Author: Goga Akhalkatsi

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…

Following the successful conclusion of the first tender of the EU renewable energy financing mechanism on 27 September 2023, 8 solar PV projects with a total capacity of 282.77 MW have been awarded funding. All applications which passed the eligibility check, and which met the minimum quality requirements, were ranked based on the price of their bid to the tender, starting from the lowest price, until the total budget of the tender (€40 million) was absorbed. The selected projects are now invited by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) to prepare a grant agreement and will have to commence their solar…

Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, will be in Tbilisi, Georgia, to participate in the first EU-Georgia High-Level Energy Dialogue. This dialogue comes after months of intense common work in the field of energy. The discussions will focus on alignment with key EU energy legislation, development of energy infrastructure and connectivity, and promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy.It comes in the context of the Commission recommending last week to grant Georgia the status of EU candidate country. Commissioner Simson will co-chair the High-Level Dialogue with the Vice-Prime Minister for Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Levan Davitashvili. The Dialogue will be an opportunity to…

London, Dublin (1/11 – 66) Hamas is sheltered in a sea of civilians. Ostensibly a Palestinian political and military organization established in 1987, Hamas “governs” on the basis of having won a majority in the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections – defeating Fatah, another Islamist terror combine – before forming a government in the Gaza Strip, described as “…the world’s largest open-air prison” for its Palestinian inhabitants. So why don’t the Palestinians, having been robbed of their ancient lands, simply up and move somewhere else? It is telling that none of the Islamic nations surrounding Israel care to admit any more…

The Georgian Government has been working with the country’s international partners and financial institutions to transform Georgia into the regional transport, logistics and digital hub, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili told the Global Gateway Forum on Wednesday in Brussels. In his speech as the keynote speaker at a working panel session on transport corridors hosted within the framework of the Forum, Garibashvili highlighted Georgia’s strategic geographic location – “being at the crossroads of Europe and Asia” – as one of the country’s “strongest assets”. He emphasised “an enhanced connectivity” as a “priority” of Georgia’s domestic agenda and noted despite not having…