Author: Goga Akhalkatsi

On November 14, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin called for “more energetic work” by the co-chairs of the Geneva International Discussions with official Tbilisi to prevent “new aggravations” on the occupation line near Tskhinvali/South Ossetia region. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Galuzin made these remarks while meeting the Co-Chairs of the Geneva International Discussions (GID), from OSCE, EU, and UN. The meeting was held in preparation for the next round of the GID slated for early December 2023. The Russian diplomat’s intervention comes after the Russian occupation border troops shot and killed a Georgian citizen, Tamaz Ginturi, on November 6 near the village…

The Pentagon has quietly ramped up military aid to Israel, delivering on requests that include more laser-guided missiles for its Apache gunship fleet, as well as 155mm shells, night-vision devices, bunker-buster munitions and new army vehicles, according to an internal Defense Department list. The weapons pipeline to Israel is extending beyond the well-publicized provision of Iron Dome interceptors and Boeing Co. smart bombs. It continues even as Biden administration officials increasingly caution Israel about trying to avoid civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip. The arms sought by Israel as it fights Hamas, designated as a terrorist group by the US…

Women have long been projected to outlive men — not just in the U.S. but around the world, both in more developed and underdeveloped countries. Now that gender gap appears to be growing stateside, with women expected to live nearly six years longer than men, according to new research. The study looked at the contributions of COVID-19 and other underlying causes of death to the life expectancy gender gap from 2010 to 2021. It found that the difference in how long men and women were expected to live increased by 0.23 years from 2010 to 2019 and 0.70 years from 2019 to 2021.…

Everything’s coming up Copilot — including Bing. Today at Microsoft Ignite 2023, the company renamed Bing Chat, the AI-powered chatbot it launched on Bing earlier this year, to Copilot in Bing. Meanwhile, the premium, corporate-focused version of Bing Chat, which was previously called Bing Chat Enterprise, has also been rebranded to Copilot. Why the name changes? Not to cause confusion, Microsoft swears — despite the fact that the company now has roughly a dozen products that share the Copilot brand. “Renaming ‘Bing Chat Enterprise’ to ‘Copilot’ reflects our vision to create a unified Copilot experience for consumer and commercial customers,” Caitlin Roulston, director of communications…

BRATISLAVA — Slovakia’s new prime minister, Robert Fico, presented a tax-and-spend program for approval by the country’s parliament on Tuesday as his government embarked on a four-year term. Pensioners, mortgage holders, and low-income groups were the principal targets of extra public money. Nominations to the government, however, suggest the ruling coalition has another policy agenda, which includes protecting key allies from legal jeopardy and thumbing its nose at liberal democracy. His cabinet features politicians previously charged with crimes, including Fico himself and former Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák, who now has the defense portfolio. Deputy Justice Minister Pavol Gašpar was also previously charged; cases against all three men were later dropped.…

Russia on Tuesday said the 3+3 format meeting on South Caucasus the previous day in Tehran was “in-depth and productive,” and there is a “serious potential” of promoting interaction between the participating countries, Azernews reports, citing Yeni Safak. “An in-depth and productive discussion took place regarding the prospects for the development of cooperation between the countries of the region,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the meeting also attended by the top diplomats of Türkiye, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Armenia. Georgia did not participate in the dialogue due to the “Russian…

As the saying goes, only fools repeat the same things over and over but expect different results. Unfortunately, not just ordinary people but also big states frequently get entrapped in this snobbism. Overestimating itself, like people, the countries think that they can succeed in a project which other much stronger and wealthier countries failed. Currently, the best example of such a snobbish country is Iran. As is known, Russia has been supporting and even feeding Armenia over for 30 years, since the inception of its independence. Russia attached great importance to Armenia to such an extent that it constructed all…

Georgia’s State Security Service said Monday that mass riots are being prepared in the country aimed at overthrowing the government. In a statement on its website, the security service said the rebellion may start in October-December, using the pretext of the European Commission granting Georgia EU candidacy status. “According to information received as a result of an investigation, a certain group of persons operating on the territory of Georgia and abroad this October-December plans to organize destabilization and mass riots in Georgia, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the government by force,” it said. The service identified former Interior Minister…

Frankfurt (11/09 – 20) Two international human rights organizations have called on the Tajikistan government to immediately release jailed lawyer and human rights activist Manuchehr Kholiknazarov, as well as other activists and journalists. The International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) and the international non-profit organization CIVICUS, which bills itself as “a global alliance aimed at strengthening the action of citizens and civil society around the world,” in their message published specially on the eve of Independence Day, September 8, focus on the fact that Tajik human rights activist and civil society activist Manuchehr Kholiknazarov was falsely sentenced to a long…

A court in Uzbekistan has sentenced a teenager to two-and-a-half years in prison for insulting President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The 19-year-old, a resident of the Kattakurgan district in the Samarkand region, was found by the court to have written comments on Instagram that could be deemed defamatory of the president. The verdict was passed in October but only made public by the Supreme Court late last week. According to the case materials, the man, who has been identified only by his initials, I.D., left the incriminating comment, the specific content of which has not been disclosed, under a video entitled “Presidential…