Issue #1334

Issue no: 1334

• FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022 • PUBLISHED WEEKLY

FOCUS

ON PLAYING THE LONG GAME RIGHT MEP Petras Austrevicius on Russian pressure and the Western response

PAGE 4

PRICE: GEL 2.50

In this week’s issue...

Kelly Degnan: We Are Monitoring Georgia’s Readiness for Visa Liberalization with the US NEWS PAGE 2

Declined Support for Ukraine within the American Right Could Spell Disaster for US Foreign Policy POLITICS PAGE 4

Russia’s Political and Military Demarche: More Explicitly on its Separate Aspects. Part I POLITICS PAGE 5

Image source: Yvote.eu

Carrefour Launches 10 Days of Love Campaign to Reward Customers with Romantic Prizes BUSINESS PAGE 8

PRO International Corona Updates: Many Countries Selector Music Forum 5 is Back! LiveStreaming this February in Europe Lifting Restrictions SOCIETY PAGE 9

On the Works of Marjory Wardrop. Part I

BY ANA DUMBADZE

D

espite the relatively mild symptoms characteristic to the currently dominant Omicron strain, the epidemiological situation in Georgia remains tough and the death toll

is still high.

“The epidemiological situation is difficult but under control,” said Amiran Gamkrelidze, Head of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC).

He noted that the country is at the peak of the coronavirus spread, and that it “would overcome the sixth wave with fewer human losses by people following the regulations, avoiding public places and getting booster shots.” He added that 95% of new coronavirus cases were the Omicron strain.

After this week’s meeting of the Interagency Coordination Council, Deputy Health Minister Tamar Gabunia said that the isolation terms for people whose return to work is essential are

CULTURE PAGE 11 CULTURE PAGE 11 Prepared for Georgia Today Business by

Markets As of 07ͲFebͲ2022

BONDS

Image source: Netgazeti

being reduced from eight to six days for those with no symptoms.

Health officials and authorities say no further Coronavirus restrictions are expected in Georgia, and the same applies to schools and kindergartens, where studies continue in classrooms. “The country is seeing the peak in the Omicron wave.

Citizens should not relax despite the Omicron variant proving to be less severe,” they note.

Up to 3000 hospital beds are available in the country. The number of critical patients has not gone up, but labs, outpatient facilities, and online clinics face pressure due to increasing cases.

Continued on page 2

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2

NEWS

GEORGIA TODAY

FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022

Georgia’s Tetnuldi Resort Hosts Freeride World Qualifier for the First Time

Kelly Degnan: We Are Monitoring Georgia’s Readiness for Visa Liberalization with the US

BY ANA DUMBADZE

U

S Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan this week said the United States is monitoring Georgia’s visafree travel program with Europe to see how prepared the country is for visa liberalization with the United States.

In an interview with VOA, Degnan said

the United States appreciates the sacrifices Georgia has made in military operations together with the United States, but that visa liberalization has strict requirements: “Visa liberalization has very strict requirements that each country must meet. We are watching how the visa-free regime program with the EU is going, as an indicator of how ready Georgia is for our visa-free regime, which has similar requirements. Georgia must meet these very strict requirements,” Degnan noted.

Georgian Parliament Speaker Meets with Speaker of UK House of Commons

Photo: Georgian Travel Guide

BY ANA DUMBADZE

G

eorgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili held a meeting with the Speaker of the UK House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle.

SpeakerPapuashviliunderlinedthestrong friendship between the countries, strategic partnership and active bilateral dialogue.

The parties discussed the cooperation

between Georgia and the UK in various dimensions. They also reviewed the security landscape in Georgia, the Black Sea, and the wider region.

Shalva Papuashvili also provided the plans and priorities of the Georgian Parliament. Lindsay Hoyle in turn affirmed continued UK support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia.

F

or the first time in Georgia, at the Tetnuldi resort in the mountainous Svaneti region, within the framework of the “Freeride” week, the qualifying stages of the Freeride World Tour (FWQ) were held.

The event, held on February 8-12, was organized by Mountain Resorts Development Company (MRDC) of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, with the support of the USAID Economic Security Program, Mestia

Municipality, Svaneti destination management organization Shan Land, and the National Tourism Administration.

“Holding the event to a high standard will demonstrate the potential of Georgian ski resorts internationally,” the MRDC noted. “It will increase the awareness of Georgia’s ski resorts and make them more attractive to local and foreign tourists and investors, which, in turn, will contribute to the development of tourism in Georgia and the creation of an appropriate investment environment.

“Qualifying (FWQ) stages include small 2-star and big 4-star competitions. The small competition ensures the involve-

ment of local and beginner athletes, while the big competition provides the participation of high-ranking foreign athletes and international coverage. Up to 120 athletes from 20 countries will take part in the competitions.

“In freeride sports, there is a hierarchy of events according to which the annual calendar is planned. Georgia has been given a unique opportunity to host the highest category qualifying round of the Freeride World Qualifier in the first year, which is rated 4 stars. The higher level of this competition is only the Freeride World Tour, which Georgia will be able to host as a result of successful qualification stages, ” the MRDC announced.

Corona Updates: Many Countries in Europe Lifting Restrictions Continued from page 1

THE STATISTICS Georgia reported 24,16 coronavirus cases, 18,221 recoveries, and 54 deaths on Tuesday. Tbilisi recorded the highest number of 11,801 Covid-19 cases, followed by the Imereti region with 3382 cases, and the Adjara region with 2187 cases.

The country reported 25,161 coronavirus cases, 16,789 recoveries, and 51 deaths on Wednesday. Tbilisi recorded 11,857 cases, followed by Imereti with 3730 cases, and Adjara with 2011.

Georgia reported 22,444 coronavirus cases, 13,245 recoveries, and 53 deaths on Thursday.

Tbilisi recorded the highest number of 10,931 new cases within 24 hours, followed by Imereti with 3281 cases, and the Adjara region with 1876 cases.

The daily test-positivity rate now stands at 32.82%, while it was 29.93 % in the past 14 days. Georgia’s total case tally reached 1,398,059, among them 1,154,476 people recovered and 15,404 died.

As of February 10, 2,764,352 people had received a Covid-19 vaccine, averaging 3454 a day.

THE CASES WORLDWIDE Many countries are starting to ease Covid restrictions ahead of the upcoming tourist season.

THE UK All remaining Covid restrictions in England, including the legal rule to selfisolate, could end later this month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said this week.

Under the current rules, anyone who

tests positive must self-isolate for at least five full days.

The current restrictions were due to expire on 24 March, but Mr Johnson told MPs he expected the last domestic rules would end early as long as the positive trends in the data continued, reported the BBC. In contrast, the Scottish government's remaining Covid powers are set to be extended until 24 September, as legislation making face coverings mandatory and requiring vaccine passports in some settings was due to expire at the end of

the month.

At the same time, the UK has approved a fifth Covid-19 vaccine, developed by US company Novavax, which offers up to 89% protection against Covid illness.

“The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has said it is safe as a first and second dose in adults.

Millions of doses are being manufactured at a plant on Teesside,” reported the BBC. “Health Secretary Sajid Javid says independent scientists on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization will now consider its use. The vaccine

could then be used immediately as part of the UK vaccination program.”

EUROPE School holidays are approaching in much of Europe. In the interests of the tourism industry, travel restrictions are being lifted in some countries.

Unvaccinated people traveling to Portugal will no longer need to submit a negative answer to a Covid test, although restrictions for unvaccinated citizens are still in force.

Vaccinated citizens will not have to

submit a test answer in Greece either.

However, as in many EU member states, people who have taken two doses of the Covid vaccine 270 days ago should definitely get a booster dose.

And good news for those wishing to go to France - the government has announced that it will soon stop requiring a negative Covid test outside the EU. However, the restrictions will be lifted only if the number of people infected with the virus continues to decline.

With the spread of the Coronavirus declining, wearing a face mask in public places in Italy will no longer be mandatory.

The situation is the same in Spain, where the government has abolished the obligation to wear a face mask in public places.

The head of the World Health Organization insisted Wednesday that “Covid isn’t finished with us,” appealing for more support to fight the pandemic after his agency reported that case counts and deaths fell worldwide over the past week.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, launching a new $23 billion campaign to fund WHO’s efforts to lead a fair rollout of Covid-19 tests, treatments and vaccines around the world, cautioned that “diseases know no borders” and the highlytransmissible Omicron variant has shown that “any feeling of safety can change in a moment,” reported Global News.

WHO’s weekly epidemiological report, released on Tuesday, showed that case counts fell 17% worldwide over the last week, including a 50% decline in the United States, while deaths globally declined 7%.

4

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY

FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022

MEP Petras Austrevicius on Russia, Ukraine, Georgia INTERVIEW BY VAZHA TAVBERIDZE

L

ithuanian MEP Petras Austrevicius is a longtime friend and strong proponent of Georgia and Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations. He was one of the members of the EP fact-finding mission that recently visited Ukraine. While there, he shared his take on the situation with Radio Free Europe.

IMPRESSIONS OF YOUR UKRAINE VISIT? WHAT DID YOU SEE? AND BASED ON WHAT YOU SAW, WHAT DO WE EXPECT WILL HAPPEN THERE NEXT? What can I tell you? I think Ukraine is very different now than it was in 2014.

We saw a very determined military this time. No panic, just preparations and acknowledgement that a risk exists. But, you know, Ukrainians are used to it after a war ongoing for eight years. And while politicians have to handle the economic situation, loss of investments, political infighting, I think we've been really assured that for Ukraine, European integration remains a priority. On our side, we brought not just a declaration of support, but tangible things which are needed for the economy, like 1.2 billion in macro financial assistance, joining the lethal weapons and military ammunition provided by an increasingly bigger group of NATO and EU member states. And this is a demonstration of our readiness to stand by Ukraine. We sent a message to Russia.

THE WEST'S POSITION NOW IS THAT NEW SANCTIONS WILL ONLY BE INTRODUCED IF NEW MILITARY ESCALATION HAPPENS. SO WHAT ABOUT THE HUGE ECONOMIC LOSS AND HARM THAT UKRAINE HAS ALREADY SUFFERED BY RUSSIAN TROOPS JUST STANDING THERE AT THE BORDER? This is a very good point. From my point of view, the most likely scenario of developments in Ukraine is a long-standing

tension and pressure on Ukraine from the Russian side. It's a huge economic pressure. And we have to work out how to assist Ukraine in this regard. I would consider this already an act of hybrid war against Ukraine. I think we have more than enough arguments for sanctions against Russia even now. We are too tolerant in watching this ongoing war against Ukraine. In Putin’s strategy, this debilitation of Ukraine is a major, major task. And he does it continuously, using numerous different instruments and means. Russia has broken every international agreement, treaty and convention when it comes to Ukraine. It has turned into a European Gendarme of sorts. And this is absolutely unacceptable. And they are going to use this policy

There are some Western politicians who are like doves of peace, thinking about reconciliation or compromises, but those compromises will be made at the expense of Ukraine, at the expense of European security

line as long as we accept it as normal.

It's not normal. We have to be vigilant and maintain a smart understanding of the situation and not just sit and wait for military involvement in this war, because an economic war, cyber war, and hybrid war is already happening.

SPEAKING OF BEING VIGILANT AND BEING SMART, DO YOU THINK THAT RIGHT NOW THE WESTERN FRONT IS VIGILANT, SMART AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, UNITED ENOUGH? In spite of some differences, I think we still see quite a united Western response when it comes to Russia. So far, so good.

But I'm not sure that there will be enough understanding and interest to keep this united position for long, because it’s a long-term engagement, and sometimes I see the West getting tired. There are some Western politicians who are like doves of peace, thinking about reconciliation or compromises, but those compromises will be made at the expense of Ukraine, at the expense of European security. That's why we have to keep this understanding, unity and common action going as long as possible. Because Russia will never tire of it. They are trying to introduce instability as the new “normal.” We should not expect Russia’s policy today to change tomorrow. No, they will not change.

PUTIN MADE A VERY PECULIAR STATEMENT DURING HIS MEETING WITH PRESIDENT ORBAN. HE SAID “IMAGINE UKRAINE IS A NATO MEMBER, AND IT TRIES TO MILITARILY RETAKE CRIMEA OR EVEN DONBAS. WHAT SHOULD WE DO? SHOULD WE FIGHT NATO?” AND HE MEANT THIS AS A QUESTION FOR THE WEST TO ANSWER. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS - IS THAT A JUSTIFIED CONCERN? Ask President Orban what he said to Mr. Putin, representing an European Union and NATO member state. What was his response to this fake message from Putin?

Image source: neweasterneurope.eu

Putin wants to convince everybody around that Ukraine is getting ready for war and aggression against the people of Russia, twisting the reality. The Kremlin is painting an enemy from a peaceful nation. Who is suffering from aggressive acts – Moscow or Kyiv? I wish Mr. Orban had asked Putin this in Moscow, and not just stopped by for a friendly cup of tea.

ger than Georgia. So Putin started from the biggest piece of the Eastern Partnership.

THERE ARE FEARS THAT CRIMEA WON’T BE THE LAST PIECE OF POST-SOVIET LAND THE KREMLIN WILL TRY TO SNATCH AWAY. JUST HOW FAR DO YOU THINK PUTIN IS PREPARED TO GO?

Disappointments come and go, but, of course, in the end, the elites are still lacking mobilization, national unity, a clear strategy, and everyday commitment: Everyday- not just from time to time. But I have to admit that there is a greater resistance towards those political and economic reforms, instigated in many cases from outside, from Russia.

And they have very strong fifth columns in all Eastern Partnership countries.

What Putin wants to do is act out a kind of “salami” policy. He is taking that salami piece by piece, territory by territory. And it's never enough; he is not satisfied and goes for the next piece, as long as that salami remains on the table. Let's not be Putin’s salami. Let’s not be passive observers who are cut and lost piece by piece.

It's unacceptable. We know Putin is dreaming about rebuilding the former USSR. What that new USSR is for him only he knows. But as long as we remain a soft power, we are a potential piece of salami on Putin’s table.

ON TO GEORGIA NOW – WHAT IMPACT IS THIS CRISIS GOING TO HAVE? Georgia remains a hostage of Russian policies, with lost and occupied territories. Georgia is in a very peculiar situation. With what’s going on in Ukraine, I think Georgia is being given a message: When we’re done with Ukraine, it will be Georgia’s turn. Next time, it might be a concentrated army on the Georgian border, and this might happen very quickly. Ukraine is almost 10 times big-

MORE AND MORE OFTEN, WE HEAR EU OFFICIALS AND POLITICIANS COMMENTING ON GEORGIA WITH POORLY HIDDEN DISAPPOINTMENT. WHY?

WHAT WOULD THAT COLUMN BE IN GEORGIA'S CASE? In Georgia's case, we have a not necessarily completely committed ruling party, Georgian Dream. And within that party, there are, of course, different people that have different attitudes. But I don't see a leadership commitment to act in a European way. They proclaim it is still on the agenda, but I presume they have a very political and individual agenda, and it does not correspond to the European understanding of how things are done.

I have to admit that Georgia is no longer the best example of a strengthening democracy, strengthening civil society bringing more confidence into domestic policies. It's got a long road to go, and I'm sorry to say that the leadership declarations and actions go very much against our understanding of how it should be done according to the European practice.

Declined Support for Ukraine within the American Right Could Spell Disaster for US Foreign Policy ANALYSIS BY GIORGI LABADZE

F

or several weeks, the possible aggression by Russia toward the sovereign nation of Ukraine has been one of the most actively discussed topics in the panels of global affairs and international relations. President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people have been in the global spotlight in messages of solidarity to prevent a devastating war and maintain peace at the very borders of NATO and the European Union.

Most politicians of the West, like Prime Minister Johnson, President of Poland, heads of state of the Baltics and others, became major supporters of Ukraine, checking Russia and warning its leader how destructive the possible war could be for not only Ukraine but even for Russian elites and common people. In this context, Secretary of State Antony Blinken eloquently mentioned during his press conference that “what really risks your security is a pointless war with your neighbors in Ukraine with all the costs that come with it”. The statement by Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby about the rotation and extreme readiness of American soldiers in different United States bases was an even-

Fox News host Tucker Carlon, who compared the Southern border crisis to the border of Ukraine

tual and probably very effective warning for Russia not to cross red lines.

But unexpected statements have been heard from the very characters of the American Republican Party to which the most proactive supporters of allies and partners of the United States are associated. One of the first was Fox News host Tucker Carlon, who spoke extremely out of context when he compared the Southern border crisis to the border of

Ukraine, where an army of 100,000 Russian soldiers is still gathered. In that comparison, Tucker ironically declared that they (Democrats) suddenly care about borders.

In response, several GOP senators and leaders sent a message to Carlson and explained that “We’re the decision-makers on Ukraine, not you” which is formally true, but on the other hand, everybody knows about the influence Tucker

possesses within the electorate of the Republican party, and that cannot be underestimated. For example, in one of his audio podcasts, famous activist Charles Kirk, after the 2020 elections, said that “Today Tucker is a Republican Party”, which very well describes the weight Carlson’s words could have.

Surprisingly, the rising star, Missouri representative in the Senate, Josh Hawley, called on the Biden Administration to drop support for Ukraine membership in NATO. His primary argument is that Ukraine’s NATO membership will make it problematic to strengthen US military forces against the rising threat of China in the Indo-Pacific. Yet, when Hawley is concentrating on China's threats, he must also consider the strategic place on the globe of Ukraine and Georgia and also China’s rising ambitions to influence the whole of Europe. Couldn’t those countries very soon be possible partners even against the threats of China within the EU and in its neighborhood? The visit of Vice-President Mike Pence about the Anaklia Deep Seaport in Georgia in 2019 was part of US-Chinese rivalry for strategic infrastructure, which means Senator Hawley’s reference toward the Secretary of State may require reconsideration.

The supporters and ideologues of the Realist school spread the word against

NATO eastern enlargement and, generally, much of the foreign entanglements too. As declared GOP supporters, their most common arguments against Ukraine are examples of Afghanistan and Iraq. In the recent podcast of The American Conservative under the name, Neocons are Back, those realists criticize so-called Neoconservatives who, by their explanation, say exactly the same things as about the Iraq War. But is that a real argument? Shouldn’t the American Right pay more attention to the difference between people and regions, and properly estimate the loyalty of partners like Ukraine and Georgia? Or do they really want to tell us that we would be the same countries, with the same security and economy in case of 20 years of American military presence on our soil?

Or course, the answer is NO. There are Ukrainians who are ready for the bloody war against the rival without a single American soldier in that country. On the other hand, we have Afghanistan, where the people and government gave up power to the Taliban after decades of American presence and tons of dollars spent on Afghan security. And yes, some people around the globe perceive freedom and liberty as more valuable than many others, and I am sure Ukrainians are among the first.

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022

5

Russia’s Political and Military Demarche: More Explicitly on its Separate Aspects. Part I

BY VICTOR KIPIANI, GEOCASE CHAIRMAN

T

he crisis provoked by Russia, which has even been dubbed “organized chaos,” is a subject of daily discussions and evaluations.

Almost all assessments can be summarized in one key message: Moscow is trying to radically change the essence of the order that took shape, first, after the Second World War and then, after the end of the Cold War, in order to turn the balance of Euro-Atlantic power to its own advantage and make fundamental changes to the code of conduct in international relations by openly introducing power in it as a dominant component. That open and dangerous revisionism, as well as the undermining of the abovementioned, to put it mildly, imperfect model, having emerged after the aforementioned wars, takes place at the expense of Russia’s neighboring countries. Our intention is to discuss the “old-new” reality of this very neighborhood, of which Georgia is part, and to draw out conclusions that will be neither pleasant nor acceptable for all.

WITHOUT AN EXACT NAME? Controversial has been a word (and a rather mild one) used to describe the reality around our country. We will try to explain why.

For many years, Georgia has continued to exist in uncertainty and to advance along the path of its civilizational choice.

This path, which is marked both with achievements and failures, is distinguished for the strength of national consensus and a societal decision to see the country becoming a fully-fledged participant of European political unity. Our journey along this path is supported and encouraged by Georgia’s partner countries. Nevertheless, we must admit that something in “our” and “their” movement towards each other does not fit ideally. The question is where is that critical point of divergence which despite a very long section walked through by both parties, makes the prospect of finishing this path so distant that it is impossible to reach out and firmly clasp our hands. It should be noted that this joint project of Georgia-Euro-Atlantic partnership is, at first glance, flawless both in its form and substance: against their continuous supportive assessments and steps, the Georgian state continues to do, though not always impeccably, its homework and advance towards the set goal. Why does then a segment of supporters of this process feel somewhat dissatisfied? Has the time not come to start openly discussing reasons of this dissatisfaction?

The time has clearly come. Let me remind those thinking that discussion of this issue is untimely that the Russian demarche has left no time and room to either Georgians or our Western partners for “averaged” explanations. As regards an inadequate movement of Georgia and its Western partners towards each other, the reason of it, I believe, is the lack of capacity to take comprehensive (not partial), timely (not delayed), result-oriented (not effect-oriented) decisions as well as the lack of will to implement them. Against this backdrop and especially, in the situation created by the Russian demarche, the lack of capacity and will harms the joint project of Georgian-Western integration: it may slow down the rate of integration, while in terms of its outcome,

Image source: Twitter, Democracy Defenders Georgia

may push our country from geopolitical uncertainty into a geopolitical abyss. We still have time left to avoid it, although the Russian demarche has further accelerated the countdown and virtually zeroed the time for extra exchange of useless pleasantries.

WHY DOES IT HAPPEN AS IT DOES? The existence of our country in a protracted and now already very dangerous geopolitical uncertainty is a result of more complex events and processes in the post-Soviet and post-Cold War period.

Today, this topic has already been actively and impartially discussed in Western studies, providing a unique opportunity for interested readers to enhance their mindset.

Thus, the situation that resulted from the recent Russian demarche is not a reverberation of either current moment or of previous year or two. It is an indirect effect of the abovementioned deficit in practical Western politics towards post-Soviet countries in the so called “buffer zone,” which Russia has exploited directly and boldly to strengthen its influence on countries of that zone. Using not only covert but also overt forms of aggression, it has erected actual barriers to the West preventing it from freely entering Russia’s neighborhood, while by taking the current demarche, it tries to obtain a formal consent from the West on legalizing those barriers as “red lines.”

The explanation of the Russian approach does not offer the Georgian audience anything new. The only thing that changes from one demarche to another is the scale of the approach, actors and concrete factual circumstances of covert or overt aggression. However, compared to any previous case, the foreign-military line pursued by Russia since last November is unprecedented by the scale of

intent and far-reaching implications of the set objective: Russia demands the consent of the West on the recognition of Russian version of Monroe Doctrine in the post-Soviet space. It demands, not requests.

Possible scenarios of further developments are not a topic of this paper; instead, we want to draw your attention to several of those aspects that brought us and our partners to the current crisis.

The key question now, in my opinion, is: What has our joint integration project “done so wrong” that must be necessarily and quickly rectified in order to escape a more severe and damaging consequence for the project?

TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: AS ALWAYS Thus, neither history nor practice tells us anything new about Russia’s “political taste” and way of action. Consequently, it is more interesting to analyze Western elements of equation which has been finally exposed as a result of the recent demarche.

The use of word “equation” is not incidental because I would compare the Western-Russian interaction in the socalled “buffer” neighborhood to a “seesaw” type equation. It is this strange equation that largely causes that dissatisfying uncertainty where Georgia and the West, against specific attention, supporting statements and declarations of concerns from the West, have been moving in parallel with the formal Rubicon of Georgian-Western integration for many years now but have not been able to cross that Rubicon yet.

It seems that Moscow is not very concerned about such “parallelism” between us and the Western partners; this tolerance by Moscow may be also explained by the following: in the conditions of politics that is constantly deficient for

achieving the abovementioned principled and tangible result, Russia expects (expected?) that statements of the West about full and not partial integration with the West will lose a reputational power, while Georgia and other countries that pursue a pro-Western course will get tired of doing never-ending homework for integration. That will make it easier to absorb Russia’s bordering countries into the unrecognized-bythe-West “sphere of influence” of Moscow. The current demarche has added yet another puzzle to this unfavorablefor-us equation: Does Russia think that the time has come for a decisive phase in the process of discreditation of the West and fatigue with the West in Georgian, Ukrainian or other societies? This totally non-rhetorical question requires a practical answer from the West, even more so, today and now. Although it might seem strange, the Russian demarche may have unintentionally, by giving such answer, only accelerated the issue of Georgia and other similar countries stuck in geopolitical uncertainty. If we agree that it has accelerated, it now becomes interesting as to how and with what result.

IMPOSSIBILITY TO STAY LONGER IN A “COMFORT ZONE” Separation of impressive speech and politically effective action has become an ailment of our time and political culture (or lack of culture). In the past few decades, this ailment which is called real politics but in colloquial language “trading,” has gained ground in the field of international relations. We should get used to such transformation of global politics, adjust to it and confront it with our own, national political-diplomatic antidote. We would advise those in the Georgian society who still do not admit it to step aside and clear the way for

Although it might seem strange, the Russian demarche may have unintentionally only accelerated the issue of Georgia and other similar countries stuck in geopolitical uncertainty those who have already realized that universal idealism has been replaced by conjunctural pragmatism, while the politics of values has cleared the way for the geopolitics of influences and interests, even more so, much more openly and unabashedly than ever before.

Such description of the current international arena is, by the way, a direct result of changes that have taken place in Western politics since the first decade of the 2000s, while a number of leaders of the 21st century may claim the coauthorship of the rules of the game.

Continued in next week’s GT and on georgiatoday.ge

6

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY

FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022

Between A Rock And A Hard Place: Alternatives To Partnership For Georgia And Ukraine

Georgian soldiers participate in a NATO training operation. Vano Shlamov/AFP

BY MICHAEL GODWIN

T

he prospect of NATO membership has been a longaftersought goal for many aspiring nations, particularly Ukraine and Georgia.

With its immense national security, economic, and political benefits, the ascent to such an organization would pay dividends for the small embattled nations still facing down the Russian bear. However, in addition to this hurdle, both nations have faced internal social and political strife that further distances the prospect of membership.

Finding a form of middle ground between isolation and NATO integration may become an interim solution for the two. As Poland, Ukraine, and the UK are in the process of entering into a prospective agreement, it is not outside the realm of supposition and possibility that an alliance of the “buffer states” could be beneficial for both its members and NATO and the West. Acting as both a physical and political intermediary, this could also act to deter unnecessary conflict through its own agreements with

both NATO and Russia, or its CSTO. While this idea of being a mediator is good in practice and in the charter of such an organization, it can be surmised that NATO is more likely to warm up to the new alliance than Russia. However, this is not to say that adding a third party may encourage the Kremlin to take a more reasonable stance in its regional relations. As current geopolitics stand at the time of writing, the new alliance may turn into a type of “feeder” organization for NATO, given the leanings of the proposed members.

In examining the new UK-PolandUkraine alliance, this serves as a potential template. Developing both trilateral trade and European security, it also serves as a platform for combined defense for Ukraine in the face of NATO’s hesitancy to make affirmative moves for their eastern neighbor. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba framed its mission given the current state of regional affairs by stating, “We cannot expect safety and prosperity somewhere in the future when we become members of the EU and NATO. We need them today.”

This raises the matter of what the composition of this extra-NATO alliance would be. Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova

would most assuredly be keystone partners in its founding. Adding to this number could be the Baltic States, bringing in a northern component to the alliance.

Together, these are all tied through unified preservation of European unity, seamless trade policy, and combined multiregional defense.

Including this mixture of existing NATO members and NATO aspirants lends itself to becoming a type of “feeder organization.” Not unlike some clubs or schools being feeders to larger or more prominent universities, this could act as a proverbial “purgatory” before elevating to the lofty heights of full NATO membership. This mechanism would, however, dissolve its credibility as being the aforementioned mediator between NATO and Russia’s CSTO. The unity of these three nations, sharing the pain and tragedy of Russian abuse, creates an atmosphere of hope for their peoples. Moldova since 1992, Georgia since 2008, and Ukraine since 2014, also need material, diplomatic, economic, and military support from NATO and the collective West. This organized alliance creates the avenues for that assistance to be channeled in an organized and significant way. In combination, it also allows the otherwise small and easily overlooked nations a larger voice at the table with other larger powers.

By creating this formal connection between NATO and this alliance, the “Black Sea Coalition,” as a working title, also acts as a counter balance to the hefty weight Russia throws around in the region.

Additionally, this extends out of the Black Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean where Russia continues to support the oppressive regime of their latest puppet, Bashar al-Assad. To the East, having this link to Central Asia works as a furtherance of technological and economic development connections with the West.

Poland has pioneered this model, particularly in the words of their Prime

Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki. In speaking with his Ukrainian and UK counterparts, he outlines clearly the strife nations like his deal with, saying, “Living close to a neighbor like Russia, we have the feeling of living at the foot of a volcano.”

Other diplomats of Eastern European nations have echoed this sentiment, displaying the troubles when living within the crosshairs of Putin.

A recent roundtable discussion hosted by the Georgian Institute of Politics covered the role of Georgia within this context. With notable participants such as Nona Mamulashvili and Elene Khoshtaria, the topic of Georgian cooperation with Ukraine and Moldova, given that NATO aspirations seem distant in the political scope, was discussed. Professor Stephen Jones, an expert in Russian and Eurasian studies, expressed a similar sentiment in that Ukraine’s future in regards to Russia is interlinked with Georgia’s relationship with the same. The prospect of EU and NATO membership for Georgia is something Putin cannot accept, and as a result will do everything to prevent from becoming a reality.

Jones noted that while the West has

not been a supremely great ally to Georgia in the past, it is the best chance for socio-political advancement. Georgia is already the only country in the Caucasian region that has any real democratic model in place. In fact, Professor Jones explains that the strongest foreign policy weapon Georgia can wield against the Kremlin is the pursuit of Western model democracy, not only for the betterment of its citizens, but for its own national security interests.

As a result of this, in the larger picture, Ukraine and Georgia’s respective sovereignties are tied to the same dependencies: democracy and Western integration. Uniting these nations, along with Moldova, brings these combined interests under one formal label, strengthens political and economic ties, and establishes concrete defense corridors in the contested Black Sea region. If NATO membership is outside the realm of short-term reality, then an interim alliance can only help to elevate and encourage these nations to fulfill membership requirements as well as advancing domestic and foreign policy for the countries involved.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, right, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson attend their meeting at the Mariinsky Palace in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 1. Source: EPA - EFE/Presidential Press Service

Russia’s Vision of “Limited Sovereignty”

BY EMIL AVDALIANI

M

oscow’s decision to activate CSTO signals the emergence of an entirely new approach in relations between Russia and its immediate neighborhood.

The Kremlin has always argued its special interests in and ties to what once constituted the Soviet space. What Russia struggled with though was to produce a smooth mechanism on how to deal with the neighborhood where revolutionary movements toppled Soviet and post-Soviet era political elites. This happened in Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and recently was attempted in Kazakhstan.

Russia’s responses differed and depended on each specific case, but mostly were based on using separatism in the neighboring states to preclude Westward aspiration. Rarely did Russia get support for its actions from its allies and partners. This created tensions, underlined the lack of legitimacy, and generated acute fear even from relatively friendlier states that Russia one day could turn against them.

But with CSTO activation in Kazakhstan, it seems to be an entirely different matter. Here, Moscow employed an element of multilateralism. It worked, as it seemed to be a group effort, though it

Service members take part in joint military drills for the Collective Security Treaty Organization in Balykchy, Kyrgyzstan, September 2021. Image source:VYACHESLAV OSELDEKO/AFP / GETTY IMAGES

was Russia which pulled the strings and contributed most of the forces sent to Kazakhstan.

CSTO activation is also about something else. It blurred the boundaries between Russia's security and the security of neighboring states. Putin stated the situation in Kazakhstan concerned “us all,” thereby ditching the muchcherished "Westphalian principles" of non-intervention into the internal affairs of the neighboring states. The emerging

Russian vision, therefore, is about applying intervention when security is challenged.

In many ways, Russia always wanted to imitate the US, which in its unipolar moment often resorted to military campaigns to alter the nature of regimes in the Middle East. Liberal internationalism, with an emphasis on human rights, allowed America and its allies to operate with a certain level of legitimacy and moral obligation. Russia lacked such

ideas. Until now. Upholding security and supporting conservative regimes has now turned into Moscow’s official foreign policy tool. Protests in Belarus and Kazakhstan helped the Kremlin streamline this vision.

Since Moscow considers its neighbors unstable, the need for intervention when security is threatened could now serve as a new dogma. It does not mean that the CSTO will exclusively be used in future when it comes to crises along Russian borders. On the contrary, Russia will try to retain maneuverability and versatility in its moves. The CSTO option will be kept as yet another element in “pacifying” its neighborhood.

Tied to upholding security in the neighborhood, Russia also advances the concept of “limited sovereignty,” whereby Moscow allows its neighbors to exercise only a limited level of foreign policy.

Significant maneuverability will be deemed as dangerous, possibly upending Russia’s interests.

More importantly, the events in Kazakhstan also showed that Russia is now officially intent on upholding the conservative-authoritarian regimes. This fits into the broader phenomenon scholars have been arguing recently, of authoritarians helping other authoritarians.

Moscow is essentially exporting its own model abroad, an export which includes essential military and economic help to shore up faltering regimes.

But Moscow does this also for the mul-

tiple opportunities its help would provide. Take, for instance, Belarus, where with Russian help the current leader Lukashenko managed to maintain his position. The end result is Minsk being ever more beholden to Moscow and essentially negating any remnants of multi-vector foreign policy it tried to pursue before 2020.

A similar scenario is now opening up in Kazakhstan. The country, which famously managed to strike a balance between Russia and China and even work with the US, while inviting multiple foreign investors, will now be effectively pursuing a different mode of relations with Moscow that will be similar to the Belarus scenario, short of integration talks. Russia fears crises, but it is learning to benefit from them, and this is the most striking development in Moscow’s foreign policy. In a striking difference how Russia handled Georgia and Ukraine, its ability to navigate Belarus and Kazakhstan and the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict shows evolution.

Russia thus unveils a new vision for its neighborhood. It is essentially a concept of hierarchical order where Russia is at the top of the construct and the neighbors have to abide by specific rules.

Failure to do so will produce a concerted military response.

Emil Avdaliani is a professor at European University and the Director of Middle East Studies at Georgian think-tank, Geocase.

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022

7

It is Much More Than Just Ukraine ANALYSIS BY EMIL AVDALIANI

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war scare in Ukraine is a pivotal moment for the West. It tests the transAtlantic resolve, its unity, and the very foundations of NATO. Failure to prevent a potential Russian military move or unwillingness to cope with if such a move is made will likely result in an accentuation of internal divisions within NATO and the EU. But more importantly, the reluctance and hesitation will impact those which aspire to become members of Western organizations or who see the West as a balancing foreign policy tool against Russian influence. The escalation around Ukraine is being watched by the wider Black Sea region and the South Caucasus states which feel most vulnerable to Russia’s influence. Failure to avert a Russian offensive, and most importantly connivance to Moscow’s effort to scare Kyiv, will have a profound impact on

Inability to prevent Russia’s potential military move into Ukraine will have ramifications far beyond in the South Caucasus and Central Asia

pro-Western Georgia and Moldova, with some significant implications for the Caspian and Central Asia regions.

An aggravating development is that the public debate on the implications of the Ukraine-Russia standoff is largely muted. For instance, few politicians if any openly ponder in Georgia what happens in Ukraine. Reasons vary. The inward-looking manner of Georgian politics is certainly a driver. Second could be a geopolitical motive of avoiding being enmeshed in the struggle, where Tbilisi thinks it might get little benefit. Yet a third reason is the fear of potential Russian reprisal.

Moldova too can do little, and, in fact, the country navigates carefully not to cause Moscow’s ire. Armenia and Azerbaijan are more pre-occupied with solving their border and transport corridor issues. Each does not want to incur a negative Russian response amid ongoing trilateral railway revival negotiations, headed by Moscow, and the West’s relative distancing from the wider South Caucasus, best exemplified by the second Nagorno-Karabakh war.

Further east, in Central Asia, the region benefits from being distant from the Russia-Ukraine conundrum. Here, too, the threat of a Russian response far outweighs the benefits the regional countries could get in case of however vague the diplomatic support they could express toward Kyiv or Moscow. Kazakhstan is especially vulnerable to Russian pressure and is often irritated by nationalistic statements by Russian politicians on the weaknesses of Kazakh statehood.

The Ukraine gambit thus will be giving the Kremlin far bigger momentum than what many an analyst thinks in the West.

It is a version of reasserting influence which goes far beyond Ukraine, and approximately covers what once constituted the Soviet empire. Through potential battering of its western neighbor, Moscow will be sending an example of

Image source: haaretz.com

what might befall any of those neighbors who deviate from the Russian geopolitical agenda.

The invasion of Georgia in 2008, instigation of the separatist war in eastern Ukraine, and the annexation of Crimea in 2014, touched upon the very foundations of the liberal world order. Back then, Russia risked and feared being isolated. Presently, however, the global shifts in power provide a promising setting for Moscow to act. Previously, Moscow was pressuring neighbors to say no to Western aspirations; now Russia demands official guarantees from the Western powers.

Moscow also hopes that the war scare

around Ukraine will be used as a distraction by China to ramp up pressure around Taiwan or perhaps to even aim at something bigger. The China challenge is critical for Washington, and focusing on it makes sense. But the problem is that ignoring the Russian move could actually make the effectiveness of the Chinese policy more traumatic. Increasingly for the US it is a prospect of the two fronts dilemma, not necessarily a military two front, but rather intermittent pressuring on two fronts, which, while it does not evolve into an open conflict, could eventually see a dilution of America’s resolve and push it into some sort of settlement.

Yet a more promising picture too can

be drawn. Russia’s potential move deep into Ukraine could actually produce not only positive sentiments in the West toward Kyiv, but also influence the longterm policy toward the wider Black Sea region. There was a certain stalling of EU/NATO expansion plans. Moreover, along with pure geopolitical motives (Russian military moves) which prevented the enlargement, fatigue with Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova too was evident.

The pressure on Ukraine could be a turning point when morale and pure geopolitical motives coincide and necessitate a more robust Western engagement with the arc of instability along Russian borders. Instability is what Russia feeds on. A stable neighborhood, therefore, is a blockage to the array of Russian tools of influence.

This will be especially opportune for Moldova and Georgia, where ambivalence toward the West’s willingness to engage has never dissipated. Renewed engagement will strengthen these states’ efforts to build liberal democracy. The latter concept is endangered as it is increasingly being ambushed by illiberal and openly anti-liberal forces.

In the longer run, and strangely enough, Russia’s hanging threat strengthens the neighboring nations. True, they are fragile and vulnerable, but constant menacing re-invigorates the national energies of Ukraine and other nations. Modern Ukraine differs from the pre-2014 one.

So too the Central Asian and South Caucasus states. The threat also reanimates the Western resolve. In many ways this is a pivotal moment for the trans-Atlantic community, as critics of NATO might face the insurmountable evidence of the need to keep and strengthen the institution.

Emil Avdaliani is a professor at European University and the Director of Middle East Studies at Georgian think-tank, Geocase.

Political Round-Up: Ministers Reshuffle; France Backs Regional Peace appointed Otar Danelia to the position of Business Ombudsman of Georgia.

Garibashvili met Danelia at the Government Administration and wished him success in his new capacity. He highlighted that support of the private sector is a priority for the national authorities, as facilitation of business is a prerequisite of economic growth and employment in the country.

He then gave specific instructions to the newly-appointed Business Ombudsman and noted that open cooperation with the private sector, few barriers and the least bureaucracy, are essential. The meeting also focused on the significance of greater ease of corporate access to public services.

Otar Danelia was formerly the First Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development.

BY KETEVAN SKHIRTLADZE

M

any political events unfolded during the week, kicking off with the presidents of Georgia and Poland, Salome Zurabishvili and Andrzej Duda, expressing solidarity with Ukraine.

Polish President Andrzej Duda, who was on a transit visit to Tbilisi on his way to Beijing, held a press conference together with President Zurabishvili, seeing the two expressing solidarity with Ukraine, stressing the need to de-escalate the situation, and thanking each other for the information exchanged.

President Zurabishvili said that “those aggressive actions and threats, cyberattacks, excessive increase of military forces on the border with Ukraine or the intensification of forces on the Black Sea, are signs of the extent to which Russian policy has turned to provocation.”

“Georgia has a bit of a tragic experience with Russia – our joint consultations are very important,” President Duda noted.

SAAKASHVILI CALLS OUT BIDZINA In Tbilisi, the trial of the third President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, is ongoing. This week, in response to Georgia’s noticeable lack of support voiced for Ukraine, Saakashvili sang the Ukrainian national anthem in the courtroom, and went on to address Bidzina Ivanishvili, "You made the wrong move betting on

FRANCE AND RUSSIA Putin’s victory.” He went on to question the fact that Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Minister of Foreign Affairs Davit Zalkaliani contracted Coronavirus at a time when the situation in Ukraine was tense.

“Garibashvili got infected with Covid when Andrzej Duda was coming. He can talk to Salome Zurabishvili about the weather, but she doesn’t decide anything.

He demanded a meeting with the Prime Minister, but Garibashvili disappeared, saying he was infected with Covid.

“Then, when the UK Foreign Minister was about to call, Zalkaliani contracted Covid. As if he could not speak while ill.

Then they said ‘let’s talk at the deputy

level,’ but all four were busy.

“In short, you completely failed in this situation,” Saakashvili told Ivanishvili, adding that Georgia is “completely alone against possible Russian aggression.”

The convicted ex-president left his trial early, having pleaded innocent and claiming that his verdict “has been decided in advance by the founder of the Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili.”

A RESHUFFLE Mid-week, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Natia Turnava, surprised the country by handing in her resignation.

“I want to change my field, try another.

Of course, I remain a loyal member of our team,” Turnava said.

Turnava was replaced by former Minister of Agriculture, Levan Davitashvili.

Otar Shamugia, Davitashvili’s former deputy, has been appointed as his replacement, nominated for the post by the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili.

“It is a great honor and responsibility for me to serve my country with a very strong team and contribute to the development of both the environment and agriculture,” Shamugia said.

A NEW BUSINESS OMBUDSMAN PM Irakli Garibashvili this week

In international news, President of France, Emmanuel Macron, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

There, Macron emphasized that the independence and sovereignty of Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova must be protected.

“We need processes based on transparency, de-escalation. We must build security by respecting the sovereignty and independence of states that are not members of the European Union or NATO but are located in the region.

Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova are countries, the sovereignty and independence of which we must respect, as this is also part of our collective security,” Macron said after meeting with Putin.

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BUSINESS

GEORGIA TODAY

FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022

Carrefour Launches 10 Days of Love Campaign to Reward Customers with Romantic Prizes loyalty programme – MyCLUB, to ensure that they are earning all their points.

The 10 Days of Love promotion will also offer customers the opportunity to win several prizes from local and international brands. To be in with a chance to win, customers should simply redeem their MyCLUB points while paying.

The first Carrefour hypermarket opened in Tbilisi Mall in 2012 and, since then, the brand has continues to provide its customers with unrivalled shopping experiences, competitive prices, and the highest quality of fresh products.

Throughout these 10 years of operation in the Georgian market, Carrefour has been at the forefront of serving customers’ best interests and providing them with unbeatable value.

The brand has celebrated many milestones over the past 10-years including

C

arrefour, owned and operated by Majid Al Futtaim in Georgia, continues to celebrate 10 years of serving Georgian communities.

As part of the celebrations, Carrefour is extending its anniversary rewards by running a romance themed ’10 Days of Love’ campaign for Valentine’s Day. This 10-day campaign follows on from a 10-day raffle held in January which gave customers the opportunity to win exciting

prizes from 10 international brands.

As part of the 10 Days of Love campaign, Carrefour has launched a grand raffle in partnership with MasterCard.

From 10 - 20 February, customers visiting any Carrefour store will have the chance to win a two-day trip for two people to Lopota Spa Resort in Kakheti.

Trip winners will be treated to a luxurious welcome which included access to an indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi, saunas and a high-end fitness centre. Win-

the expansion of its cutting-edge in-store and innovative digital offerings; the establishment of international shopping experiences in Georgia; self-service cash desks for safe and flexible shopping during the pandemic; its own home delivery service; as well as the MyCLUB loyalty programme. Alongside these, Carrefour has supported its communities by prioritising job creation and economic contribution through the employment of more than 2,500 Georgians.

Carrefour is a customer-centric brand focused on providing comprehensive tech-driven services and experiences at all levels. The physical and digital expansion of the brand actively continues, and Carrefour is expected to offer ever more innovative products to its loyal customers, aiming to improve the living conditions of the communities it serves.

ners will also be able to cycle around Lake Lopota and enjoy the well-preserved natural environment of Kakheti with their loved ones.

To take part in the raffle, customers should shop in any Carrefour store and pay for their purchases using a MasterCard credit or debit card. They must check then their receipt to see if they are the lucky winners of the two-day trip to Lake Lopota. Customers are also encouraged to make the most of Carrefour’s

Georgian Wine Export up 51% in January 2022

In April, 2 New Ships to Start Operating in BakuTurkmenbashi-Baku Direction

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ith the involvement of the Georgian Railway, the transport connection between Europe and Asia has increased, reports Georgian Railway.

In April, two new container ships will start operating in the Baku-TurkmenbashiBaku direction. Along with the number of ships, the number of weekly flights will also double when the weather is appropriate in the Caspian Sea. Shipping Georgian Railway subsidiary GR Logistics and Terminals, Turkish company Pacific Eurasia Logistics, Azer-

baijani company “ADY Conteiner,” the Turkmen Transport-Logistics Center, Uzbek company “Uzbekemiroyl-Expedition” and the Kyrgyz Railway Operator will jointly implement the connection.

The first ship on this route has been operating since April 2019 and has transported 17,500 containers. The strengthening of this union in the Caspian Sea serves to meet the growing demand for container shipping between the countries.

In 2021, compared to 2020, the volume of freight traffic on the route increased by 101%.

BY ANA DUMBADZE

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eorgia exported 5.3 million bottles of wine to 35 countries in January 2022, 51% more compared to the same period last year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental

Protection announced on Tuesday.

Based on the same source, the exports generated $11.6 million from the sale of wine abroad in January, marking an increase of 43%.

“Dynamics of export growth are maintained in strategic markets, where in order to promote and increase awareness of Georgian wine, the National Wine Agency implements marketing measures: Poland

103%, China 514%, Lithuania 114%, USA 245%, Latvia 22%, Estonia 102%, Japan 482%, and the United Kingdom 35%.

“Growth is also noticeable in the following countries: Ukraine 93%, Kazakhstan 106%, the Netherlands 74%, Sweden 234%, Russia 34%, Mongolia 23%, etc.

“12,123 companies exported different amounts of wine from Georgia,” reported the state agency.

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022

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The Day of David the Builder BLOG BY ROIN METREVELI, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE GEORGIAN NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ACADEMICIAN

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n January 26 (February 8 in the new style) the day commemorating the great political figure of Georgia, King David IV “the Builder” (1073-1125) is celebrated.

The 12th century saw Georgia politically united and achieving great success, and is otherwise known as the country’s "Golden Age." During that Golden Age, the state of Georgia expanded significantly - from Nikopsia to Daruband and from Ossetia to Aragats. King David took care of political, economic, cultural, ecclesiastical, military, and judicial advancements, making Georgia the strongest state in the Middle East.

Georgian kings are known by various nick-names: the Fool, the Small, the Devoted, the Brilliant, the Bad-tempered, etc., and yet David was the only one in the history of Georgia to be honored with the title “The Builder.” As king of the country, “he flourished and built; he was God-fearing and God-loving; he was merciful to the poor, widows and orphans; he was helper of the sick; the builder

of churches and hospitals..."

(Batonishvili Vakhushti, Description of the Kingdom of Georgia, Life of Kartli, IV, Tbilisi, 1973, p.

163).

From the 1080s, he, as king, was able to mobilize a fragmented population, defeat the enemy, and set the country on the path of reconstruction. This was followed by great transformations, among them political, economic, and cultural revivals. Of particular importance was the founding of the Gelati Academy in 1106. David IV, was thus recognized as a builder by his contemporaries and descendants, and was canonized, with January 26 (February 8) set as the day of his remembrance.

King David took measures to centralize and strengthen the country: In 1110, he took control over Samshvilde, 1115 - Rustavi, 1117 - Kish, and 1118 - Lori Fortress.

In 1118-19, he settled the Kipchaks and grew the army. On August 12, 1121, he achieved the greatest victory at Didgori - defeating a strong coalition army of Muslims. The subjugation of the old capital of Georgia and other cities was, in fact, a continuation of the Battle of Didgori: "In the second year (1122), the King took the city of Tbilisi. By the first war, it had been under the rule of the Persians for four hundred years, and David thus took it and established it as a household and a house for his children forever." (Life of Kartli,

Tbilisi, 2008, p. 326).

After the Battle of Didgori, almost all the lands of the South Caucasus, international trade routes, and cities came within the borders of Georgia. The government, in its religious policy, pursued the principle of freedom of religion - tolerance of law, which was very unusual for that period. David the Builder liberated Shirvan (1123) and Ani (1124). His actions "calmed the country ... filled and rebuilt everyone."

The king's writings includes his original work "the Canon of Repentance," which is a medieval cultural, aesthetic, ideological belief, and at the same time is a monument expressing Christian human sorrow. The multifaceted events carried out by David the Builder (also known as "King of the Abkhazians, Georgians, Rans, Kakhs, Armenians, Sharvansha and Shahansha") contributed to the success of Georgia and made it an internationally recognized state.

2023 marks the 950th anniversary of the birth of the great Georgian politician, the "Sword of Messiah," King David IV the Builder. I deeply believe that this date will be celebrated with dignity by Georgian society, government and relevant agencies, our Orthodox Apostolic Church, and everything will be done to see the anniversary of David the Builder widely celebrated around the world.

Image source: archive.gov.ge

Selector PRO International Music Forum 5 is Back! Live-Streaming this February

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n 2021, British Council Ukraine and Music Export Ukraine went digital for Selector PRO, and the format worked so well it decided to go digital again in 2022. Selector PRO, Ukraine’s longest running music educational and networking forum, is turning 5 this year. Musicians and industry reps from the UK, Europe and Central Asia, mark the date, 18-19 February 2022, for an intensive schedule of professional talks, workshops and priceless networking opportunities.

Attending Selector PRO is, as always, free-of-charge, but organizers do ask you to register prior to kick-off.

2021 was another challenging year for music industry professionals, but one that also held the promise of real industry-wide transformation. Lockdowns continued to hinder the live music sector with new restrictions and event cancellations, pushing artists to reconsider and diversify their income streams just to stay afloat. Elsewhere, growing music digitalization opportunities continued to give artists a cause to focus on their ownership rights and royalties. Streaming revenues are still low for many, and a large number of voices in the music industry are calling out for alternative approaches to be explored. Successful lobbying has meant some governments are starting to reconsider the current models of music streaming revenue distribution, which could potentially see an increase in payouts for artists themselves. We’ve yet to see where all these will lead, but it’s a positive step that the rights of artists and songwriters have become more of a priority during the past 12 months.

It’s not the first turbulent year, and the

industry has been actively working throughout 2021 on pandemic damage assessment. With this year’s forum moto ‘The Ever-changing New Normal’ we are shifting our focus from the more well-known issues and trends like digitalization and online presence, towards those which we feel will become more relevant in future.

This year’s forum is rooted in realworld industry issues, but committed to staying a step ahead of what’s coming down the line. We’re calling on the strength of the music community, its hard-won experience and record of mutual support, to do the work of defining “The Ever-changing new normal” on our terms. What does that mean?

Simply, that Selector PRO 5 is bringing together dozens of industry professionals from the UK, Europe and Central Asia to tackle the big ongoing and upcoming industry questions.

What will it look like? The Selector PRO forum will have 8 moderated panels covering a range of music industry topics. The UK’s Jane Beese from The Factory and Manchester International Festival will be joined by the UK’s Paul McGivern of Playbook Artists and Beril Sarıaltun from Turkey’s My City My Voice project to discuss the pandemic years’ effect on the industry, and share their positive experiences with successful case studies and remote collaborations over the previous two years. Donna Close from the UK’s 5G Festival will discuss recent industry advances that produce engaging hybrid events. She’ll be joined by Ukraine’s Anton Volovyk from Reface, who will talk about how artists can better engage and entertain an audience. The UK’s Jyoty, a DJ from

Rinse FM, will team up with the UK’s Ellie Giles from Step Music Management and Ukraine’s Anastasiya Babicheva from Masterskaya and psychologist Vera Kravchenko to tackle the topic of dealing with internet-based hate.

Shauni Caballero of the UK’s Go 2 Agency will lead the workshop of a topic of immediate impact considering the boom in the digital music market, that of copyright issues. She’ll shed light on issues like protecting your work and getting paid, the “rule book” of creative online content, and what to do when a third party uses your work without permission. We’ll also sit in on what promises to be a wide-ranging conversation between delegates from two of the most wildly distinct music markets imaginable: the UK’s Jon Dunn from Parallel Lines and Georgia’s Giorgi Kikonishvili from Electronauts / Bassiani / Horoom Nights. They’ll be talking about how they build their teams, their methods, how they’ve managed to survive the past two

years and what drives DIY music in their countries. Claire O'Neill of the UK’s Greener Festival and Chair of the Green Group for the Association for Electronic Music will be joined by Feimatta Conteh, Environmental Sustainability Manager for the UK’s Manchester International Festival and Ukrainian musical activist Vera Logdanidi of Rhythm Büro to lead a talk on the role of the industry in confronting climate change. They will discuss what artists and audiences can do to better contribute to a more sustainable music sector and workable solutions for systemic change through artistry.

And if that isn’t yet enough, we’ll also be looking at new approaches to collaboration, effective time management, the challenge of online teambuilding, audience engagement, monetization in the online space, and much more.

The Selector PRO conference will take place in an easy-to-use online platform providing a handful of features such as networking environment, interactive

workshops and discussions, 1:1 matchmaking rooms, and a resource library to watch streams again.

Plus, you can’t gripe about the price.

The Selector PRO digital forum is freeof-charge with prior registration. The forum is free. To attend all you need to do is to register here https://forms.office. com/r/kHK6jjsKfv Prior to the start of the event, you’ll receive your login details and instructions on how to navigate the online meeting space.

— Selector PRO is a program of professional-level events run by the British Council in Ukraine since 2017. It is designed to enhance exchange between the British and Ukrainian professional music sectors, support the development of emerging industry talent, and promote effective music industry business practices.

The British Council is the UK’s international organization for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. Using the UK’s cultural resources, we make a positive contribution to the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

Music Export Ukraine is an independent initiative formed to assist Ukrainian artists establish international contacts, promote their creative work, and develop their talent and career globally. The core tasks of the initiative include artist consultation, presentation of the best local talents at international business-focused events, collaborative projects, and international exchange programs.

10

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY

FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022

The Little Things, Again you for life and make you despise the season and its precipitation, hate and fear both.

It is with no feeling of smugness that I enjoy winter, no superiority. I haven’t lived through the worst that the cold months can bring, or lost home or loved ones to that time. I am merely glad that I, while no winter sportsman, can revel in the simple, small beauty which comes in silence, turns the local world monochrome (greens and then all-hued flowers will explode in spring), shows me how many different forms water’s frozen versions can take, and makes me glad to notice them. They are so fleeting, so delicate, so pure white or clear as crystal: an otherworldly clarity.

All I can do is marvel, and try to capture in photographs what I am both seeing and experiencing. For now, this is late winter in Upper Svaneti. The seasons bracketing it are both so colorful that its blacks, grays and whites are a welcome contrast. And summer in the lowlands, while tending to the dry browns and yellows of drying-out, up here continues the themes of spring’s prelude anyway.

Winter is simply unique.

BLOG BY TONY HANMER

T

he low temperature here outside for tonight (as I write this) is 1 degree warmer than the low in my bedroom when I lived in Ushguli for two winters from 2007-2009.

I had the best, closest to hibernation, sleeps of my whole life at -4 degrees C, though, so I wasn’t complaining. Winter has gone mild again, which is fine.

The snow, however, is a different story.

As I look out of the house’s living room windows to the north, it’s been flaking down and building up on the fences all day; the same is forecast for tomorrow.

Again, for the thousandth time, I am deeply grateful that the house we bought had an unpainted roof, one of corrugated galvanized metal sheets, off of which the snow has always slid, sooner or later, saving us the huge job of shoveling it off multiple times per winter just so it won’t collapse under the extra weight!

The combination of this specific weather (snowfall, mild temperature and no wind) is allowing the snow to build up on those fences in ways which stun me speechless with their texture and beauty. They resemble nothing so much as waves crashing over, but fittingly frozen to a complete stop. I go out to photograph them in black and white, as the colors are all but gone anyway and would only distract from form and very soft, detail-defining lighting. No point in waiting until the flakes stop coming down: if I risked doing so,

the wind might pick up, or the melt accelerate, and what I am delighting in seeing might simply disintegrate. Instead, I take a few frames of each scene without moving the camera, and will combine the individual shots’ sets of descending flakes into one to suggest the amount actually coming down.

Not everyone can rejoice as I do in this

much snow coming down. In many ways, it IS more of a curse than a blessing for most people here. They DO have the painted, snow-sticky roofs, and must rescue them time and time again from potentially crushing weight. And many of them are old enough to remember that catastrophic winter of the late 1980s in Georgia, about which I have written

a few times already. It was about three weeks of unrelenting snow, and people had to clean their roofs off in three shifts of eight hours every day. Thye had to TUNNEL out of their houses to their barns to try to give the livestock food and water. Such experiences are the opposite of the little things: The Big Things which can scar and traumatize

Her Royal Majesty OP-ED BY NUGZAR B. RUHADZE

S

he is not only the world’s longest reigning, most p o p u l a r, w i d e l y respected and universally famous monarch, but also a superb mother of four children, beloved grandmother of eight beautiful grandchildren and caring great-grandmother to twelve wonderful great-grandchildren.

The darling of the public, at 95, she is still an epitome of health, vigor, action and quick decision-making.

This is the year of her platinum jubilee, and I could not help but try to give my most elevated kudos and homage to her.

The world press and electronic media are literally full to the brim with stories about this greatest English lady of all time, not to mention books and albums and movies of her long and eventful life. This tiny story of mine will not even be noticed in the ocean of information about the Buckingham lioness, but I still want to have it out, especially because I was among the crowd in front of her London palace in 1977 when Great Britain was celebrating her silver jubilee. Almost half a century has passed since that evanescently happy instant of my life, but all is still alive in my nowsenescent memory: fabulous traditional pageantry, slowly passing through the streets of London, the royal hand-waving from golden baroque carriages, the cavalcade of well-groomed and trained horses, the exalted public from all over the world, loudly and excitedly greeting the eminent sovereign and her regally proud and noticeably complacent entou-

rage, the purely British male outfit and female garments of the time when monarchs were actual rulers of the nation, the overall mood of celebration and sincere unity of the attending people to show their love, benevolence and genuine human curiosity in Elizabeth the Second, who assumed the throne at the age of 25 in 1952, and since then has carried the imperial crown and scepter with majestic dignity and state integrity. Incidentally, she was happily relaxing in the lap of Kenyan flora and fauna when she heard the news of the king’s passing, and Princess Lilibet (as dad, George VI, called her in childhood) returned to England as Queen Elizabeth.

Marking the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne is not just an event of national importance, but a significant international affair of high consequence.

Being head of state of the spacious Commonwealth of 54 states, Her Majesty has extensively trotted the globe and scoured through the native lands with purposes benefitting both the world and her own kingdom. The Queen has broken every possible record of reign in history unless my memory is failing me. Her role is highly appreciated in the political, cultural and social progress of humankind, and it is heartbreaking to recognize that in the duration of those 70 years of her dazzlingly stupendous time in power, some of the members of her extended family have hurt her feelings with the unbecoming model of their behavior, totally incompatible with her image and royal presence.

Unbelievably, Elizabeth Windsor was born in a regular London townhouse. Who could have known then that someday in the

near future she would become an active member of the British Armed Forces? She was betrothed to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1947, having received, as they say, 2500 wonderful gifts from their well-wishers. The couple spent 73 years in happy royal togetherness. Notably, there were 10,000 pearls on her wedding gown, imported from the US, whose designer described it as the most beautiful dress he had ever made. Queen Elizabeth has inaugurated and put in 11 Downing Street fourteen primeministers of the United Kingdom.

Being known as a lady of utmost order and law, I was surprised to learn that she’s the only person in the UK allowed to drive without a license, although at the end of the Second World War, she would drive big trucks, having the qualification of a military mechanic. Speaking about her hobbies, she has quite a lot of them. According to the available information, she owns an elephant, two giant turtles, a jaguar, and a pair of sloths among her beloved corgis, and who knows what else.

The hundreds of pages I have read about Her Majesty could have given birth to uncountable curious facts and thousands of words, quenching our thirst to know more about her truly outstanding personality, but it would make no sense – all is readily available on the internet. This piece is merely a personal emotional attempt not to let the platinum jubilee pass unnoticed on my part. Now I know that I have done my best to congratulate the Grande Dame of our times on the 70th anniversary of her famous coronation, and wish her many Queen Elizabeth II. Source: Wikimedia more.

Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with nearly 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/ groups/SvanetiRenaissance/ He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti

CULTURE

GEORGIA TODAY FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2022

11

On the Works of Marjory Wardrop. Part I Fleece and eloped with him to Greece...

Brother and sister would certainly share Lord Byron’s sorrow for the Colchian Medea:

BY INNES MERABISHVILI

A

s the Head of the Chair of Translatology with MA and PhD programs at Tbilisi State University, I have been promoting for decades a comparative analysis of translated versions and their original texts. From this point of view, the most distinguished piece is Rustaveli’s XII century poem “The Knight in the Tiger’s Skin”. There are five English versions of the poem and all of them deserve due attention and appreciation, though the winner, in my opinion, is Marjory Wardrop. To tell more about this talented and devoted lady, I prefer to offer in parts the text of the Foreword that I wrote for the following book: Shota Rustaveli, The Man in the Panther’s Skin, translated by Marjory Scott Wardrop, Rustaveli 850 Publishing House, publisher Guram Akhalaia, Tbilisi, 2019.

PART I Once upon a time, “many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea... a maiden there lived whom you may know by the name of Marjory Wardrop. She was young, beautiful, very talented, wellread and well-mannered, as a real princess should be, though she did not descend from a noble family. She was blessed with loving parents and a no less loving brother, her greatest friend, named Oliver, who was five years senior to her.

Brother and sister were brought up in a happy atmosphere of love and friendship. They spent their childhood in Scotland and southern England which endowed them with special admiration for nature and its moving scenes. The children, who at an early age became voracious readers of travellers’ tales, were especially fascinated by the story of the Argonauts. Their minds and emotions travelled together with the ship Argo that sailed from Greece to the Kingdom of Colchis, located on the Black Sea Coast in Western Georgia. Their hearts were thrilled by Medea’s sufferings and tragedy, as she fell in love with Jason, helped him to obtain the Golden

O, how I wish that an embargo Had kept in port the good ship Argo! .......................................................

But now I fear her trip will be a Damn’d business for my Miss Medea.

When the ship Argo floated from Iolcus to Colchis, the ominous wing-beats of a huge eagle were heard by the Argonauts with Jason. Flattering her enormous wings that bird of prey flew to the Caucasian mount where Prometheus was nailed on a crag in today’s Georgia. The bird would rip open his flesh and tear his liver.

Later, Oliver and Marjory would also learn that the Georgian mythological tale about Amirani corresponded to the myth about Prometheus. It has been shown that the legend of Amirani originated in the latter half of the second millennium before Christ. That ancient legend found its way to Greece where it became known as Prometheus. Prometheus and Medea, that are of Georgian origin, were universally spread as uniquely impressive figures through their Grecian versions and Greek civilization as a whole.

Besides the heartbreaking myths, brother and sister would definitely come across those rare but impressive comments on Georgia by different authors, e. g. Edward Gibbon: “It is in the adjacent climates of Georgia, Mingrelia (apparently Edward Gibbon considered Mingrelia as a separate land, though it has always been one of the western regions of Georgia), and Circassia, that nature has placed, at least to our eyes, the model of beauty, in the shape of limbs, the colour of the skin, the symmetry of the features, and the expression of the countenance: the men are formed for action, the women for love!” They would also know that young Lord Byron referred to Georgia as to “beauty’s native clime” and planned to visit it. In “Lalla Rookh” Thomas Moore described the Georgian maids and natural hot springs in Teflis, though the above mentioned authors had never reached Georgia. Among those

men of letters, who experienced a long journey to Georgia and depicted it in their writings, Alexandre Dumas (père) was to be distinguished. In his book “Voyage au Caucase” (1859), that comprises over 400 pages including itinerary, map and illustrations, one can find not only well-investigated and presented history of the country but scrupulous accounts of personalities, life and customs. Besides, Dumas is to be appreciated for the following emotive estimation: “Greece is Galatea of marble, Georgia is Galatea alive.” No doubt Marjory and Oliver read Dumas in French, the language they spoke fluently as far as the English translation of its short version appeared in London only in 1952.

Time passed and the charming siblings grew older. With them grew stronger the desire to see the world and visit the fabulous land of Georgia. Most probably, that ambition, together with profound education at Oxford, encouraged Oliver to become a successful career diplomat.

As for Marjory, her contemporary attitude towards women’s education in the UK was not duly favorable. It was only in 1869 (the year of Marjory’s birth), that nine women sat down to take their exams at the University of London where the first female students in Britain were admitted for studies. Ten years later, two women’s colleges came to be established in Oxford, followed by one more in 1886 and another in 1893. Regretfully the Wardrop family never shared the progressive initiative and gave priority to their son’s university education only.

The same could be said about travels that opened prospects mostly to men.

Here is what Marjory wrote: “If I had been a man, I should have run away long ago and seen the world. You cannot think how rebellious against my situation I often feel... Nobody seems to understand that the soul strives and longs for something more than a well-built house and good things to eat.”

It was the English tradition that encouraged young gentlemen to explore the world after graduating from universities.

At the age of twenty-three, Oliver set off on a “grand tour” and after France and Italy finally reached Georgia, the land of his dream. Oliver diligently studied

Marjory Wardrop in Georgian dress

the Georgian way of life, its history and traditions, and met the leading figures of the nation. As a result of his travels, he produced an impressive book “The Kingdom of Georgia” that he published in London in 1888 on his return. “Georgia’s chief attraction lies in its people.

The Georgians are not only fair to look upon, but they are essentially a loveable people... To live among such gay, openhearted, open-handed, honest, innocent folk is the best cure for melancholia and misanthropy that could well be imagined,” – this is how Oliver accepted Georgia.

Oliver’s book and the stories on Georgia, personally shared with his sister, provoked contagious emotions for Marjory. Her untiring desire to comprehend Georgia and its people soon proved to be the main idea of her life. Marjory, who had spent only two years at school and was educated at home, was exceptionally knowledgeable and spoke several foreign languages, decided to learn the

Georgian language and literature. She started with the unique Georgian alphabet and the Gospel, with the help of provided dictionaries, and soon gained great success in her studies. Still more noteworthy is the fact that in those times there were no English-Georgian dictionaries at all. But Marjory would consult the Georgian-French-Russian dictionary

by M. Brosset and D. Chubinashvili (Chubinov), published in 1840, as she was fluent both in French and Russian.

Here, the spirit of enterprise won and Marjory made up her mind to compile an English-Georgian dictionary on her own. Today, that unaccomplished glossary in Marjory’s handwriting comprises only 1000 entries, but has full right to be acknowledged as the first English-Georgian dictionary. As for Marjory, she undoubtedly is the first lexicographer on English and Georgian languages.

To be continued in next week’s GT and on georgiatoday.ge.

Computer Game Didgori to be Created with Ministry of Culture Funding

BY ANA DUMBADZE

W

ith the funding of the Ministry of Culture, the computer game ‘Didgori’ is being created, the presentation of which took place today – on the day of King Davit Aghmashenebeli.

According to the Georgian Ministry of

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GEORGIA TODAY

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Culture, the Celestial Dimension’s project won the competition for “Georgian culture, history and mythology popularization.”

The Ministry announced the competition on the 900th anniversary of the Didgori Battle, considering the growing interest in digital media among youngsters in the 21st century.

The project, which revives the historical and strategic battle of Didgori, will be launched in May. Historian Mikheil

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Bakhtadze contributed to the creation of this computer game.

Based on historical sources, the Battle of Didgori was fought between the armies of the Kingdom of Georgia and the Great Seljuq Empire at Didgori, 40 km west of Tbilisi, on August 12, 1121. The large Muslim army, under the command of Ilghazi, was unable to maneuver in the narrow gorge, and suffered a devastating defeat due to King David IV of Georgia’s effective military tactics.

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