these appear to be in South Ossetia).

They noticed, and I noticed while in Gori, that they did not destroy the Stalin museum in Gori.

The sad demise of Saakashvili

Interesting article here. It reflects much of what the Spanish paper said on Saturday.

But.....did he really compare his country to a girl in a miniskirt, which some people might see as an invitation to rape her?

Things are not looking good - according to Rustavi2, the Russians still seem to be in the country, running over police vehicles, and trying to take the town of Borjomi (deep in Georgia) - the latter was prevented by the plucky police of Borjomi.

¡Ellos están locos, los georgianos!

I go off to Spain, and Mr Saakashvili goes off to Tskhinvali, with all his tanks. Then he gets bopped on the head by the Russian and he cries and cries and cries.

What in God's name was he thinking of?

Now the media are full of how horrible the Russians are, invading another country and all that. And yes, their reaction was, and continues to be, excessive, but please - Who Started Up the Bloody Problem? I had always thought it would not happen (I had anticipated Abkhazia before South Ossetia) because any such war would surely scare off any investors and totally mess up the country's economy. (Apart from having spent most of the last year working up a budget for 'my' part of Georgian government expenditure).

The British and US media are full of how hard done by Georgia is. Yes, it is, by the President it probably did not elect, given the reality of the last elections, despite what OSCE and other election observers rushed to say the minute the polling closed.

The Spanish media, well, ok, one medium, are more balanced, describing Saakashvili as 'incansable' (unflagging) and as one who his western friends have been trying to calm down since he took office. With little success, it would seem. Yesterday, 'El Pais' described how Georgia accepted with 'rage' the ceasefire (not much observed by the Russians). Apparently Saakashvili called the Russians every name under the sun, and he was also 'visibly angry and saying bad words' (malediciendo) about the Westerners. According to the Spanish media, Saakashvili has been omnipresent on US TV, so much so that they wondered how he could run a country (at war!) at the same time.

Meanwhile Rustavi2, the state TV channel of Georgia, says that Medvedev has signed the ceasefire deal. Not before the Russians cut off the railwayline to the west of Georgia and apparently set part of the Borjomi forest on fire (40 ha, not quite a cause for ecological catastrophe, as the channel describes, I would have thought).

Not sure whether there is a great deal of point in my project continuing - so close to success. The government will surely have other priorities now, and the forecast economic growth will surely not happen.

Young Georgian Men

Here's a lovely little film made by the 18-year-old cousin of one of our interpreters. Yes, the page is in Georgian, but if you see the two darker grey words at the bottom of the frame, and click on the right-hand one, the film will download, and it has subtitles in English.

I suspect it rather accurately reflects the lives of young Georgian men, and some of the children, as well as the school... which looks oddly familiar. It's only about 15 minutes or so. Check it out!

Tbilisi Horticulture

Rustaveli Avenue, the main street in Tbilisi, has recently undergone much renovation. Raised flowerbeds have appeared on both sides off the road, though in some places the work seems to have been abandoned. Strangely, those opposite the parliament actually contain many flowers, and even some standard roses - Rose Revolution and all that....In other places they seem to have chucked turf onto the flowerbeds and left it to get on with it. Die, mainly. Some automated watering systems have now appeared, but, as a former horticulturalist, I suspect that they will not do much good to turf that is dead.

Now here (story came out in June) it tells us that Israel has donated a 400-year-old olive tree to the city. Full with symbolism, of course. My horticultural heart hangs heavy.

Apart from the sense of transplanting a tree of that age, it's not really wonderful to do so in the middle of the growing season. And olive trees are vulnerable to frost below minus 10. Last winter it reached minus 15. In a country full of war rhetoric, what will be the symbolism of a dead olive tree?

Running round Tbilisi

My usual Saturday run, a bit earlier to escape the heat....

• said 'gamarjoba' to a young orthodox priest at the end of my road. Like most such priests he wore his woolly bunnet pulled down to the eyebrows. Gives them all a slightly scary look. He replied with a gesture I could not quite work out. Did he bless me or did he tell me to pass behind his back so I would not interrupt his communion with the wee church on the hill?
• spotted a couple in matching grey t-shirts on their way to their exertions? Or on the return? Or was the walk their exertions? Not a drop of sweat to be seen.
• having run up the hill almost to the late Pataarkatsishvili's glass palace found that the set of steps I usually descend on has been removed, and only a hill of scree left. What's the point of that? They don't want pedestrians near there? So I had to run back down and find another, newly installed set of stairs. It will save the climb in the future, but also the cardiovascular stuff....
• saw a tiny puppy in the middle of a road which is rarely used (thankfully). It looked very lost and depressed. I stroked it, like you stroke a raw egg, and it did not even wag its little tail. Then again, it's not so good here for little dogs to trust people too much.
• reached the new President's palace (the palace, I mean, not the president) from the other side, and found that a set of stairs going down from that side have been closed. I could have climbed over the fence, but seeing as they were covered in rubbish and at each landing had two large open manholes, quite apart from me being unable to see their end, I gave them a miss. Instead had a chance to observe the extraordinary design on the side of the building (the other side is not finished). It's kind of a mixture of what looks like wire mesh and (wooden?) cladding, going up and down in angular waves, with a star-shaped pattern throughout it all. Really difficult to explain! What with all those security people around I did not like to take a photo. Bits of this building seem to be working already. In front of it,overlooking the town, is a modern family house, but I'm not sure if that's for the president, or if it belongs to someone else who would have been very stubborn not to sell the land for the presidential arrangements.

Talking of security guards, the ones at my ministry, at ambassador's residences and elsewhere have new uniforms. A pale green shirt with dark green trousers with a pale green stripe going down the side of them. Makes them look a bit like part of a band.

Care in the community, Georgian style?

Near the Health Ministry today I was crossing the road with a colleague, when suddenly I felt a sharp nip in the elbow. I turned round, and saw some guy. Some people seemed to be telling him off. Strange.

We went along the road for quite a while, and finally my colleague found a shop she was looking for. She went in, I waited outside. Spotted the guy walking along the road in my general direction. Contemplated going into the shop for cover, but thought, sod it, I can defend myself.

The strangest thing happened. He came near me, and was really afraid of me (for good enough reason, perhaps, though I don't thump people all that often...). You know how dogs are when they are afraid of someone - they sidle around them, keeping an eye on the person, and then belt off into the distance. That's exactly what this guy did! I was under a tree, he went so close, sideways, along the building that I thought he'd break a window, and then shot off. I know we all have our identity issues, some of us more so than others, but I wondered if he thought he was a dog? I also wonder if he nipped me because I had accidentally invaded his personal space.

More to the point, wasn't it lucky he didn't have a knife? I wonder who takes care of him.

Taking care of Her Majesty's Subjects

Bit surprised to get an email from a colleague, forwarded from a friend of hers, of Foreign Office travel advice in Georgia. It's something to do with demos at the opening of Parliament on 10 June. We've survived the demos since last November, so we'll be ok.....Last time they phoned us the day after the teargas.

But why this means of message transmission? Enquiry to the Embassy reveals that they have a system of 'wardens' who then pass the message on to their 'parish'. On FCO advice, apparently.

Forgive me if this reminds me of 'Dad's Army' - what was the name of that ARP warden? And how do they know that all Brits are reached? I don't know who is my warden, or in which parish I am. Doing things on the cheap again, and getting other people to do their work.

But really, is it rocket science to set up a British resident's mailing list on the computer which includes everyone who has email (most people must do, surely). Someone registers at the Embassy, you pop their name into the mailing list. End of story. Setting it up in the first place might take half a day once....they don't have time for this?

Glad I'm not paying their salaries.

Fleamarket Chic

Dinner last night at the cafe Pur Pur,in Gudiashvili Square, somewhere to the back of Tbilisi Town Hall.It's a beautiful little square, with trees in the middle of it, and this building beside it. In which the restaurant is not. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice that the building is surrounded by a construction fence. Well-informed Tbilisi residents will realise that this will be another charming old building about to bite the dust (one day soon I will blog about capitalism and building preservation).

The restaurant is on another side of
the square. Don't ask me which side, I did not look at where the sun
was when I entered it. It's in an old building, with a pale brown
door, and in the summer the windows are open. Seeing as it does not
have a sign, this is the best I can do for you.

Inside it is fleamarket chic. The
stairs, ancient and unrenovated, are covered by a carpet, the tables
and chairs are a jumble, and the tables are thus positioned that they
are in front of the walls and not of the windows. Which is a shame if
you want to see what's happening outside (which I like). They are
also rather crammed in. But it's quite charming and characterful. Though the tables
for two are so narrow that loving couples can pick each others' noses
without leaning over the table. A nice table for 4 was defended by
the waiting staff with their lives against groups of 2 people, with
the result it remained empty all evening. I managed to wrestle out of them a table for three to seat the two of us, but it was with some difficulty. The proportions of tables
and chairs in relation to each other are such, at least in our case,
that if you are a woman wearing a low-cut outfit, the table preserves
your modesty. Or maybe my friend is just small. The music is of the
'Je ne regrette rien' cafe-music style.

You don't always want to see what's
happening outside, though. While I was waiting for my friend,
suddenly I heard a dog screaming and screaming and screaming. Turned
out that the dog police was taking it away. Now I did not see the dog
they had, but suspect strongly it was the very decrepit-looking dog I
saw on entering the restaurant, who, to be fair, would probably not
have been looking forward to much enjoyment in his life. So it
probably was a kindness. But the screaming will stay with me for a
while. I suppose shooting it in the street, while kinder to the dog,
might not be entirely acceptable. The way the restaurant staff
reacted made me wonder if they had called the dog police?

It was nice that the clientele was all
Georgian, apart from us – I'm not that hot on expat places. Given
that the waiting staff responded in Russian to English requests it
makes sense really. Not intended for the expat market, maybe. Though I do rather like bog-standard Georgian food which this place did not really supply.

People had raved about the food –
especially the soups and the salads, so I tried a soup, a salad and a
main course. The soup, a cold yoghurty cucumber and radish soup, was
all right. Far from a large portion, served in a very large bowl, and
perhaps more chunky than was strictly necessary. If the yoghurt had
been a bit diluted it would not have been a catastrophe. Not sure I
spotted the mint that it was also supposed to contain.

The salad, green leaves with cucumber
and tomato, was ordinary. The dressing was nice, and there were loads
of green leaves, well washed, so we got our chlorophyll for the
evening. But nothing special.

Our main courses – my friend had the
trout, I had the salmon. The poor wee trout...its mum must have not
taken good care of it, so it swam away, and before it knew it, it had
been caught. Much like the dog. Except Master Trout was caught in his
infancy. Or maybe mum had made love to a sardine. With an
accompaniment of something green and shredded carrot it was the
perfect Atkins' meal, though perhaps a bit thin on protein.

My salmon, on spinach came with 4
beautiful new potatoes (n Georgia at the moment we have the most
beautiful new potatoes I have ever seen). So I could afford to pass
two on to my starving friend. The salmon – I'm not convinced it
was salmon, more like sea trout – arrived in two small pieces, smothered in
something rich and white.

The bread was fairly ordinary white and
slightly brown bread, not a lavash in sight (though there was some on
the menu accompanying a different salad). And the service, I hate to
say it, but we waited for our cappuccinos so long that I had
fantasies of someone rushing to Brazil to pick the coffee beans. The
wine was exceptionally cheap. Then again....it reminded me of the
wine I sometimes buy loose.....

The place reminds me of the Art Bridge
in Abovian Street in Yerevan, belonging to an expat Armenian woman.
The atmosphere is similar, sort of slightly Bohemian, full of expats,
Armenian Bohemians and young go-getting things. The Art Bridge did
not change its menu in the three years I was in Armenia, with the
menus becoming more and more stained. It was good for teas and cakes
(oh, the carrot cake!) but less good for main courses. PurPur place
also has potential for a lot of atmosphere, but last night it seemed
rather subdued, with people huddled quietly in little corners
everywhere. Not sure that is entirely characteristically Georgian....

It was nice that at least part of the
menu was seasonal. Let's hope they keep going for fresh produce, and
that the cooking may become a little more inspired.

Drugs Problems

It would appear that members of the
Georgian parliament get drug tested before they are admitted to it
(following the recent election), Rustavi2 reports. Bit unfortunate that a leader of an
opposition part was found to have traces of opium in his blood. He
blames it on a codeine-based medicine he had taken the day before. I
don’t know anything about pharmacology, so who knows if codeine
isn’t really opium. Funny thing is, though, that codeine-based
medicines, like Sudafed, are illegal in Georgia. Personally, had I
been the politician, I would have kicked up a fuss and blamed the
government for planting it on me. This is Georgia!

A first?

Mr Saakashvili says that Mr 'Kaczynski is Georgia's hero' (on account of the latter stating that Georgia is where the borders of the free world are going to be). As reported on Polskie Radio. Will we have a Kaczynski Avenue next, or will it even replace the President George W Bush avenue to Tbilisi airport?

Saakashvili may have been the first to make such a bold statement about the little Polish president. How many Poles would agree?

Pets, Tbilisi style

Georgians are not that good at pets. They have dogs, but often they are tied up, rarely are they trained, and many live and sleep in the streets. At least, I suppose it's better that dogs sleep in the streets than children or adults....

Bit of a surprise, though, wandering home along Gogebashvili the other night, to come across a group of youngsters with a bird of prey sitting happily on someone's hand. Not the sort of thing you'd expect to see in almost the middle of a European capital. But then you would also not expect to see roads paved with mud, houses without running water.....

These ****ing American advisers

So, in Georgia the health system is all American. There is health insurance, underwritten by commercial companies, though it covers far from everything. For certain poor people there is health insurance paid for by the state but still, I suspect, organised by commercial companies. To say that insurance products are not well developed here is the understatement of the year - or perhaps they are brutally developed on a commercial basis.

A friend works at a small state organisation with, I suspect, a rather more elderly workforce than most (though given that many staff in children's homes are over sixty, perhaps not). The organisation was offered a special deal by an insurance company; pay us 15 lari per month, we pay for your health treatment and when you die, we pay your family 3000 lari.

Recently 6 people died, and about 20 needed operations (if you can't afford it, you don't get it done, so when you get insurance naturally you have it done; not sure what the rules are about pre-existing conditions). Now the insurance has increased the premium to 29 laris per month and cancelled the 3000 lari death payment.

The problem is, of course, that the spread of risk is far too small. If there were some all population enveloping health insurance the risk would be spread much further, and everyone could be paid (though in the early years - about 5 - 10 of them - there would be a huge backlog of treatments to be worked off).

European Union citizens have a legal right to health insurance, which they pay for in some countries, in others they don't, and if they are very poor the state covers the cost anyway. It spreads the risk across the whole population.

Georgia wishes to join the EU? With this kind of protection they won't.

Tbilisi-Moscow

After about 18 months of embargo, direct flights have resumed between Moscow and Tbilisi.

One part of my mind says, why would any self-respecting Georgian want to fly to Moscow? Terrible, cold, corrupt place.

Reality is, however, that there is much work in Moscow, and those Georgians who already live in Moscow will be glad not to have to fly via Riga or Istanbul any more.

Will this have an impact on Istanbul-Tbilisi flights?

En passant, here in Lithuania I've been looking for Georgian wines - flying the flag and all that. Our government, of a country with a population of less than 3.5 million, 'stepped in ' when Russia started to boycott Georgian wines. Haven't had much success - I've seen some bottles of Georgian wine of varieties I don't know at all. Where are the Saperavis and Tsinandalis, those nice drinkable Georgian wines? I remember getting some in Vilnius just over a year ago....

State Ballet of Georgia - on tour in the US!

Here's the review. Kind of middling, but praising 'my' Lasha Khozashvili (as well they should!). I reviewed this set of performances here.

Did not know Ananiashvili had danced for the American Ballet Theatre. I had seen their Cinderella a couple of years ago at the New York Met - it was brilliant! But that explains the strong links between Ananiashvili and Balanchine.

I hope, as the new director of the company, she gets the show on the road. Hope she does not lose lovely Lasha, but who would want to stand in the way of a career in the US, should it be offered to him?