Weightloss Diet

More of my opinion later. Here's the article Opposition on Defensive, as Some Slam Calling Off Protests

Hasareallylongandunpronounceablelasntamevili

I agree with Misha, “Regardless of the fact that Badri was accused of a grave crime against the State, every person’s death is a great tragedy,” but still can't resist the temptation to use the statement Stephanie's friend used to refer to Badri, wondering what the story is...

Rumors started floating around about his death, some accusing the government of misconduct, some claiming that Badri probably had some fatal disagreement with his pal Boris, London claims that it was a natural death...

Poverty

To quote Winston (editor of the Messenger): Layered, like a fine achma...

Misha made his main priority for the second round of his presidency to be fight against poverty, yet first thing that he unveiled as a newly-reelected president of Georgia, was a new addition (or swap, to be exact) to military - M4 rifle. While advantage of M4 is debatable (not just simply compared to AK-47, but to other NATO ammunition options), such a commitment will be costly. I am not aware of all the details of the swap (e.g. scale), but it will not be cheap to purchase new rifles, all ammunition and equipment, and retrain soldiers. It is very likely that swap has been planned long time ago (months probably) and is was a logic continuation, but displaying new weapons at the inauguration ceremony does not fit into the whole "fight against poverty". If it were me, I would... Well, if I knew what would make sense both fiscally and politically, I would be the president, wouldn't I?

Going back to Winston's quote, he asked about Russia. It is indirectly referenced in the piece. Solution to Georgia's poverty is directly related to Russia, we may brag about our independence, but at the end of the day, grapes go sour, tangerines and oranges rot, and Georgians stay in poverty.

Memorandum

Georgian government and opposition are similar to an old married couple that cannot stand each other, but cannot get divorced (for one reason or another). Every time they try to make up, one of them flinches. So, it happened again, opposition is refusing to continue talks. They are being blamed by the majority for boycotting talks, but if we try to look for real reasons, leading party is not any better in this relationship - like a non-committal husband who either refuses everything, or only responds with "maybe".

To be honest with you, I see why the government is so reluctant to go for some demands in the list. Opposition got a bit pushy. Because they managed to gather 46% of votes (all of the candidates together, including Badri and Gia), they feel they are entitled to the greater fame and fortunes. I am wondering what would happen if one of them indeed got elected?

Judges

This is based on a story that popped up once couple months ago. It did not get much attention back then, and it appeared again now.

Here's a quote from Rezonansi article talking mostly about EU relation reforms.

This applies to the reform of the judiciary. Among other things, we intend to take an unprecedented step in this field. The president has urged the EU to send European judges to Georgia so that they consider commercial disputes and criminal cases together with Georgian judges. This is very important because, in spite of the many positive steps that have been taken, the trust in the judiciary remains low.

What a novel idea - ask foreign judges, who do not speak the language, who do not know the legal system, who do not know customs of the country to be judges. Europeans will most likely not go for this, and even if they did, it would not fix anything. People distrust the judiciary for a reason, it may not be corrupt, but it lacks transparency, they apply 2 month pre-trial detention too easily and signs that judges are independent are not there.

This reminds me of a piece I did for Georgia Today back in the end of December, it did not end up being posted here, so here it is.

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