Kakha's new sale

Georgia needs a strong parliament...

Straight from the mouth of mr. President: "We need a strong parliament"... civil.ge article

One of the worst ones I've done in a while, maybe I will redo it.

Opposition demands

If you are interested what the demands are, follow the link to civil.ge article...

Roadmap

Georgians are working on a road map to resolve issues with Russia. It is not very likely that this road map will work if it is not a two way deal, but is it possible? There is a little chance that Russia will yield...

State of Georgian Constitution

Misha won, but is was not a complete victory. He failed to convince people that the parliamentary elections should take place in autumn, as opposed to Spring of 2008. Keep in mind that, I was not around to see last two weeks of campaigning and cannot really say if he even mentioned election timing in his anti-poverty crusade. Pro-Misha billboards that are still around, two weeks after he was declared a winner, do not mention anything, and I do not remember hearing anything.

It is guaranteed that there will be amendments, even though plebiscite is non-binding, government promised that people decision will guide their actions. Yes, government does not always keep promises, but this one is not something to joke about. It is unlikely that the government wants another bloodshed, as there will be one if there are no elections this spring. Spring elections needs Winter/Spring 2008 amendments. There will most likely be other set of amendments that Misha's National Movement will most likely push through. They can achieve it by holding more than enough seats to get anything voted for. Question I have is, are they smart enough to stop before they piss off people? Leading party can be arrogant and many times that translates into "we will do what we wish to do", that does not always coincide with people's wishes.

m4 - moving on

It seems that time has come for Georgia to move on from AK-47 to M-4. It is not a surprise, NATO aspirations need NATO ammunition. What is questionnable is the choice. M4 is not the best of 5.56mm rifles, it jams and needs daily maintenance. Certain someone decided to call it the best weapon - lies are not the best way to start the next term...

Georgian Elections as a Khachapuri Chart

I am back in Tbilisi and it's time to sum up the election that I conveniently escaped. I personally belong to the "did not vote" slice of the khachapuri. Keep in mind, cannot vote slice does not include You, expats living in Georgia...

Imedi will be back?

This was done back in mid December when Imedi was off the air due to the government actions. Now Imedi is still off (as far as I know). It seems that the government has nothing to do with it, but does it? I am awfully suspicious of some government interference. Either NewsCorp is trigger-happy type and decided not to meddle with Georgia's inner workings, or government scared the living daylight out of people who worked there...

For those who are wondering, I am on vacation until late next week, hence no new material last couple weeks. Worst time to take a vacation, but I did not feel like letting "snap" elections ruin my plans. There is a lot to poke fun of these days, and I will do it when I am back in Tbilisi. Meanwhile enjoy some old stuff.

Santa Misha

Even before the rat race started, government decided to become unusually generous, followed by sacked prime minister and new, socially oriented budget. President said earlier that there would be no more lenient treatment of criminals. Everyone was shocked to hear that couple thousand inmates would be released under proposed amnesty. That was not enough though, process would be sped up to have inmates out of jail before the New Year. Caring for them to have a happy New Year or caring to get their votes?

Government claimed that many of the proposed changes were planned long time ago. However, nothing was ever mentioned. Even worse, some benefits people are getting was not budgeted for...

I wish there were elections each year...

Ballot

Maybe the ballot will be in five different languages, but it still is somewhat misleading. To start with, why do we need to have numbers at all? Are people too stupid to read actual names and put a mark in front of it? Having a number already gives automatic advantage. If I were in China, I would hate getting number four, as would anyone else. What shall candidates do in this situation? Even before submitting his signatures, Misha's people started going around and posting "5" posters all over the places. Can it be more obvious that the incumbent has control over the election commission, he already knows what number he will be getting. He probably already knows the percentage he will be getting...

My real question is the consequence of the following outcome: majority elect Misha as the president, but strike down the NATO. To me, this sounds like a recipe for a disaster. All of his makeshift and evershifting platform is based on Georgia-NATO relationship...