After the Revolution

All that waving of American flags, and the best George Bush can give Kosovo is an adjective.
Today Bush called Kosovo’s people “independent” but stopped short of officially recognizing Kosovo as an independent state.
This doesn’t mean that Bush refuses to recognize Kosovo officially, but it might have something to do with the European Union’s failure to take an official position on […]

[Read more →]

Have you ever seen a country being born?
The Prime Minister of Kosovo declared Kosovo “independent, sovereign and free“ in a session of Parliament today.
To watch the BBC’s video of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci reading the declaration of independence from Serbia to the Parliament, click here.
But to watch the party outside, click here.
Mark Mardell described it in his blog:
“The streets of […]

[Read more →]

Though conspiracy theories about the death of billionaire opposition leader and media mogul Badri Patarkatsishvili seem to be losing steam, one question remains unanswered: What will become of Patarkatsishvili’s embattled television station?
 According to a recent article on EurasiaNet.org, Rupert Murdoch’s son is to arrive in Georgia in the near future to discuss purchasing a controlling […]

[Read more →]

Recently deceased Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili – a man who had monetarily sustained much of the political opposition to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili – had lived in fear of assasination.
He was wanted in Georgia and Russia and living in exile in England and Israel.
When he died at the age of 52 on Tuesday, British police called it “suspicious.”
But according to […]

[Read more →]

As I described in my previous post, Georgia’s richest citizen (and possibly the one who most resembled Mark Twain) died a “suspicious” death at the age of 52 on Tuesday. Badri Patarkatsishvili had been in exile in London after the Georgian government accused him of plotting a coup.
Gideon Lichfield, Jerusalem correspondent for The Economist, wrote about his encounter with Patarkatsishvili in his blog. […]

[Read more →]

The richest citizen of Georgia died suspiciously on Tuesday at the age of 52. 
I wrote about Badri Patarkatsishvili on Jan. 30 and and Jan. 15. He was the billionaire media mogul who supported Georigan President Mikheil Saakashvili during the Rose Revolution but ran against him in the most recent election.
He was in exile, having been accused of plotting a coup after last year’s […]

[Read more →]

Focusing in this blog on three countries that simultaneously depend upon and rebel against Mother Russia, I tend to write entries that portray President Vladimir Putin as the bad guy.
Mark MacKinnon, author of “The New Cold War,” wrote an interesting blog entry a few days ago entitled “It’s not always Russia’s fault.”
MacKinnon argues that a new Cold War […]

[Read more →]

Russia doesn’t usually look too kindly on former Soviet states that elect pro-Western leaders.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavro seems to have found a Georgian he can get along with: Ilia II, a 75-year-old man who has been a patriarch in the Georgian Orthodox Church since 1977.
1977 - that’s 14 years before Georgia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.
According […]

[Read more →]

 According to a press release from the World Trade Organization, the WTO approved Ukraine for membership this week.
To listen to the English interpretation of the speech Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko gave at the WTO meeting, click here.
Russia is now the world’s last major economy left out of the trade organization. 
As Ukraine has beat Russia to the finish line in […]

[Read more →]

Russia is not alone in its aversion to the idea of Kosovan independence.
According to an article published today on the BBC’s Web site, Romania, Slovakia, Cyprus, Greece and Spain have their complaints as well.
Many in those countries fear that recognition of a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo will encourage separatist movements elsewhere.
Turks who control northern Cyprus, ethnic Hungarians looking for greater autonomy in Romania and Slovakia, and […]

[Read more →]