After the Revolution

The hunger strike [see previous post] Georgian opposition leaders promised last month, postponed due to lack of interest, is back on.
Five politicians announced today they would start their fast to protest the recent presidential election in Georgia.
According to an article from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze compared the renewed protest to November demonstrations that brought the capital to […]

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Recently headlines are starting to give me deja vu. 
Last week the electoral commission of Armenia declared Serzh Sarkisian, until then the country’s prime minister, winner of Armenia’s presidential election.
According to the count, Sarkisian won a couple of points over 50 percent of the vote, just enough to avoid a run-off. But many say the voting process was seriously flawed.
The Organization for Security […]

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Don’t like the government? Create your own.
That’s what an organization of opposition parties in Kyrgyzstan has done. Members of “Movement for Justice” have created their own “Public Parliament.”
The founders of the Public Parliament claim that it is not meant to replace the current parliament, the Jogorku Kenesh.
They say it is only a platform for them to express […]

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If you think the Georgian elections are over, there’s a crowd of angry Georgians who will tell you you’re wrong.
Opposition leaders have continued to protest, and they’re beginning to see some results.
According to an article from EurasiaNet.org, the government met one of the protesters’ chief demands yesterday by releasing six prisoners arrested for participating in […]

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Mikheil Saakashvili was sworn in as president of Georgia on Jan. 20 after an election internationally recognized as flawed but generally accepted as valid.
The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) published a review of the electoral process specifying a number of problems.

The voter turn-out was much […]

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With about 80,000 Georgians protesting elsewhere in the capital, Mikheil Saakashvili was sworn as president on Jan. 20.
Saakashvili said he would strive to strengthen Georgia’s relationship with the West. But he also offered an olive branch to Russia.
Georgia expelled Russian officers from the country in 2006 on charges of espionage. In response, Russia forbade all Georgians from traveling to Russia, a restriction they later eased. 
But Russia […]

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“It’s only in Georgia that I’m this lovely old man, this grandfather figure. If they want to really know my background, they should ask in Russia — they know me differently there.”
This is the quote an article at Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty used to introduce Badri Patarkatsishvili — a billionaire with a white […]

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