"A CHRISTMAS STORY FROM TBILISI", by Mickey Rorgk
mickey...@yahoo.com
aka "Down and out in NE Washington DC vs. Running with the Opposition
in Tbilisi"
http://mickey.rorgk.tripod.com/XmasTbilisi.html
[warning: this is fictional satire in all respects]
by Mickey Rorgk
email: mickey...@yahoo.com
"Dear Spyderco Knife Company,"
First, let me introduce myself, I am Mickey Rorgk of Charleston, SC.
I am an occasional adviser to community rights neighbourhood
organizations just outside of Tbilisi, Georgia now. The local urban
village residents are extremely worried about the high volume of
American Mormon missionaries here, and do not trust them. But that is
another story, which I will get to in just a short while.
Emphatically, I'd like to thank all of you in the home office for your
Spyderco credit-card-encased kommando knife. It is ideal for
concealment within a side pant's pocket, and it is exactly the size
and nearly the thickness of a normal credit card or ATM card, as you
state in your catalogues. The attractive silvery stainless steel
frame is elegant and does not attract attention from security guards,
pedestrians, nor tourists, when by accident one pulls it out of their
pocket, rather than just the usual keys or coins, as intended. Any
unexpected witnesses to what you are holding in your hand think simply
that you are merely the lucky possessor of a thin and becoming high
quality credit card case, to protect your coveted bank cards, and
nothing more.
But to the assailant or perpetrator who crosses your path with ill
intent, it is another matter. I had to sleep overnight in parks on a
few occasions lately, traveling on a shoestring budget between
Washington DC and Philadelphia, seeking stringer reporter or even temp
editing assignments as an out-of-luck progressive muckraking writer.
Many times a job interview for a fresh-in-town jobseeker, such as
myself, would be post-scheduled for a piece of work I desired, on the
very last day of my paid-in-advance SRO hotel residence. I often
could not afford to pay the hotel rate for this last day of my stay,
which of course would be the day the interview had finally been set up
for me by the customary young and petite and air-headed female human
resources manager, which has become a commonplace affair in our newly
globalized corporate reality. Thus, once again, the parks called
out my name as a familiar friend, including not only the embraces of
dewy green grass, but also the kiss of plenty of dog shit.
As a result, I found myself one sultry, hot, steamy summer night in
the crime ridden Northeast sector of Washington DC, far away from
Union Station and near the notorious Northeast sector outermost
homeless shelter dubbed "Chocolate City" by some people, and nowhere
close to the ritzy Capitol Hill townhouses close to Congress.
My train did not leave from Union Station till 8am the next morning,
so I had lots of time to kill. I found a place to hide and sleep
under a children's slide of a fairly nice mini-park adjacent to an
African-American ghetto. This would have to be the bedding I had
haphazardly selected for myself, the night before my distant
Philadelphia job interview the next day.
The mosquitoes were biting like i had dreamed of prospective employers
seeking me out. These skeeters did not need to see my resume in order
to exploit my assets. They made their quick appointments without
asking me in any formal manner.
Around 3:30 in the morning, three ebony skinned men crawled towards my
toddler playground hiding space to smoke a joint and gossip with each
other about women being "bitches" and "ho's", and for some reason they
did not see me for quite some time, lying there on my back as quietly
and motionlessly as I could, under the slide. I had, however, very
slowly positioned my right hand to firmly grip around my Spyderco
knife, ready for action. Otherwise, I was playing possum and
assuming a dead man's posture flat on my back like a fatally stricken
soldier after a fierce battle, legs sprawled.
Suddenly, one of the lads shouted out to his mates, "For Christ's sake
man, look at that --- that ---- right over there, a dead white dude,
don't you see him?!"
They all made short snortles and exclamations of dread at seeing a
dead white man in an all black neighborhood.
Then one of them said, "hey look man, he's barely breathing, he must
be dead drunk!"
I remained motionless and reduced my breathing to a few millilitres of
air per second.
I was overwhelmed with fear, but replayed in my mind all the many
hours of training videos I had studied on the art of using a Spyderco
knife in tight and deadly situations.
My three months of daily training sessions, sparring with a retired
government NSA contractor of the U.S. Federal government, came back to
me in a flash, and I was grateful for my older friend's patience in
showing me defensive and slashing moves over and over and over again.
He not only trained me, but he had given me my first honorary Spyderco
knife ever in my possession, the one under the weight of my hand in my
pocket now.
This same knife in my hand had kept burglars and drug addicts away
from my throat in dirtbag hotel rooms in New York City also, during
several other efforts to find work in that big daddy of a town, too.
When a thief enters your hotel room and thinks nobody is at home, and
you are lying in bed naked and hungry but very ready to brandish such
a weapon in their face, or near their crotch, the intruder inevitably
makes some lame excuse and makes a very speedy disappearance.
If only I had such a hand-held effective tool to help my poor mother
who lost her house and garden and all assets recently to a nursing
home conglomerate, working hand in hand with State Elderly Care
operators, all of them raking in billions in tax monies quicker than
FEMA in New Orleans, I would be the happiest man alive! More on that
later. In some tight spots, especially against shifty lawyers and
legislators, your splendid Spyderco knives can do no favors, I am
sorry to confess.
After hearing jibes against my race for a quarter of an hour from
these three bloods, and their insulting anti-homeless-persons jokes
too, they made no movements closer to me nor any kind of physical
threats towards me whatsoever. The playful young men finally moved on
and I took a deep breath afterwards, and went back to sleep.
About an hour later, for no known reason I have yet entertained to
account for it, my inner and ancient reptilian brain stem became
aroused into a state of red alert! I opened my eyes just in time to
see the same two Guyanese illegals -- who many times before while in
DC I had seen stealing people's unattended bags near Union Station.
Now in the pitch black darkness they were like jackals on the prowl,
with the morals of a starving leech.
The first incident with the harmless three black lads who had parked
themselves quite nearby me to smoke a joint earlier and who debated
among themselves which of them had made off with the most sexual
conquests during the preceding week, had left me feeling somewhat
defensive, and for that reason I had fallen asleep with my Spyderco
knife, my "Lady Knife," loosely held in my right hand while sleeping
flat on my back.
My eyes did not focus on the approaching forms in the darkness nearly
as quickly as my fears demanded, and when my pupils did adjust
somewhat, I could only see vague shapes in the blackness, and to my
discomfort, I suddenly saw the whites of four eyes, and then made out
the scruffy mustaches and rodent-like movements of the two attackers
crawling commando style towards me in the tall grass of the children's
park.
The two bodies were only about 12 feet from me and seemed very
confident of their surprise element in their forthcoming assault on
me, and they were hungry indeed for my travel bag, which i was using
as an oversized pillow.
I gripped my knife with intent to kill, sprang like an army recruit
doing a military sit-up going fast-forward, and sprang into an upright
sitting position. I opened the knife with a swift and final sidewise
slicing motion, swinging my right arm to lock in place the razor sharp
jagged-edged knife blade, ready for immediate action. I was suddenly
aware of any and all deadly blows that would be necessary to be
delivered by me, without hesitation, should the need arise.
This model of your Spyderco knives collection makes a lovely loud
snapping CLICK noise, when it springs all the way forward into lock-
and-battle mode, especially after having been sidewise whipped
properly, as taught in training.
The snap-and-click 'KLACK' of my Spyderco boomed like a sonic blast in
the quiet of the night, and directly into the ears of my would be
killers. When they saw the rage in my face and the glint of the open
blade in the dim moonlight, their eyes bugged out of their heads like
large golf balls. They showed me a kind of epileptic seizure
condition resulting from their momentary shock, and then they fled in
haste. My travel bag was still at my side.
This enabled me to lay down my sleepy bedeviled head back onto my gear
and to catch a little more shut eye before taking the train to Philly
in a few hours to look for a reporter's gig.
But this was not the coup-de-grace of my Spyderco's very high status
as the most practical nemesis of my enemies! About that, I will try
to tell you now.
On November 7th, 2007, I entered the city of Tbilisi, Georgia, about
dawn, after an all night drive from the Black Sea town of Batumi, a
gritty oil export seaport for other foreign countries' profits, and
their multinational operations. Batumi was less than I had expected.
Lots of old and new oil storage terminals in a seaside resort for old
leering uncles and the types of people that go to Coney Island. Maybe
in the late 1800s when Baron Alphonse Rothschild built up the port and
the railroad for his oil flow from Baku to Batumi, it was a much more
fetching place. It did not hold me, and as I said, I headed straight
for Tbilisi.
There were soldiers everywhere in Tbilisi in the early morning sun
near the imposing Parliamentary Building, bunched up in the streets
together like steaming horse dung heaps. Running at a gallop were
Speznas commandos, wearing Darth Vader looking helmets with plastic
face shields and trendy European gas masks. A woman in her 60s was
lying on the pavement with her teeth bashed out.
She was what the media, after the Presidential military crackdown that
ensued, labelled, "a violent anti-government agitator". A pool of
blood was circling her kindly but unconscious grey-haired head.
I couldn't believe my eyes. Water canons were spraying people in near-
freezing weather. A female New York Times journalist was laying on
the ground with her knees and elbows bloodied and scraped. It looked
like her camera and eyeglasses had been broken into many pieces.
I had to ask many people in English, Spanish, and in German, what was
going on, but nobody spoke any of these languages with me for quite
some time. I was listening to this new to my younger ears, to an
extremely complex ancient Georgian multiple consonant-challenging
language, for the first time ever. I could only say two or three
phrases in Russian, a language well understood here, so I had to judge
events solely with my American eyes.
A truncheon swung down near my head so I bobbed away from it and
grabbed hold of my Spyderco in my pocket. I did not know if the man
in the black ski mask and black sweater was a cop or a soldier or a
secret commando for the ruling government, perhaps funded by USAID, as
was frequently rumoured on the internet.
Suddenly I heard English being spoken! There was a large group of
State Department looking Americans running for the Parliament doors!
I overheard two of them, who were running, from their nametags I could
read "Ned" on the man's and "Fannie Mae" on the woman's, discussing a
secret upper floor of the Parliament where they had completely
concealed their operations within the Georgian Parliament, a floor
within the heart of the government which was open only to them and
their special guests, with an electronic key security card. I could
not make out the floor number in Parliament they were talking about,
for just then a man hurling a smoking tear gas canister back at the
police shouted out loudly near my head, "Shen, Kleo!"
Some more truncheons batted around my head and body and I ducked and
swerved out of the way, but a down-at-the-heels semi-gray-haired
American expat journalist, of some sort, was grasped from behind and
held by many pairs of hairy arms wrapped around him like chains. They
next started to pummel him mercilessly with their fists. His face was
taking it badly, and then they worked on his skull and abdomen until
they were so utterly tired, that they simply walked away from his
almost comatose body and lit up cigarettes, like after sex.
I met this same guy a few days later, swathed in bandages. He was an
anti-corruption USAID agitator who had published many news features on
malfeasance all over the world, investigations on lost funds and
misspent finances within several USAID satellite projects. He said he
was married to an Armenian. I told him I was married only to my
Spyderco knife, and I highly recommended that he buy one soon, and
have a honeymoon with it. From the look on his face, as bruised as it
was and as bumpy were the lumps crowning his head, I figured he needed
some kind of kick-ass hormonal catharsis.
We both looked up at a window high in the Parliament building where
the sunshine was reflecting off of it like a mirror, every so often,
in the glass. An American flag was proudly displayed in this window.
An eager young Georgian reporter from a local Tbilisi economic rights
advocacy newspaper was trying to capture by camera the frenzy of
fighting in the streets between hundreds of thousands of Georgians --
opposing their uncaring government -- and the heavily armed government
security forces. But the poor man could not get his photos snapped.
He was blocked by the statuesque figure of a Georgian woman. She told
me she worked for GEORGIA TODAY when I asked her. She was evidently a
Muskie graduate, guessing by the large IREX badge she had roped around
her neck, and she continued standing there after I moved away, like a
compressed giant block of phosphate fertilizer, saluting the American
flag clearly seen in the Parliamentary window. She was obstructing
both the camera angle, and view, of the local reporter. She seemed in
a kind of Rapture, like they speak of in the Second Coming of the post-
Millenialists or among Mormons.
Georgia Today is a pro-American policy English-language newspaper
published in Tbilisi with a U.S. manager who is a major investment
hedge fund player in the old Russian Federation, in addition to being
a former gold mining director in Georgia, along with attractive Cayman
Islands interests. The newspaper prides itself on its "unbiased"
coverage of news events, even though, many weekly editions contain a
full color insert on the glories of the Georgian military build-up
that has been using up tremendous amounts of American monies. The
struggling poor villagers and farmers and pensioners and teachers here
get virtually zip from it. The woman continued to remain standing
there and standing there, saluting the flag, and her unflinching
patriotism nearly brought crocodile tears to the eyes of the thousands
of opposition combatants around her. They were crying out to try to
warn her that her skirt had been ripped off in the chaos of the street
activity around Parliament, and she hadn't a clue that she was
standing in her panties only, from her waist down. Poor Georgian
"gogo," blinded by an education abroad.
"Would you like my knife?" I asked, "It's a gift."
My bandaged new reporter friend quickly accepted my Spyderco.
Unfortunately, he rushed at a policeman just afterwards and swung the
knife down at his gun belt. The gun in its belt and holster dropped
to the ground like shit sodden trousers, down to his riot police
boots. Everybody who had been dancing the Kartuli Tango with the
military crackdown government personnel had a good laugh over this!
The riot policeman who had lost his revolver spluttered out a machine
gun like battery of very dirty and ugly Georgian cuss words. My
eardrums nearly burst from the force of so many ancient Colchi
consonants strung together and spit out by such a powerhouse of a
compressor.
Another policeman ran over to my friend, still holding his new
Spyderco knife with glee radiating out from his face, and the riot cop
kicked the Spyderco knife out of his hand. A third riot policeman
scooped up the knife from the ground with his fingers and the three
policemen then all climbed up quickly into a water canon vehicle and
drove away with the booty.
Luckily, the greying conspiracy-theory writer had not been arrested,
the soldiers overlooked him in their rush to get into the water canon
vehicle.
"Hey Bud, did I tell you yet about the can of worms I opened up in
Pakistan, where the USAID folks got busted in foreign courts and
smeared also, in the world press, for siphoning off the greater share
of their own financial aid? I wrote the feature! Ho, that was me
man!"
"Sorry pal, no time" I answered, "I have to telephone my mother, it's
her birthday!"
As I was leaving my full-throttle newly acquired 'friend', I turned
back to wave goodbye one last time, and just then from a distance I
saw a Board member of the local AmCham spitting in his face. I
recognized the face from their monthly oil pipeline-driven magazine
photo opportunity spreads.
I looked for a phone booth but all I could find were vintage 1950s-
looking old Soviet aluminium box phones that would not accept any
coins correctly. So I went into a little post office, one of only
three or four in all of Tbilisi, and placed a call to the States.
My mom's phone had been disconnected. The recording warned me
"permanently disconnected". I found that very strange and
disturbing. Even though I seldom visit her I called her frequently,
and I would never miss calling her on her birthday. Something was
wrong. Very wrong.
I got lost and was in the hills behind Parliament, in Old Tbilisi. I
walked down a few hills with poor street signage and broken sidewalks,
and then saw the Central Elections Committee (CEC) building. A lot of
thugs were standing around in front of the door, like it was a Racing
Bets outlet in New York City. They looked similar to many of the
unemployed men of Tbilisi, although dressed a bit better and quite a
bit smugger in attitude.
A huge dog that was homeless, broke from his pack of 7 or 8 other
homeless dogs who had hungrily joined in the opposition, and lunged at
me. Perhaps he could smell Ned and Fannie Mae on me. I reached for
my Spyderco, but of no help to me now, it was gone. The three riot
police had confiscated it from my bandaged anti-USAID agency pal. I
tried to kick the dog in the snout but he was damned fast and mean,
and he tackled me to the ground and chewed into the back of my knee,
into the tender flesh.
A lovely Georgian female doctor who was shouting loudly along with the
opposition forces, for better public health care systems and fundings
for village and clinic free medicines here, helped me up. She had
some rubbing alcohol in her purse and pulled it out promptly and
nearly completely cleaned my pretty deep dog bite wound, in a jiffy.
She warned me that I should get anti-rabies injections as soon as
possible. She gave me her mobile phone number in case I needed help
later, and I also learned that she was unmarried, as we were saying
goodbye.
As I was trying to find a cab driver who spoke some English, I turned
around and looked inside the window of the CEC elections office, once
again.
Inside there was a man who resembled the president and he was
shredding many voters' names lists with my Spyderco knife! I cannot
be certain it was truly the president of Georgia, for I had only been
in Georgia for a day or two, but the hawkish eyes and the hunger for
military adventures were scrawled identically all over this man's
face, mirroring exactly what I had detected in the face of an
unfamiliar president ranting on television while I was in Batumi, the
night before. Maybe all men in the Georgian Parliament have that same
demonic look in their eyes, and the face I was staring at now from
this angle was perhaps only one of the lesser MPs! One thing is
certain, it was not Tootsie, the current de facto president until the
new president shall be elected in transparent border-to-border
nationwide elections!
Whoever this man was, he was most certainly shredding documents that
looked very official. Stacks of them, and all papers crucial to the
upcoming election, on January 5th, when most people are saddled with
bad hangovers just after New Year's celebrations, and, just before the
January 7th Orthodox Christmas family tradition-bound holidays here.
This strategic timing puts all voters in between a rock and a hard
place. I crept up as close as I could to the window without being
observed, and on some of the documents being made into early election-
victory confetti, I could make out vaguely the imprimatur of OSCE on
the publishings and correspondences being violated before my very
unbelieving eyes.
I next went to the Infectious Diseases hospital and after a long wait
received my anti-rabies injection, the first of several awaiting me.
The wound was not further cleaned nor dressed at the hospital, that
would be my own personal duty later, I had been told. For a poor
country, I was greatly pleased, however. Why? The French Verorab
anti-rabies treatment I had received was free, so something on a
governmental level was working quite well here, after all.
In the next few days military law was imposed, and all the television
media were shut down or raided, except for one pro-government
television station that played hours and hours of speech-making by the
president, wearing his expensive Dutch suits and colorful European
ties.
Between the president's hours-long speeches, this station, the only
one allowed to air news during the State of Emergency, also showed
long clips of happy faced Georgian men wearing what looked like snappy
American Army uniforms, changed a wee bit, with sexy Georgian ladies
swooning over these well equipped men. "For the Glory of the Country"
was the subliminal message, buried somewhere in all the glittering
heavy weapons featured in the propaganda pieces. "This is the only
job you will ever find", was a greater reality that rang out loudly
like the Bells of Big Ben, to anyone not stone deaf.
I could not view even a single minute of cable news from the West
during this State of Emergency. CNN, BBC, and Euronews were flat
out. Gone. Not promising for the metro cable supplier, Ayeti.
Government censorship at its meanest.
I tried to phone my mom again. No answer. Permanent disconnect. In
the next four hours I spent a stack of dollar bills on trying to
unravel this mystery. In the end the news was devastating for me. My
mom had now become one of the massive number of senior citizens in the
States whose property and assets are taken over by the State in order
to put them away into a bottomless money pit nursing care home, for
life, with virtually no hope or chance in hell of ever getting out and
tending her flower and spiritual gardens again. Something about
"power of attorney", a circus of really filthy and disgusting monkey
business. What I can't figure, really, is if MEDICARE, FEMA, or HHS
are just partially, or fully corrupt. Are they all three swiftly
killing the soul and traditions of the United States, with the help of
Congress, beholden to cold and ruthless subcontractors? China rules!
Dubai Shipping and their U.S. port ownership, for the safety of our
schools and school children, isn't that so? Goldman Sachs, our
saviour, making great sacrifices for the needy of both the United
States and rural China, no doubt?
Perhaps you are interested in the pretty Georgian female doctor, and
me, and ask yourself did any romance spring up from our encounter?
Yes, I did telephone her, and we did meet at the university cafeteria
a few times later, but no, nothing significant further happened, and
despite the rumours that many Georgian women are seeking a foreign
husband, I never married her, and she never asked. I, myself however,
am indeed anticipating my next Spyderco knife from your 2008
collection.
So, yes, I will stay here for a time in Tbilisi, where imported goods
never seem to reach anybody without going through an iron fingered
"family" with a tight grip on the traffic. That includes your
Spyderco knives, and also just about everything else here, including
mobile phones, tools, food stuffs, shoes, furniture, toiletries, you
name it.
Could you please, Spyderco, start as soon as possible with discounted
and online Fedex delivery to Georgia? That would help your wonderful
under 3-inch blade products get across the borders and into the
lucrative market of teenage boys here. These boys and their parents
are getting worked up over despotic national governance and pushy
Mormon missionaries, and I think they would greatly appreciate your
Spyderco 2008 collection during their Christmas and New Year shopping,
if for nothing else, just to possess some of your superb
craftsmanship!
Thanks Spyderco.
Sincerely,
MICKEY RORGK
Debbie Smythe
http://mickey.rorgk.tripod.com/XmasTbilisi.html
MY kind of short story satire!
http://mickey.rorgk.tripod.com/XmasTbilisi.html
Here is something hot off the wire news services:
"The extract, aired on Georgian TV, begins with a man, said to be
Patarkatsishvili, telling Kodua of the importance of creating "an
internal split" within the Saakashvili inner-circle. "Everything will
be over as soon as that happens," he says.
The conversation then moves to the international context, with claims
that Saakashvili was losing international support.
"Today the only one helping Saakashvili is Mathew Bryza [the U.S.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs] and also
his boss, Daniel Fried [the Assistant Secretary]," Patarkatsishvili
says. "He has no other USAID defenders. They are helping him because
this [referring to Saakashvili] is their project and therefore they do
not want to lose the game, together with Misha [Mikheil Saakashvili].
He has no other defenders and even these people will turn their back
on him immediately, because to lose Saakashvili is not something very
important for them; they don't care about him."
On Dec 25, 1:18 pm, mickey.ro...@yahoo.com wrote:
> "Why I married my Lady Knife and not a Georgian Wife"
> aka "Down and out in NE Washington DC vs. Running with the Opposition
> in Tbilisi"
>
> http://mickey.rorgk.tripod.com/XmasTbilisi.html
>
> [warning: this is fictional satire in all respects]
>
> byMickeyRorgk
> email: mickey.ro...@yahoo.com
>
> "Dear Spyderco Knife Company,"
>
> First, let me introduce myself, I amMickeyRorgkof Charleston, SC.
matthew_l...@yahoo.com
I read in the Washington Post nearly the same arguments as in the
short story below, re: unrest in The Republic of Georgia, transparent
corruption in the USAID operations in the country, and the use of non
lethal weapons [microwave/sound weapons carried by the riot police]
during the November 7th protestations against the great bulk of the
Georgian population, rejecting their current US-backed "tyrant"
president, and his stooges parliament.
But i have to admit, this fiction piece below was a hell of a lot
funnier.!!
Matthew Bryza
"Why I married my Lady Knife and not a Georgian Wife"
aka
"Down and out in NE Washington DC not as fine as Running with the
Opposition in Tbilisi"
http://mickey.rorgk.tripod.com/XmasTbilisi.html
[warning: this is fictional satire in all respects]
by Mickey Rorgk
email: mickey...@yahoo.com
"Dear Spyderco Knife Company,"
First, let me introduce myself, I am Mickey Rorgk of Charleston, SC.
http://mickey.rorgk.tripod.com/USAID_Pakistan.html
Thanks Spyderco.
Sincerely,
MICKEY RORGK
On Dec 26, 1:55 pm, Debbie Smythe <debra_smy...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> VERY FUNNY! (==::::http://mickey.rorgk.tripod.com/XmasTbilisi.html
> MY kind of short story satire!http://mickey.rorgk.tripod.com/XmasTbilisi.html
Debbie Smythe
LEGAL DAY OF ELECTIONEERING
Jan. 3 2008
Fully Reloaded Georgian Parliament
the Best Shot
for the future of Georgia??
"Georgia's presidential election to test Saakashvili's
commitment to democracy"
The Associated Press/IHT Published: December 28, 2007
RE: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/28/europe/EU-GEN-Georgia-Saakashvilis-Test.php?page=1
bryana writes:
I believe Ms. Hammick writing for JANE'S DEFENSE WEEKLY upon the
upcoming election in Tbilisi, was practicing the art of, as F. Scott
Fitzgerald once said, of "the test of a first rate intelligence is the
ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and
still retain the ability to function".
How so? She was evidently flipping through her mind the several
conflicting tentative dates set for the parliamentary elections, since
late 2003. Since Nov. 23rd, 2003, when President Saakashvili
parachuted into his position as ruler of Georgia, and the rarely
clarified-in-the-media Georgian constitutional amendments made in
December, 2005, most people are understandably deeply confused and
divided on basic democratic procedures here, regarding efforts that
would help the majority of people, rather than propping up some cold
and abstract ideology in its stead, helping insiders only.
Here is a blurb from Freedom House back in mid 2005, to refresh your
memory of the jigsaw puzzle of parliamentary election procedure here:
[First, Saakashvili and NED and the Liberty Institute set in train
the protests which brought him to power on 23rd November, 2003.
Thus, it can be argued, that parliamentary elections should have
been held in Nov. of 2007.]
15.06.2005 - Source: Freedom House, the 2004 elections were somewhat
free and fair; however, the level of political pluralism had been
severely
reduced, as no party could compete with National Movement-Democrats
("Nations in Transit 2005") [#32929], [ID 4745]
"...the elections of 2004 were considered generally free and fair,
though voter lists were still not fully complete. There was no
harassment of the opposition. However, the level of political
pluralism was sharply reduced as the former ruling party completely
disbanded and no political group could compete with Mikheil
Saakashvili and his National Movement-Democrats. Only one opposition
bloc of the New Rights and Industrialists was able narrowly to
overcome the 7 percent threshold for party lists."
QUESTION: How many Americans do you know who actually look after
their old parents and grandparents themselves, and do not put them
into sinfully overpriced over profitable nursing homes, backed up in
large measrue by MEDICARE political insiders, and who speak three or
four languages, and who work 45 to 65 hours a week with not a tetri of
paid overtime, and without complaining??? You can count such
Americans on one han!. Here, in Georgia, such a marvel is as common
as khachipuri.
These sterling Georgians above are the citizens who belong in
Parliament and THEY should be the ones to select a president, if there
is to be any hope of true democracy here any year soon.
A president such as Misha, who galloped into power overnight on the
day quoted above, would be
fairly tested by the people if and only if, they gave him something
like his report card grades after the last 4 long years in which he
could evaluate himself too, in careful self-examination. The result
of a revitalizing and invigorating new parliamentary election process,
in which a `new batch of 2007 parliament MPs', not in any way part of
Saakashvili's clan, nor part of the current Opposition's clan, could
and would implement fresh and vigorous legislation and programs. If
only they had been allowed to do so at the end of 2007!!!
Especially when one considers the helpful and democracy-building
funding from outside of the last 4 years,
thanks to credits and currencies from the USAID, the EU, the UN, SECO/
SDC, the German government, et al, who have greatly helped make many
of the improvements the Georgians desperately needed, after the mayhem
and ugly scenarios following the collapse of communism in this
nation.
Isn't this the nub of the conflict today, and a major cause of the
loss of public and international confidence in the current
government? Am I correct? Answer me here in this MEGOBREBS yahoo
group! Come on!
Georgians themselves, excluding the ever and over and twice again
prospering current Members of
Parliament, the normal members of the Family of Georgia are cut off at
the knees from any kind of truly democratic structures and planks and
platforms, aren't they? Can anyone remember how Shevardnadze
reinstated most of his Parliament after he dismissed them, more or
less, can you relocate the events from the faded memories of the
past? How many key players in Saakashvili's clan worked at one time
[for quite a long while] on the monorail of Shevaradnadze's express
train to disunity and oblivion and hunger?
So we might conclude after an hour or two of thought on this matter,
of a fresh and unaffiliated Parliament, that the Georgian people were
indeed deprived of a timely, and legal, and in-their-favor,
parliamentary election, in November of 2007, which might have brought
about the promising guiding-light of fresh teams of Georgian MBAs and
MDs and Masters degree winners, coming back from USA, UK, and Germany,
the EU, et al, along with the principals and top teachers of Tbilisi
and Kutaisi and Batumi schools, and Georgian physician-activists for
the desperately needed hospital care and health care here for the
people of Georgia, and along with them also the passionate property
rights activists, and a flurry of organized parties of disgruntled
pensioners, and the many magnificent Georgians, and displaced farmers
from their hectares who are being replaced by huge corporate
conglomerate automated farms, owned by many current MPs, these
urgently needed new MPs who could have stampeded into parliament as
newly elected MPs this year, if just given the chance, and that this
truly democratic and model parliamentary election could have come into
being at the most opportune time for the natives of this land, late
2007, consisting of the non-elite of Georgia basically, would have
swept out most of Misha's MPs, and along with them the bulk of old
Shevaradnadze and Moscow-resonating fiddle stringers too, who/which
are frequently and deeply embedded in the half-dozen or more, old and
very tiresome Opposition parties here, as we speak?
These never recruited and never elected new MPs would have averted the
hurried and hasty presidential elections of Jan. 5, 2008, and would
just as likely waited until a late 2008 election date to install their
new president. By this time there would have been nearly a full year
of generous and hospitable Georgian debates, within a newly
transfigured Parliament, MPs most probably not in tune with Misha
during this hypothetical 2008 year's passing, and they would all have
had to agree and/or disagree with each other in a gentlemanly or
ladylike way, until end of 2008. Political pluralism would have
flowered like the Garden of Eden, and new and friendly coalitions
emerged and triumphed from the basic reforms of Saakashvili.
These new and unheard of , but now lost to Georgia's better and
undiscovered destiny, these many freshly minted MPs could have TRULY
debated issues and policies and finances, rather than the mud slinging
shout spasms we see today, and these angels of democracy were in many
aspects stolen from the garden of justice, just as its flowers showed
her firsts blossoms. These hypothetical MPs might have had the
chance to vote in Parliament on the issues TRULY important to THEM and
to their constituents, and not just to pocket USAID money laden
highways nor toady up to the Pentagon's strategies nor kneel to the
proponents of Vlad Putin, evident or non-evident allies of Georgia,
nor also supported the old business ties to Russia that are still
deeply entrenched here, but not clearly seen.
I am truly astonished by the bright and hopeful and hard-working and
self-sacrificing Georgians in their 20s and 30s and 40s and 50s also,
who are well educated with admirable characters and integrity and who
want to make a big difference in their country's destiny, in a
disciplined communitarian manner, women most welcome too, to join the
ranks, and they are all blocked by the current `map of democracy', by
both teams, Saakashvili's team, and the motley cluster of Opposition
teams.
These sterling Georgians mentioned directly above are the citizens who
belong in Parliament and THEY should select a president, if there is
to be any hope of true democracy here any year soon. After this "turn-
around", Presidential elections could be arranged to coincide with
Parliamentary elections, as in other nations. After such a model
transition, Saakashvili would go down in history as a fine and admired
agent of transition, a team player who saw he should enter private
business after 4 years at the helm, rather than what is in store for
his legacy should he win the election this Jan. 5th. His past
achievements would quite likely be blemished beyond repair by another
term in office.
These new hypothetical MPs would be loyal to Georgia, and her best
interests, and not to Saakashvili, as if he were their beloved
communist factory boss, or a Godfather in a Francis Ford Coppola film,
or a mirror of Putin's dealings, and these new hypothetical MPs would
not be loyal either to any tricked-out business interests of the old
Opposition, one would presume.
Georgia needs a totally new opposition, or she will sink.
mickey...@yahoo.com
http://markalmondoxford.blogspot.com/2007/11/black-roses-georgias-reformers-fall-out.html
Comments:
MICKEY RORGK said...
Mark Almond, that was a FINE piece of writing, thanks!
2008 January Presidential Election in Georgia:
http://www.geocities.com/matthew_lulu_bryza/Georgian-Parliament.html
2008 Parliamentary Spring Election in Georgia:
http://mickey.rorgk.tripod.com/XmasTbilisi.html
27 January 2008 07:25
Post a Comment
adrian
bryan
muckraking...@yahoo.com
Georgia......more than one hundred MPs paid and compromised by BP Oil
Pipeline monies and trade offs.
HEY......DID YOU HEAR IT YET? FIREBIRD AURORA is undermining the
soul of Georgia and the Parliament and new PM are buying up Euro
Bonds----which will deprive the children and grandchildren of Georgian
parents today of their last teeny tetris, and this insider network
will auction off all the rivers and waterfalls and forests and
farmland and mines of Georgia, for a fiddle and a song! It won't take
long!!
Who in the Parliament in Tbilisi LOVES their Georgian people? Not
Nino Burjanadze! Not new PM Lado Gurgenidze!
TBILISI TBILISI TBILISI TBILISI
TBILISI TBILISI
TBILISI TBILISI
TBILISI TBILISI
TBILISI TBILISI
re: Georgia needs a totally new opposition, or she will sink. Georgia
needs a totally new opposition, or she will sink.
Georgia needs a totally new opposition, or she will sink.
Georgia needs a totally new opposition, or she will sink.
Matthew L. Bryza on "Fully Reloaded Georgian Parliament the Best Shot
for the future of Georgia?"
TEXT
Fully Reloaded Georgian Parliament the Best Shot for the future of
Georgia? AP News
Nov. 7th, 2007, Tbilisi
by Matthew L. Bryza
RHETORICAL QUESTION: Compared to Georgians and their 6 or 7 thousand
year old fiercely loyal and devoted family traditions, how many
Americans do you know who actually look after their old parents and
grandparents themselves, and do not put them into criminally USA-
style overpriced and shamefully profitable nursing/senior/memory care
homes, backed up in large measure by MEDICARE political insiders,
working along with State and Federal congresspersons? Probably two,
one, or none. How many Americans typically speak and read three
languages and alphabets, and who work 45 to 65 hours a week with not
a
tetri of paid overtime, and without complaining about the total lack
of labor laws in their Parliament??? Again, nearly zero. You can
count such Americans on one hand! Here, in Georgia , such models of
self-sacrifice and duty are as common as khachipuri, their local
grilled cheese sandwich.
These diamantine Georgians illustrated briefly above are the citizens
who belong in their Parliament, and not only elites and millionaire
businessmen/women, and THEY should be the ones to select a new
president, if there is to be any hope of true democracy here in
Georgia any year soon.
A president such as "Misha" [short for Saakashvili], who galloped
into
power overnight on the day quoted above, would be fairly tested by
the
people of his new democracy, if and only if, the people themselves
gave him something like his report card grades after the last 4 long
years in which he could evaluate himself too, in careful and painful
self-examination. The result of a revitalizing and invigorating new
parliamentary election process, in which a `new batch of 2007/2008
parliament MPs', not in any way part of Saakashvili's clan, nor part
of the current Opposition's clan, could and would implement fresh and
vigorous legislation and programs. If only they had been allowed to
do so at the end of 2007, a global miracle would have been born - a
real beacon of light !!!
A real beacon of light, especially when one considers the helpful and
democracy-building funding from outside agencies of the last 4 years,
thanks to credits and currencies from the USAID, the EU, the UN,
SECO/
SDC, the German government, et al, who have greatly helped make many
of the improvements the Georgians have desperately needed, after the
mayhem and ugly scenarios following the collapse of communism in this
nation.
Isn't this the nub of the conflict today, and a major cause of the
loss of public and international confidence in the current
Saakashvili
government? Aren't I correct?
Georgians themselves, excluding the ever and over and twice again
prospering current Members of Parliament, the normal members of the
legendary Family of Georgia are cut off at the knees from any kind of
truly democratic structures and planks and platforms, in nearly every
respect, in the current situation? Can anyone remember how
Shevardnadze reinstated most of his Parliament after he dismissed
them, more or less, can you dig out these events from the faded
memories of the past? How many key players in Saakashvili's clan
worked at one time [for quite a long while, indeed] on the monorail
of
Shevaradnadze's express train to disunity and oblivion and hunger?
Will not they simply repeat the same mistakes?
So we might conclude after an hour or two of productive thought on
this matter, [i.e., of a fresh and uncompromised Parliament], that
the
Georgian people were indeed deprived of a timely, and legal, and in-
their-favor, parliamentary election, in November of 2007, which
might
have brought about the promising guiding-light of fresh teams of
Georgian MBAs and MDs and Masters degree winners, coming back from
USA, UK, and Germany, the EU, et al.
Along with the principals and top teachers of Tbilisi and Kutaisi and
Batumi and Telavi schools, and Georgian physician-activists for the
desperately needed hospital care and health care here for the
struggling desperately people of Georgia, and along with them also
the
passionate property rights activists, and the grey panthers of
organized parties of disgruntled pensioners, and the many magnificent
and proud Georgians, which include displaced farmers from their
hectares who are being replaced by huge corporate conglomerate
automated farms, owned by many current MPs, these urgently needed new
MPs -- who could have stampeded into parliament as newly elected MPs
this new year, if just given the chance -- and that this imagined
truly democratic and model parliamentary election, could have come
into being at the most opportune time for the natives of this land,
late 2007, early 2008, consisting of the non-elite of Georgia
basically. They would have swept out most of Misha's MPs, and along
with them the bulk of old Shevaradnadze and Moscow-resonating fiddle
stringers too, who/which are frequently and deeply embedded in the
half-dozen or more, old and very tiresome Opposition parties here, as
time rolls on like tank treads?
These never recruited and never elected new MPs would have averted
the
hurried and hasty presidential elections of Jan. 5, 2008, and would
just as likely waited until a late 2008 election date to install
their
new president. By this time there would have been nearly a full year
of generous and hospitable Georgian debates, within a newly
transfigured Parliament, MPs most probably not in tune with Misha
during this hypothetical 2008 year's passing, and they would all have
had to agree and/or disagree with each other in a gentlemanly or
ladylike way, until end of 2008. Political pluralism would have
flowered like the Garden of Eden, and new and friendly coalitions
would have emerged [only in this scenario] and triumphed from the
basic reforms of Saakashvili's first two years.
These new and unheard of , but now lost to Georgia's better and
undiscovered destiny, these many freshly minted MPs could have TRULY
debated issues and policies and finances, rather than the mud
slinging
ejaculations and shout spasms we see today, and these angels of
democracy were in many aspects stolen from the garden of justice,
just
as its flowers were showing her firsts blossoms. These
hypothetical
MPs might have had the chance to vote in Parliament on the issues
TRULY important to THEM and to their constituents, and not just to
pocket USAID money for imported goods laden highways, nor toady up
to
the Pentagon's strategies for Georgia, nor kneel to the proponents of
Vladimir Putin, his inner team evidently NOT allies of Georgia, nor
would these ideal MPs have supported the old business ties to Russia
that are still deeply entrenched here, but not clearly seen, and
counterproductive to a new democracy.
I am truly astonished by the bright and hopeful and hard-working and
self-sacrificing Georgians in their 20s and 30s and 40s and 50s also,
who are well educated with admirable characters and genuine integrity
and who want to make a big difference in their country's destiny, in
a
disciplined communitarian manner, women most welcome too, to join the
ranks, and they are all blocked by the current `map of democracy', by
both teams, Saakashvili's team, and the motley cluster of Opposition
teams. Typical and honest Georgians must control the future of
Georgia , and not American military investment conglomerates nor old
Russian mafia business networks.
These sterling Georgians mentioned directly above are the citizens
who belong in Parliament and THEY should select a president, if there
is to be any hope of true democracy here any year soon. After this
"turn-around", Presidential elections could be arranged to coincide
with Parliamentary elections, as in other nations. After such a
model transition, Saakashvili would go down in history as a fine and
admired agent of transition, a team player who saw he should enter
private business after 4 years at the helm, rather than what is in
store for his legacy should he win the election this Jan. 5th. His
past achievements would quite likely be blemished beyond repair by
another term in office.
These new hypothetical MPs would be loyal to Georgia, and her best
interests, and not to Saakashvili, as if he were their beloved CIS
factory boss, or a Godfather in a Francis Ford Coppola film, or a
mirror of Putin's autocracy, and these new hypothetical MPs would not
and could not be loyal, either, to any tricked-out business interests
of the old Opposition, one would pray.
Georgia needs a totally new opposition, or she will sink.
matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza
matthew l. bryza matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza
matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza matthew bryza
matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza
matthew l. bryza matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza
matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza matthew bryza
matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza
matthew l. bryza matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza
matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza matthew bryza
matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza
matthew l. bryza matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza
matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza matthew bryza
matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza
matthew l. bryza matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza
matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza matthew bryza
matthew lulu bryza matthew l. bryza matthew bryza matthew lulu bryza
matthew l. bryza matthew bryza
matthew_l...@yahoo.com
Robert Kiene, Deputy Chief--NATO will NEVER protect vested BP profit
interests in Georgia!
NATO Focus on BTC Security
05/04/2008 21:16 (1 Day 17:19 minutes ago)
The FINANCIAL -- "NA-TO is rea-dy to provi-de secur-ity for the Baku-
Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeli-ne," Patrick Gor-dowin, Depu-ty Sec-re-
ta-ry Ge-ne-ral of the All-ian-ce on reg-ion told jour-nalists on Febr-
ua-ry 3.
The all-ian-ce is al-so rea-dy to provide techn-ical support to the
partic-ipant count-ries of the BTC project and pro-tect the pipeli-ne
from any possible dan-gers.
The BTC pipeline, which was one of the key topics discussed at the 7th
Georgian International Oil, Gas, Energy and Infrastructure Conference
and Showcase (GIOGIE) held in Tbilisi , Georgia on 3-4 April 2008,
began operating in June 2006. With a total construction cost of USD 4
billion, the BTC pipeline is the first direct transportation link
between the Caspian and the Mediterranean seas. At full capacity, it
can deliver one million barrels of oil to market, generating important
revenues for the Georgian government for decades to come.
"I had not seen this information, it is a report of what Gordowin is
supposed to have said, and therefore I can't comment on it. The NATO
public affairs office in Brussels or Gordowin himself would better
clarify what NATO is and is not willing to do for the BTC. As for the
US interests in Georgia's oil sector, there are already two successful
American players in the field: Anadarko and Frontera," Robert Kiene,
Deputy Chief, Political/ Economic Section of the US Embassy to
Georgia, told The FINANCIAL.
ENRON ENRON ENRON ENRON
Anadarko is the operator of the consortium holding the 8,900 sq.km
exploration licence, offshore Georgia (JKX: 4% net profit interest).
Following extensive seismic and geological data acquisition, a
preferred location for the first exploration well has been identified.
This commitment well is dependent on Anadarko attracting additional
farm-in partners, following the recent withdrawal of BP and Chevron
from the consortium, and securing a suitable drilling rig.
Frontera Resources Corporation is an independent Houston, Texas,
U.S.A. - based international oil and gas exploration and production
company whose strategy is to identify opportunities and operate in
emerging markets around the world. Frontera has operated in Georgia
since 1997 where it holds a 100 percent working interest in a
production sharing agreement with the Government of Georgia. This
gives Frontera the exclusive right to explore for, develop and produce
oil and gas from a 5,060 square kilometre area in Eastern Georgia
known as Block 12.
"According to the Host Government Agreements that govern the BTC
project, provision of security services on the pipelines and its
facilities is the responsibility of the Government of Georgia. The
Georgian government is responsible for securing the pipelines - as it
does any strategic asset inside its borders. Therefore there is not
much more we can say on the topic. The question is really one for the
government to respond to," Matt Taylor, Communications and External
Affairs Manager of British Petroleum (BP), told The FINANCIAL.
As for NATO 's reasons for hesitation on providing security for the
BTC pipeline, Turkish Weekly writes in April 3, 2008 publication that,
Geopolitics assumes that every action, even a seemingly irrational
one, must have an agenda. Having said that, the decision to lay the
Trans-Caucasian pipeline via potentially unstable regions in
Azerbaijan, Georgia suffering from separatist conflicts, and Turkey,
where the threat of Kurdish PKK terrorist attacks persists, could
indirectly facilitate allocation of NATO troops to the conflict zones
to secure the stability and protect the pipeline.
"Fears were sounded repeatedly that security of the BTC is in danger
from international terrorist organizations and from instability in
rural communities. The United States as one of the biggest investors
and a promoter of the regional pipeline projects, also an influential
NATO member, has reasonable concerns about pipeline security and
wishes to protect its investment".
Some suggest that America wants to ensure its military presence in
this geo-strategic territory. Clearly, passing through a turbulent
region, the pipelines need special protection from possible terrorist
attacks. NATO might see this as its duty to allocate special units in
the region, which would strengthen its presence and influence in the
South Caucasus and the Caspian. Although, so far NATO officials state
there are no plans to get directly involved in the protection of the
pipeline, they have offered their assistance in providing "NATO's
military expertise to local security forces."
"An Antiterrorism Centre was established in Georgia and radar antenna
granted to Azerbaijan. Local security corps have already been granted
training from NATO -member countries: Georgian Special State
Protection Service and Azerbaijani Pipeline Security Service have been
trained by American Security Company "Equity International", whereas
the Turkish Gendarmerie received training from Northern Ireland
security forces. In addition to this, the three governments jointly
with BP Field Security teams have established a special area
patrolling force along the route of BTC and BTE from the local
population".
Main news in Georgia especially during the last couple of months has
been the April 2008 Bucharest summit of the transatlantic alliance
whether the country and its neighbour Ukraine would get to the so-
called Membership Action Plan, or MAP. Though, eventually, due to the
strong opposition from Germany and France, the two countries' route to
MAP has been postponed till the end of 2008. Germany and France were
said to have been blackmailed by Russia and urged to deliver negative
voting.
During the Bucharest summit representatives of the 26 legislatures of
NATO agreed to the accession of Croatia, Republic of Macedonia, and
Albania and invited them to join NATO .
Speaking jubilantly to Georgian journalists in Bucharest, President
Saakashvili said that the NATO summit's eventual outcome was much
better than receiving the Membership Action Plan, which Tbilisi was
denied at this stage.
"I am sure that we will become NATO member much sooner than my
presidential term expires," declared the President.
Apart from the BTC pipeline issue, unlike Russia, Germany and France,
the U.S.A has a rather positive outlook about Georgia joining NATO .
The U.S President Bush said he would like to see Georgia become a NATO
member at some point.
In the analysis of 2007, JOHN C.K. DALY, UPI International
Correspondent claims that The Azeri, Georgian and Turkish governments
may not have to go it alone in providing BTC protection, as NATO is
already considering the issue of the BTC pipeline security. Speaking
after a recent NATO summit in Riga, Robert Simmons, the NATO secretary
general's special representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia,
said the issue of protecting energy infrastructure belonging both to
NATO members and their partners was on the agenda.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which carries Caspian oil to
world markets via the Haydar Aliyev terminal in Ceyhan, keeps earning
Turkey significant amounts of revenue. As of March the BTC pipeline
had transported 333 million barrels, earning revenue of USD 1.5
billion.
BTC transported 750,000 barrels of crude oil per day during the first
quarter of 2008, adding that their goal is to increase the daily
capacity to 840,000 barrels by the end of this year.
Approximately USD 3.4 billion was invested in the BTC project, which
carries crude oil from Azerbaijan to the port in Ceyhan via Georgia
and onwards to the rest of the world. The 1,776-kilometer-long BTC, of
which 1,076 kilometres pass through Turkey, has a full transport
capacity of 1 million barrels per day and 50 million tonnes per year.
As Turkish Daily News reported on January 17, an economically and
socially healthy Georgia, cooperating with its new allies on all
aspects of security, will stabilize the Black Sea and provide a solid
beachhead for the East-West corridor. In sum, Georgia in NATO is the
best way to maximize the potential of that first train engine that
will make its way from Kars to Baku in 2010, and Turkey should lead
its NATO partners to this realization.
Robert Kiene, Deputy Chief--NATO will NEVER protect vested BP profit
interests in Georgia!
Robert Kiene, Deputy Chief--NATO will NEVER protect vested BP profit
interests in Georgia!
Robert Kiene, Deputy Chief--NATO will NEVER protect vested BP profit
interests in Georgia!
GIOGIE has become the traditional annual forum attracting over 250
delegates from 15 countries. The conference was officially supported
by the Prime Minister of Georgia, Ministry of Energy of Georgia,
Ministry of Economic Development, and Georgian Oil & Gas Corporation
(GOGC). Senior level delegations from USA, UK, Turkey, Kazakhstan and
Azerbaijan attended GIOGIE.
"Georgia's role as a transit state and principal regional player is
hard to underestimate. Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzrum and
Baku-Supsa represent projects of regional importance. Within the
framework of these projects GOGC acts as a monitor of the process thus
representing the state's interest during the operation/implementation
phase of the "contracts of the century", Zurab Janjgava, the General
Director of GOGC, told The FINANCIAL.
In Janjgava's words, GOGC together with foreign investors
participating in oil production totalled 56,630.72 tonnes of crude oil
and 24,606,251 cubic metres of gas production in the year 2007. An
entire volume of crude oil has been exported from Georgia.
"With the financial support of the US government, GOGC is in the
second stage of an energy infrastructure rehabilitation project
financed under the Millennium Challenge Compact," stated Janjgava.
The South Caucasus gas pipeline and the BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan)
pipeline allow oil and gas to flow from Azerbaijan through Georgia to
Europe. Over the last decade, USD 5 billion has been invested by BP
and its partners into development of the major oil and gas pipelines
that cross Georgia.
Reconstruction work on the Batumi Oil Terminal is now complete and
reconstruction of the Poti port is currently underway. Construction of
a new, Kulevi Oil Terminal, operated by SOCAR , will be completed this
year.
"Nowadays a quarter of the Georgian market is controlled by SOCAR
products, that's 200 thousand tonnes and in 2008 the figure will reach
300 thousand. We plan to invest USD 100 million in Georgia in 2008.
The aggressive retail approach development in the country has been
reflected in SOCAR turnover - USD 400 million. Since April 25 we'll
exploit the very first complex including 15 filling stations and by
the end of 2009 I assume the number will reach 32-33," Elshad
Nassirov, Vice President of SOCAR , Azeri State owned company, told
The FINANCIAL.
On Mar 10, 10:12 pm, ++ <fri...@spambot.com> wrote:
> Dear Matthew, is this your article or is muckraking hillbilly another
> person?
>
> What you are talking about in issue one, care for the elderly and other
> people in need, is kindness toward our elders and extended families
> which works if people are both Orthodox, inclusive, community oriented
> and are able to atually give the care, something you can't do if you
> have both members of a couple working jobs outside the home in order to
> afford that home for the family to live in.
>
> Issue two, reasonable alternativves to people in power is a problem in
> many countries, not just Georgia. Who are the alternatives to
> Saakashvili? Why don' twe ever hear about these alternatives? Why
> isn't at least the Georgian diaspora showcasing new leadership and ideas
> online? I recognize your effort - great.
>
>
>
> muckraking_hillbi...@yahoo.com wrote:
> >re: Georgia needs a totally new opposition, or she will sink.
>
> ...
>
> read more >>- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
tootsie.in...@gmail.com
The answer seems a resoundant 'NO'!!!
May 21 2008 Zugdidi, Georgia
Parliamentary Election Day
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=18302
WATCH THE VIDEO, by Michael Ross McConnell, http://www.driveway.com/c1g5u0b9z1
[DAY OF REVOLT, TBILISI]
Many reports in at 10am, already, of vote rigging and non-
transparencies
“Far from democratic parliamentary process, nor a fair and balanced
election”, says Matthew L. Bryza
ONLY A FULLY RE-LOADED NEW PARLIAMENT
WILL BE THE BEST SHOT FOR THE FUTURE OF GEORGIA
by Matthew L. Bryza
Georgia needs a totally new opposition, or she will sink.
For the Future of Georgia !!
I believe Ms. Hammick, a reporter recently writing for JANE'S DEFENSE
WEEKLY, upon the upcoming election in Tbilisi, was practicing the art
of, as F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, of "the test of a first rate
intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at
the same time, and still retain the ability to function".
How so? She was evidently flipping through her mind the several
conflicting tentative dates set for the parliamentary elections,
starting back in late 2003. Since Nov. 23rd, 2003, when President
Saakashvili parachuted into his position as ruler of Georgia, and the
rarely clarified-in-the-media Georgian constitutional amendments,
made in December, 2005, most people are understandably deeply confused
and
divided on basic democratic procedures here, regarding efforts that
would help the majority of people, rather than propping up some cold
and abstract ideology in its stead, helping old insiders and new
“graspers,” only.
Here is a blurb from Freedom House back in mid 2005, to refresh your
memories of the jigsaw puzzle of parliamentary election procedures
here:
[First, Saakashvili and NED and the Liberty Institute set in train
the protests which brought him to power on 23rd November, 2003. Thus,
it
can be argued, that parliamentary elections should have been held in
Nov. of 2007.]
15.06.2005 - Source: Freedom House, ... the 2004 elections were
somewhat free and fair; however, the level of political pluralism had
been severely reduced, as no party could compete with National
Movement-Democrats
("Nations in Transit 2005") [#32929], [ID 4745]
"...the elections of 2004 were considered generally free and fair,
though voter lists were still not fully complete. There was no
harassment of the opposition. However, the level of political
pluralism was sharply reduced as the former ruling party completely
disbanded and no political group could compete with Mikhail
Saakashvili and his National Movement-Democrats.
Only one opposition bloc of the New Rights and Industrialists was able
narrowly to
overcome the 7 percent threshold for party lists."
Historical Margin Note #1 on Georgia before you read further:
Compared to Georgians and their 6 or 7 thousand year old fiercely
loyal and
family-relations-devoted traditions, how many Americans do you know
who actually continue to look after their old parents and older
grandparents and perhaps their great grandparents too, themselves?
Perhaps in the same household? These Georgians, all of them here,
would NEVER put an older family member into a rest home, or a Memory
Care Home or into a criminally overpriced USA-style and shamefully
profitable nursing/senior/memory care home, you know -- the kind of
racket in the States backed up in large measure by HHS/MEDICARE
political insiders, working along with State and Federal
congresspersons, to milk the tax systems bone dry!
These same Georgians are trying to use this familial passion and
commitment to
forge a new and democratic Parliament this May 21st, 2008, but the
likelihood of any success is as slender as the homeless of New
Orleans to get their property back via FEMA programs after Hurricane
Katrina.
The forces here preventing a true democracy in Georgia are the
identically same forces at work against them there in Louisiana and
Mississippi and Texas.
Margin Note #2--QUESTION: How many Americans
typically speak and read three languages and alphabets, and who work
anywhere from 10 to 25 hours a week overtime, with not even a tetri
[penny] of paid overtime, and who never complain about the total lack
of labor laws coming out of their Parliament??? Again, nearly zero.
These Georgians here have not yet been educated by their strictly
censored media, in any shape or form, upon labor laws or labor
rights, yet the USAID personnel here and the US embassy swear this is
a
"beacon of light" regarding fulfillment of democratic ideals!
A whole new team of concerned Georgians need to take over their
parliament, this May 21st, these citizens desperately need new
opposition forces deep in their Parliament, and not only the elites
and millionaire businessmen/women that they now have as MPs, and THEY
should be the 'new ones' to select a new president, if there is to be
any hope of true democracy here in Georgia any year soon.
click here http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2008/04/30927_en.pdf
[ for a full OSCE report on the unlikelihood of a fair and square
parliamentary election in Tbilisi on May 21, 2008 [HIGHLY
UNLIKELY] ]
A president such as "Misha" [short for Saakashvili], who galloped
into power overnight on the day quoted above, would be fairly tested
by
the people of his new democracy, if and only if, the people
themselves
gave him something like his report card grades after the last 4 long
years in which he could evaluate himself too, in careful and painful
self-examination. The result of a revitalizing and invigorating new
parliamentary election process, in which a `new batch of 2008
parliamentary MPs', not in any way part of Saakashvili's clan, nor
part of the current Opposition's clan, could and would implement
fresh and vigorous legislation and programs. If only they had been
allowed
to do so at the end of 2007, a global miracle would have been born –
a real beacon of light !!!
A real beacon of light, especially when one considers the helpful and
democracy-building funding from outside agencies of the last 4 years,
thanks to credits and currencies from the USAID, the EU, the UN,
SECO/ SDC, the German and Polish governments, et al, who have greatly
helped make many of the improvements the Georgians have desperately
needed,
after the mayhem and ugly scenarios following the collapse of
communism in this nation.
Isn't this Parliamentary “stuffing” the nub of the conflict today,
and a major cause of the loss of public and international confidence
in
the current Saakashvili government? Aren't I correct that these
Georgians need to immediately reload their Parliament?
Georgians themselves, excluding the ever and over and twice again
prospering current Members of Parliament, the normal children of the
legendary Family of Georgia are cut off at the knees from any kind of
truly democratic structures and planks and platforms, in nearly every
respect, in the current situation.
Can anyone remember how Shevardnadze reinstated most of his Parliament
after he dismissed
them, more or less, can you dig out these events from the faded
memories of the past? How many key players in Saakashvili's current
clan worked at one time [for quite a long while, indeed] on the
monorail of Shevaradnadze's express train to disunity and oblivion
and
hunger?
Will not the Saakashvili MPs and he as their leader, and most of the
old Opposition MPs, simply repeat the same mistakes again and again?
So we might conclude after an hour or two of productive thought on
this matter, [i.e., of a fresh and uncompromised Parliament], that
the Georgian people were indeed deprived of a timely, and legal, and
in-
their-favor, parliamentary election, in November of 2007, which might
have brought about the promising guiding-light of fresh teams of
Georgian MBAs and MDs and Masters degree winners, coming back from
USA, UK and Germany and France-- the EU, et al.
A parliament comprised of the principals and top teachers of Tbilisi
and Kutaisi and Batumi and Telavi schools, and Georgian physician-
activists for the desperately needed hospital care and health care
here for the struggling desperate people of Georgia, and along with
them also the passionate property rights activists fighting the
Chancellery, and the grey panthers of organized parties of
disgruntled pensioners, and the many magnificent and proud Georgians,
which
include displaced farmers from their hectares who are being replaced
by huge corporate conglomerate automated farms, owned by many current
MPs, these urgently needed new MPs -- who could have stampeded into
parliament as newly elected MPs this if just given the chance -- and
that this imagined truly democratic and model parliamentary election,
could have come into being at the most opportune time for the natives
of this land, late 2007, early 2008, consisting of the non-elite of
Georgia, basically. They would have swept out most of Misha's MPs,
and along with them the bulk of old Shevardnadze and Moscow-
resonating
fiddlers too, who/which are frequently and deeply embedded in the
half- dozen or more, old and very tiresome Opposition parties here, as
time
rolls on like tank treads on these pot-holed streets?
These never recruited and never elected new MPs would have averted
the hurried and hasty presidential elections of Jan. 5, 2008, and
would
just as likely waited until a late 2008 election date to install
their new president. By this time there would have been nearly a full
year
of generous and hospitable Georgian debates, within a newly
transfigured Parliament, MPs most probably not in tune with Misha
during this hypothetical 2008 year's passing, and they would all have
had to agree and/or disagree with each other in a gentlemanly or
ladylike way, until end of 2008. Political pluralism would have
flowered like the Garden of Eden, and new and friendly coalitions
would have emerged [only in this scenario] and triumphed from the
reforms of Saakashvili's first two years.
These new and unheard of, but now lost to Georgia's better and
undiscovered destiny, these many freshly minted MPs could have TRULY
debated issues and policies and finances, rather than the mud
slinging ejaculations and shout spasms we see today, and these angels
of
democracy were in many aspects stolen from the garden of justice,
just as its flowers were showing her firsts blossoms. These
hypothetical
MPs might have had the chance to vote in Parliament on the issues
TRULY important to THEM and to their constituents, and not just to
pocket USAID money for imported goods laden highways, nor toady up to
the Pentagon's missile strategies for Georgia, nor kneel to the
proponents of Vladimir Putin, his inner team evidently NOT allies of
Georgia, nor would these ideal MPs have supported the old camaraderie
business ties to Russia are still deeply entrenched here, but not
clearly seen, and counterproductive to a new democracy.
I am truly astonished by the bright and hopeful and hard-working and
self-sacrificing Georgians in their 20s and 30s and 40s and 50s also,
who are well educated with admirable characters and genuine integrity
and who want to make a big difference in their country's destiny, in
a disciplined communitarian manner, women most welcome too, to join
the
ranks, and they are all blocked by the current `map of democracy', by
teams, Saakashvili's team, and the motley cluster of Opposition
teams.
Typical and honest Georgians must control the future of Georgia , and
not American military investment conglomerates nor old Russian mafia
business networks.
These sterling Georgians mentioned directly above are the citizens
who belong in Parliament and THEY should select a president, if there
is
to be any hope of true democracy here any year soon. After this
"turn- around", Presidential elections could be arranged to coincide
with
Parliamentary elections, as in other nations. After such a model
transition, Saakashvili would go down in history as a fine and
admired agent of transition, a team player who saw he should enter
private
business after 4 years at the helm, rather than what is in store for
his legacy should he win the election this Jan. 5th. His past
achievements would quite likely be blemished beyond repair by another
term in office.
These new hypothetical MPs would be loyal to Georgia, and her best
interests, and not to Saakashvili, as if he were their beloved CIS
factory boss, or a Godfather in a Francis Ford Coppola film, or a
mirror of Putin's autocracy, and these new hypothetical MPs would not
and could not be loyal, either, to any tricked-out business interests
of the old Opposition, one would pray.
Georgia needs a totally new opposition, or she will sink.
ONLY A FULLY RE-LOADED NEW PARLIAMENT WILL BE THE BEST SHOT FOR THE
FUTURE OF GEORGIA
Matthew L. Bryza is a commentator on affairs in Turkey and the
Caucasus. He has many years experience working in Washington DC.
WATCH THE VIDEO, by Michael Ross McConnell, http://www.driveway.com/c1g5u0b9z1
[DAY OF REVOLT, TBILISI]
Shalva Natelashvili, the leader of Labor Party, said that many
international observers and officials including Bruce George, the Vice-
President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly embedded deeply into the
Parliament Building in Tbilisi, who is currently in Georgia for the
May 21 parliamentary elections, as well as Mathew Bryza, a young neo-
con and pro-military contractor facilitator, and the U.S. Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State for the region, were President
Saakashvili’s “lobbyists to whom this regime is transferring money.”
He also said that Bruce George was “unfortunately British Labor MP,”
who is quite cozy with BP Oil and BP Oil pipeline projects.