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Walking through peace and diversity
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Author: By Nino Gelashvili
With the goal to raising the awareness of young educators about the importance of intercultural education, the Alliance for Society Advancement (ASA) has organized an international informative and educational seminar for young educators in Tbilisi.
“As the world becomes more and more diverse, learning to integrate cultural similarities and differences among different societies is critical. That’s why we have invited young people from around Europe”, said Nona Balavadze, the organizer of the workshop.
25 participants from different European countries exchanged their own experiences and analyzed the situations in their countries.
“We have civil rights problem in any country of the world,” said Mikhail Khomin, from Russia, “We have some problems also. I am from a little town, a suburb of St. Petersburg called Gatchina. It has one of the most interesting ethnic communities… We have several Roma people. I mean we have a bit of a crime situation with them, and for us it’s quite a big problem trying to address this issue.”
His people do not know the values of the Roma community and does not try to invite them to be part of the Russian community. “You also have some Roma people here in Tbilisi. So for me it’s interesting to see how other [people] handle this kind of situation,” Mikhail added.
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Who is telling the truth? Alasania or Dmitrov?
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Author: By Archil Sikharulidze
At the special briefing on March 20, Irakli Alasania, leader of Our Georgia-Free Democrats, which is part of the Bidzina Ivanishvili-led opposition coalition called the Georgian Dream, announced that the Georgian government is preparing armed paramilitary groups to be used in case of defeat in the parliamentary elections of 2012. Three weeks later the EU ambassador to Tbilisi, Philip Dimitrov, Head of the EU delegation in Georgia was a guest on the TV show ‘Direct Talk’ hosted by journalist Eka Beridze on the opposition-minded Maestro TV. On the same day, the Georgian news agency Interpressnews published a piece emphasizing that the EU ambassador considers the talks regarding paramilitary groups as fiction. The next day, Alasania accused Interpressnews of spreading misinformation and for the misinterpretation of Dmitrov’s words. All these developments confused many, leading them to ask where was the truth?
According to Alasania, the Georgian government is gathering armed paramilitary groups in the Western part of the country, particularly in Samegrelo, to use them in civil clashes. The clashes he believes, are likely to take place if the national movement loses the parliamentary elections in October, 2012. Alasania sent the documentations to the Georgian Security Council and warned foreign diplomats to carefully research the issue.
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Brussels-Tbilisi: the endless strive towards zero
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Author: By Zaza Jgharkava
Last week, the Russian Communists were protesting against the opening of the NATO base in Ulyanovsk. The issue of the mythical NATO base became the topic of discussions when Russia’s newly elected president Vladimir Putin had to make an appearance at the Russian Duma. The issue of Ulyanovsk and the protest of Russian Communists did not go unnoticed by Georgian experts. Unlike Putin, they linked this issue to the political arrangement between NATO and Russia made at the expense of Georgia’s vital interests.
The link between the Ulyanovsk issue and the sacrifice of Georgia’s vital interests became more acute after President Saakashvili was denied the Membership Action Plan (MAP) in Brussels once again.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said to Mikheil Saakashvili NATO could not make new decisions on Georgia in Chicago and that cooperation would continue in the old format, or in other words, in the framework of the Annual Action Plan and not in the framework of the Roadmap.
Later, officials in Tbilisi stated that Georgia would not fulfill its obligations with regard to the Georgia-Russia “Open Sky” agreement.
This coincidence is strange, as Russia left the agreement 4 years ago due to the “independence” of the occupied territories; though the Georgian side recalled the fact only after the denial of MAP.
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