Taklama

After the death of People's Assembly member Yuri Kereselidze on November the 1st, the resulting by-election for the Chuburxinji constituency was held Sunday the 9th of January. It was won by Ruslan Kishmaria, the President's special representative for the Gali district. Kishmaria has long been seen as a moderate figure …

Uncertain Democracy: U.S. Foreign Policy and Georgia's Rose Revolution

Lincoln A. Mitchell

University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia
December 2008
192 pages
ISBN: 978-0-8122-4127-3

Georgia's November 2003 Rose Revolution has been a popular subject for articles, analyses and opinion pieces. Most of these appear well-timed for the yearly November anniversary …

Under Siege: Inter-Ethnic Relations in Abkhazia

Tom Trier, Hedvig Lohm, and David Szakonyi

Hurst & Company, London
September 2010
160 pages
ISBN: 978-1-84904-020-4

(co-published by Columbia University Press, ISBN: 978-0-231-70130-3)

The casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that after the exodus of much of Abkhazia's Georgian community in September 1993 …

In President Saakashvili's own words, on Monday the 21st:

"It is said about me that I love exaggerating."

Quite right. For example, Saakashvili has frequently predicted rose-coloured futures for Georgia's economy. And so he went again last Monday:

"I have recently been in Dubai and I want to tell you …

When a large number of senior members of the Abkhazian military was sent into retirement late April, this caused some speculation as to whether this wasn't in reality a purge, and if so, whom this purge was directed against. One option was that Minister of Defence Mirab Kishmaria had removed …

Abkhazia's embassy in Moscow has officially been opened on May the 17th. Apart from the relevant Abkhazian and Russian officials, the ceremony was also attended by the heads of the diplomatic missions of Nicaragua, South Ossetia, and... Syria. Past experience teaches that this should probably not be seen as an …

The opposition Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia (FNUA) has elected Raul Khajimba as its new Chairman during its annual congress on May the 12th. Khajimba's association with the FNUA dates back to its foundation in February 2005 - it was founded to unite the various movements and parties that …

On the 3rd of May, Albert Hovsepyan announced that on account of his old age (72), he was retiring as Vice Speaker of the People's Assembly of Abkhazia. This news has received very little media attention, but it is potentially significant, since Hovsepyan is probably the most important Armenian politician …

The Georgian parliament may be moving in the direction of formally recognising the Circassian genocide perpetrated by Tsarist Russia in the 19th century. This genocide took place around the year 1864, the official end of the 50 year Caucasus war that more or less concluded Russia's conquest of the Caucasus …

What started as a brawl following a Georgian TV talk show has taken a definite turn for the surreal now that one of the central figures in the controversy has fled to Tskhinval , of all places. Even before this latest development, the situation was quite confusing.

The TV station in …