Issue #1333

Issue no: 1333

• FEBRUARY 4 - 10, 2022 • PUBLISHED WEEKLY

In this week’s issue...

FOCUS

Gov’t: Green Passports No Longer Needed in Georgia

ON RUSSIA V. NATO Javier Colomina on Georgia’s chances of joining NATO, and Russia’s ultimatums

PRICE: GEL 2.50

NEWS PAGE 2 PAGE 5

Corona Updates: Following the Global Trend, Georgia Eases Restrictions NEWS PAGE 2

POTI NEW SEA PORT Officially Opens BUSINESS PAGE 8

USAID Independent Living Program in Georgia – The Lagodekhi Independent Living Center SOCIETY PAGE 9

Image source: 1tv.ge

John Tefft: Ukraine 2022 vs Georgia 2008 INTERVIEW BY VAZHA TAVBERIDZE FOR RFE

M

oscow is continuing the war of words with Washington. This time the Kremlin wants the US to explain why it is "violating" the 1999 Istanbul Document’s provisions on "security indivisibility," according to which "no country should ensure its own security at the expense of the security of others." Russia points out that NATO enlargement, and especially talk of Ukraine joining NATO, is nothing more than a gross disregard of these provisions.

Radio Free Europe spoke to the former US Ambassador to Georgia, Ukraine and Russia John Tefft about the situation in Ukraine, Putin’s grand schemes, the Minsk agreement, and parallels with the war in Georgia in 2008.

RUSSIA RECEIVED A WRITTEN RESPONSE FROM THE US, AND NOW APPARENTLY WANTS ANOTHER PIECE OF CORRESPONDENCE ON THE PRINCIPLE OF INDIVISIBILITY OF SECURITY. WHAT'S THE WESTERN RESPONSE TO THIS? The fundamental point here is that the Russian

BI Auction ‘for ART’ Ceremony and Exhibition for Young Artists Competition CULTURE PAGE 11

Nona Gaprindashvili: I am Georgian. Yes, Throughout my Career I Played Against Male Chess Players and often Defeated them’ SPORTS PAGE 11 CULTURE PAGE 11 Prepared for Georgia Today Business by

Markets As of 31ͲJanͲ2022

BONDS

policy these days is to try to walk back a number of decisions that were made a long time ago, and to look at not just Ukraine, but European security as a whole. Putin thinks Ukraine is part of Russia, despite the fact the Ukrainians have fought for over a century to have an independent country, and certainly since 1991, tried to

build an independent country. Putin wants to turn back the clock so Ukraine doesn't have sovereignty or has limited sovereignty; so it is under Russia's sphere of influence, Russia's control or domination, hegemony, pick your word.

Continued on page 3

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NEWS

GEORGIA TODAY

FEBRUARY 4 - 10, 2022

Gov’t: Green Passports No Longer Needed in Georgia

O

n February 1, the regulation that citizens need to show proof of vaccination (“Green Passports”) in order to access facilities in Georgia was withdrawn by the government.

“Due to the rapid spread of Omicron and the mildness of the virus, and also in accordance with world practice, the obligation for citizens to hold a ‘green passport’ has been lifted. However, all systems remain in place and those who need a green passport to travel abroad will still be able to use this mechanism,” said Giorgi Ghibradze, Chief of Opera-

Corona Updates: Green Passports No Longer Needed in Georgia

tions at the Interagency Coordination Council.

At the meeting on Tuesday, it was highlighted that despite the growing number of corona cases, the situation is fully manageable, the pressure on the hospital sector is not increasing significantly, and the vast majority of patients are being treated at home and their health is being monitored by family doctors, whose number has increased even more in recent days.

The council meeting stressed the importance of vaccination to prevent possible complications in case of infection with the virus.

Exhibition of Valerian SidamonEristavi Works to Open at Art Palace

Image source: Reuters

BY ANA DUMBADZE

A

gainst the background of the deteriorating epidemiological situation, the Georgian government on February 1 announced that the regulation that citizens need to show proof of vaccination (“Green Passports”) in order to access facilities in the country was being withdrawn.

The decision regarding the annulment of the obligation for Green Passports while entering facilities caused dissatisfaction among part of the vaccinated population. However, the authorities explain the reason behind it was the rapid spread of the Omicron strain, due to which having a Green Passport to enter facilities was no longer justified.

This week, it was announced Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili had contracted coronavirus for a second timethis time the Omicron strain. He is said to be feeling well and continues to work remotely. The PM is fully vaccinated. He also caught coronavirus in April 2021.

Notably, health experts claim the Omicron strain has not caused a high number of hospitalizations and the country currently has free beds in hospitals. Most of the those infected with Omicron have mild or light symptoms and are receiving treatment at home.

THE STATISTICS

A

n exhibition of paintings

by Valerian SidamonEristavi is to open at the Georgian Art Palace on February 10, at 17:00.

The artist’s works were purchased by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs of Georgia within the framework of the project “Maintaining the Unity of Private Collections Important for Georgian Culture / Replenishing Museum Funds.”

Valerian Sidamon-Eristavi made a great contribution to the development of the historical genre of painting and is one of the founders of this genre in Georgian art. In addition, he belongs to the first generation of Georgian theater artists.

From 1920 to 1923 Valerian SidamonEristavi was the only professional painter of the Georgian theater.

The exhibition, which will last one month, will feature 50 works by the artist.

Georgia reported 24, 201 coronavirus cases, 10,732 recoveries, and 36 deaths on Tuesday. Tbilisi recorded the highest number of 11,800 Covid-19 cases, followed by the Imereti region with 3, 134 cases, and the Adjara region with 2, 204 cases.

26,320 coronavirus cases, 9,555 recoveries, and 44 deaths were recorded on Wednesday. Tbilisi recorded 12,804 cases, followed by Imereti with 3,689 cases, and Adjara with 2,190 cases.

Georgia reported 23,664 coronavirus cases, 8,326 recoveries, and 42 deaths on Thursday. Tbilisi recorded the highest

number of 11,543 Covid-19 cases within 24 hours, followed by the Imereti region with 3,413 cases, and the Adjara region with 2,334 cases.

THE CASES WORLDWIDE More than 370 million cases and over 5.6 million deaths linked to Covid-19 have been reported worldwide.

Yet the loosening of Omicron’s grip in many places has given rise to hope that the outbreak is about to enter a new phase in which the virus will become, like the flu, a persistent but generally manageable threat that people can live with.

New York’s governor plans in the next week to review whether to keep the state’s mask mandate at a time when cases and hospitalizations have plummeted. New York City is averaging 4,200 cases a day, compared with 41,000 during the first week of January.

“The US as a whole is on a similar trajectory, with infections plunging from an average of over 800,000 a day two and a half weeks ago to 430,000 this week,” reports Global News..

“England, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and several Nordic countries have taken steps to end or loosen their restrictions. In some places, like Norway and Denmark, the easing comes even though case counts are still hovering near their highs. Some governments are essentially betting that the pandemic is ebbing.”

“Rest assured that the worst days are behind us,” said Health Minister Fahrettin Koca of Turkey, where the number of daily infections topped 100,000 on Tuesday, the highest on record in the country of over 80 million.

Last week, England ended almost all domestic restrictions. Masks aren’t required in public, vaccine passes are no longer needed to get into public venues, and the work-from-home order has been lifted.

Switzerland on Wednesday scrapped work-at-home and quarantine requirements and announced plans for an easing of other restrictions in the coming weeks.

However, rules and restrictions remain strict in Germany and Austria. A new law came into force in Austria this week that makes vaccination against Covid-19 compulsory for anyone over 18. Several countries have introduced mandates for the elderly or medical staff, but this is the first nation in Europe to adopt such sweeping measures, reported the BBC. Austria's government says vaccinations are effective at combating severe disease, and that the law is needed to prevent future lockdowns.

Currently, certain countries, particularly in Asia and Europe, are facing another emerging variant of Omicron - Omicron BA.2. While BA.2 appears to be more transmissible than previous variants, there is no data yet to suggest that it is any more severe.

While BA.1 and BA.2 are similar, they are 20 mutations apart.

It is not clear where BA.2 originated, but it was first detected in the Philippines in November.

The sub-variant of Omicron has been detected in 57 countries now, the WHO says. In some countries, BA.2 accounts for more than half of sequenced Omicron cases, it adds.

In some places, growth in recorded cases of the sub-variant has been sharp.

In Indi,a BA.2 is rapidly replacing the Delta and Omicron BA.1 variant, according to molecular biologist Bijaya Dhakal.

It is already the dominant variant in several states and likely drove the country's recent third wave of infections.

According to Denmark's Statens Serum Institut (SSI), BA.2 infections rose to account for about half of the country's reported Covid cases in January.

A study of 8,500 households and 18,000 individuals conducted by Denmark's SSI found that BA.2 was "substantially" more transmissible than BA.1.

The study also showed evidence to suggest that the BA.2 sub-variant is better able to evade vaccines. However, vaccinated people are still less likely to get infected than unvaccinated individuals, and they are also less likely to pass it on.

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY FEBRUARY 4 - 10, 2022

3

Ukrainian MP Oleksii Goncharenko: Putin’s blackmail Should Receive Only One Answer, and that Answer Should be “No!” don't want to see that it's not a commercial project, but a geopolitical one, which will put the whole of Europe in danger.

And second is that there is a still-enduring feeling of guilt towards the Russians for the Nazi war crimes committed during World War 2. But they forget, or don’t want to remember, that the biggest loss of life to Nazi crimes was seen by the Ukrainians, Belarusians and Polish. These lands were absolutely devastated during the war: It wasn’t just Russian people who suffered.

THERE ARE CALLS IN SOME WESTERN COUNTRIES NOT TO GET INVOLVED, THAT IT DOES NOT CONCERN THEM, THAT THEY SHOULD STAY OUT OF THE DISPUTE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE. WHAT WOULD BE YOUR COUNTER ARGUMENT TO THEM? Oleksii Goncharenko, Member of the Ukrainian Parliament. Image source: N/A

INTERVIEW BY VAZHA TAVBERIDZE

W

hat is the mood in Ukraine? Do they expect a war? What do they think about the Western aid, Berlin's rreluctant position and the lack of support voiced from Georgia, a strategic partner? These and other questions were put to Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Member Oleksii Goncharenko by RFE / RL.

WHAT'S THE MOOD IN UKRAINE? WHAT DO PEOPLE THERE EXPECT? People in Ukraine are very much concerned about the Russian troops on our border, but there is no panic. Ukraine has been at war with the Russian Federation for eight years now, and that means that it has become an everyday

reality; we got used to it. That’s why people are not panicking. I think this is just blackmail from Putin rather than a genuine plan to invade, but all possibilities are on the table, because we're speaking about an aggressor. If we are strong enough, there will be no new invasion; if we are not, he will act.

I want to thank all those countries helping Ukraine, not only in word, but in practical means, with weapons, with financial support. Thanks to the United States, the United Kingdom, to Baltic countries, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, to the Czech Republic, to Poland, all the countries which are helping us today with defensive weapons and other practical things. The more such help we receive, the less is the possibility of a new great war in the heart of Europe.

YOUR “GRATITUDE LIST” DIDN'T MENTION GERMANY, DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT'S

SENDING A FIELD HOSPITAL AND 5000 HELMETS. WHAT'S THE UKRAINIAN RESPONSE TO THE IMPRESSION OF GERMAN INVOLVEMENT IN ALL OF THIS? To tell the truth, I'm disappointed with Germany’s position. Certainly, I'm thankful for any help- 5000 Helmets is good, the mobile hospital is good, and I thank them for this. But their position on the weapons supply, their refusal to supply even Eastern German artillery, a very old one, from Estonia, to Ukraine. I cannot find an explanation for this. The fact British aircraft decided to circumvent German airspace to come to Ukraine is impossible to understand. Add to that the statements of the Prime Minister of Bavaria and now former chief of the German navy.

I think there are two reasons for Germany’s position. Firstly, the canonical one: they want to operate Nord Stream 2 and make business with Putin. They

The counter argument is absolutely clear: European history has shown that you can never appease the aggressor enough that they stop. So, if Russia is successful in Ukraine, they will go further. Ukraine is not Putin’s first victim: There was Georgia before. We’re talking about a man who considers the collapse of the Soviet Union the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century. This means that he will go further - for the Baltic countries, for Poland, Finland, for other countries which were under the control of the Soviet Union and part of the Russian Empire. And the second argument is that if there is a really largescale war, Ukraine will fight for its independence. This will result in thousands of victims; nuclear stations destroyed, because Ukraine is full of technologically dangerous objects, and millions of refugees. Nobody in Europe will be able to distance themselves from it.

AND THERE ARE THOSE WHO

ARGUE IT MIGHT BE SAFER FOR UKRAINE TO RECONSIDER ITS NATO AMBITIONS, THAT IT WOULD BE LESS OF A SACRIFICE THAN IMMEDIATE RUSSIAN AGGRESSION; TALKS OF UKRAINE BECOMING NEUTRAL, A MORATORIUM THAT WOULD TEMPORARILY FREEZE THE NATO EXPANSION PROCESS, ETC. WHAT WOULD UKRAINE'S RESPONSE TO THAT BE? Maybe it's not for Ukraine to decide, but for NATO. But if NATO will accept such conditions from Russia, then I believe NATO will not be NATO anymore, because the next thing Russia will make them do is go back to 1997, with its 16 member countries. Giving Russia the right to decide who can be in NATO and who can’t means, to quote Boris Johnson, that “some countries are more sovereign than others.” I believe that Putin’s Blackmail Should receive only one answer, and that answer should be no. Everything else he will consider a weakness and he will then blackmail for more.

EARLIER, WE WERE TALKING ABOUT COUNTRIES OFFERING SUPPORT NOT ONLY THROUGH WORDS, BUT THROUGH DEEDS, TOO. HOW SATISFIED ARE YOU WITH THE SUPPORT GEORGIA, A STRATEGIC PARTNER, HAS PROVIDED SO FAR? Were there any statements about supporting Ukraine, or calls for a de-escalation from the Prime Minister or the President? I haven't heard them. If there were no statements, that’s certainly disappointing. It's a pity and very disappointing.

I hope to hear Georgia’s position. In 2008, Ukraine had a clear position in support of Georgia. Our President went to Tbilisi and he said, “We stand by you.”

John Tefft: Ukraine 2022 vs Georgia 2008 Continued from page 1 The second part is these sweeping “treaty drafts” that Russia has put forward. Most serious analysts, from the beginning, looked at these and said, “There's no way” because it basically goes back and under and tries to undo all that has been achieved in trying to build a European security system, and some stability in Europe and Eastern Europe; security that helped Europe elude wars in the late 20th century. And it's no surprise that the United States, Europe all want to keep the existing system in place.

What Putin and Russia are trying to do is to challenge that fundamental point; to break down the old institutions. And they did so to an extent with the invasion of Ukraine in 2014, and by challenging many of them now to build a new European security architecture, which, frankly, is going to be much more unstable than what we've tried to achieve thus far. For me, this is a fundamental question for Europeans: Do you want to go back to those battle days? I don't think so. We certainly don't in the United States.

HOW WOULD YOU EXPLAIN THE GROWING DISCREPANCY BETWEEN THE ALARM COMING FROM WASHINGTON AND AN INCREASING NUMBER OF STATEMENTS FROM UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS PLAYING DOWN THE POSSIBILITY OF AN ATTACK?

I think it's important to keep in mind all of the different audiences here, and not to overreact to this or that particular statement. Some of the signals that President Biden is trying to send are not just to Ukraine, but are public warnings about a Russian military attack- sent as signals to Russia to try to help lead the NATO alliance in dealing with this Russian-manufactured threat to European security. I think President Zelensky has to manage the Ukrainian people, who are quite concerned about a Russian attack; to manage expectations there.

Clearly, the Russian military buildup is very advanced, it's very threatening and worrying and dangerous. I'm not sure what President Putin has actually decided, as Russian leaders themselves have said he and he alone is calling the shots, both literally and figuratively.

WITH BERLIN AND PARIS PURSUING THEIR TWO-TRACK DIPLOMACY, HOW LIKELY IS IT THAT THE NORMANDY FORMAT AND THE FOCUS ON THE MINSK ACCORDS WILL PROVE MORE SUCCESSFUL IN DEALING WITH RUSSIA? It's going to take a political decision, and this is the problem with the Minsk agreement. Sure, it had a group of elements that would stabilize and withdraw Russian military equipment and forces from the Donbas, but then there were also pieces about giving Donbas more autonomy and a greater say in the government.

Those are still non-starters, because we

ON TO GEORGIA NOW DOES THE SITUATION AT THE UKRAINIAN BORDER AND THE ONGOING BLAME GAME REMIND YOU OF THE PRELUDE TO THE 2008 WAR?

Former US Ambassador to Georgia, Ukraine and Russia John Tefft. Image source: The Moscow Times

know how strongly the Ukrainian people feel about these things. They're not going to give Russia or Russian proxies a say inside the government in Kyiv, particularly after what they've been doing this past year.

ACCORDING TO THE LATEST REPORTS, THE US AND GERMANY HAVE REACHED A CONSENSUS THAT IN CASE OF ESCALATION, NORD STREAM 2 WILL BE PART OF THE WESTERN SANCTIONS. HOW IMPORTANT IS THAT INCLUSION FOR THE SANCTIONS TO BE TRULY “UNPRECEDENTED”?

I personally think it's very important.

Some of the best news I heard yesterday

was that Chancellor Scholz is planning a trip to Washington. I think it’s important that President Biden and the Chancellor sit down and have a real heart-toheart talk about this and a whole range of other issues. President Biden has said that if Nord Stream 2 doesn't go through, or if gas is cut off, this won't be easy for Europe. There are fundamental principles at stake here. And I'm sure one of the things that the President and the Chancellor will talk about is, if things do go to the point of military conflict, how will we manage such energy issues?

The White House has said, “We will do everything we can to get more energy supplies into Europe,” and I'm sure efforts are already being made or planned to deal with that issue.

I was there with courageous Georgia and its people during that period, so I remember it well.

From February 10-20 this year, Russia is carrying out exercises, as they call them, in Belarus, with the Belarusian forces. By the 20th of February, all their troops will be there. At that time, the Olympics will be coming to an end in China. Many of the analysts felt that President Putin would not launch anything during the Olympics so as not to upstage his friend, President Xi of China.

But if you end up with a lot of extra Russian forces on the border with Belarus… well, ask any Georgian if they remember what happened in Georgia in 2008, when there were “exercises” in the North Caucasus, and many of those troops did not go home after the exercise was completed – they were among those who invaded Georgia. And there were Olympic Games in China back then as well. There are a lot of parallels here that make you wonder. The move was designed in Moscow, and Foreign Minister Lavrov, in the nowfamous phone call with Secretary of State Rice, basically admitted this was about a regime change. So, the other day when I heard the British announcement that Russia was talking to some of the former Ukrainian leaders in exile, that also came to mind.

4

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY

FEBRUARY 4 - 10, 2022

For Discussion Purposes Only ANALYSIS BY VICTOR KIPIANI, CHAIRMAN OF GEOCASE

T

he field of international relations of late has been marked with a lack of civilized approach. The global order has seen a notable decline in the influence of moral authority which has been replaced by the factor of power in an uncompromised and open manner. What was acknowledged as the basics of the process in the 1990s or the beginning of the 21st century, has been turned upside down. Diverse and multilayered conceptual-theoretic “isms” have become a ground of solving, or to be more precise, “sorting out” the issues.

However, that plurality and abundance of doctrines have failed to make a few maxims of doing business in international arena look better: strong actors ignore the interests of weaker ones and move ahead relying on their strength, seemingly long-term agreements are of situational and tactical nature, while in the fight for the redistribution of influence, an open “trading” has been replacing a natural rationalism for real politics. In the field of research, such transformation of behavioral norms is referred to as a disruption of established order while in a more colloquial language it is called the upsetting of well-established world order.

It is rather difficult to predict how far the above-mentioned transformation will go, how long it will take to achieve a new balance. A tougher challenge for the time being is to accurately describe that emerging sociomoral order or “unorderly order” in which we and several coming generations will have to live.

However, I believe that already available materials and practice provide a sufficient ground for articulating several obvious and arguable observations about a foreign policy (and not only) positioning of our country. We have decided to publicly share several of these observations and views at the end of the year.

Like all previous papers, this paper also pursues the same key objective: to encourage debates among interested circles about the challenges posed to our country, to strengthen to the maximum extent possible a national position of Georgia in a swiftly changing “unorderly order,” to proactively plan a Georgian political course in light of global or regional jigsaw puzzles and execute it in non-standard, innovative ways. Furthermore, it would be regarded as one of key outcomes of discussions on the existing problem if stagnation in thinking is overcome, a benign monopoly on making assessments is dismantled, a narrow exclusivity (the phenomenon called “bubble” in foreign literature) on drawing out conclusions is removed, and a conjunctural “TV talk-show” analytics is replaced by truly national-interestscentered research and exploration. Oth-

erwise, it will become impossible to make headway while atrophying impartial and unbiased intellectual process will have damaging implications for state institutions, the country’s competitiveness, functionality and international viability.

To communicate our views in a clear and concise manner, we chose to formulate them as theses in the form of bullet points: 1. The Georgian politics and diplomacy require truly “entrepreneurial skills” to escape being marginalized to the fringes of a newly emerging (unorderly) order and thus, being forgotten: being forgotten in modern times, however, means being totally insecure. The discussion of this issue leads us to so-called Georgian “grand strategy.”

2. Many will be surprised at the use of the collocation “grand strategy” in relation to Georgia. It is necessary to say for them to hear that acting according to a grand strategy is not the prerogative of global players alone. Our country, like any other country, may have and must have its own grand strategy. Grand strategy is not relevant to superpowers alone.

It is desirable and even more so, necessary to have for any country that, based on its national identity and values and in light of geopolitical circumstances, brings together its foreign, security and economic policies in an intellectual thought. Georgia belongs to this category of countries. Therefore, it is absolutely natural to have a grand Georgian strategy while not having it is a great misunderstanding.

3. The underlying principle of Georgia’s grand strategy should be rationalism and pragmatism of Georgian politics, its flexibility and capacity to quickly and adequately adjust to changing realities.

Security and economic welfare of Georgian citizens, our national ego-standard must become a sound gauge of “suitability” of domestic and foreign political decisions. Today, when a clear focus on national interest and economic nationalism is a message of the new world context, the Georgian state cannot deviate from the agenda that is prompted by a maximum care for the development of the country. This, of course, implies maximum respect of global or regional norms and the fulfillment of obligations to international or other partners. This dominant element of Georgian grand strategy must be fully balanced with what is expected at the national and international levels. It is precisely such art of balancing that we see as the next step for further and fastest advance of Georgian political and social thought.

4. I believe that necessary accompanying components of the above-mentioned Georgian balancing are, on the one hand, the co-participation in a big picture (global processes) along with international allies and partners and on the other hand, the defining of our role and place in our region and immediate neighborhood. Readers are well aware that a

Image source: iamtbilisi.com

number of initiatives have been recently announced in the context of regional relationship. Even more, the South Caucasus region has seen such developments (changes) in the past few years, that gave rise to various initiatives – some acceptable and others unacceptable. In any case, I think that a clear feature of the new global order will be a greater regionalization based on the principle of regional networking of international politics and formation of strong regional-geopolitical centers. This trend is particularly noteworthy for us as the Black Sea region has been speedily taking form of a key regional and geopolitical center while a large, rather mixed neighboring landscape of South Caucasian does nothing but multiply unanswered difficult questions.

5. International and regional components of the Georgian foreign policy must be treated with equal importance in strategic planning and tactical execution. In reality, our country will have to adjust to two-dimensional – global and regional order. It must be noted that organic adjustment to both will be the objective of equal importance. Considering that the discrepancy between global (by rules of international partners) and regional (by regional peculiarities) may not be rare and insignificant, the viability of the Georgian state will have to pass a complex equation test and not only once but regularly. Finding a balanced common factor with both components serves the aim of inclusive involvement of our country in vitally important processes and hence, in parallel with the fulfillment of multilateral or bilateral international obligations, is related to Georgian national interests.

6. Georgian pragmatism does not, of course, exclude the support of valuebased order. After all, the values reflected in norms and principles of international law represent an additional instrument for ensuring statutory, historical, written or unwritten interests. Moreover, skilled and flexible operation by applying that pragmatism is critical for Georgia to obtain a favorable security environment.

Neither the rules of behavior, nor oth-

ers’ attitudes towards or assessments about you can be viewed as something static in the contemporary world. Therefore, the revision and improvement of “high-capacity” state instruments of adjusting to frequently changing security sphere is a continuous process. A number (though not many) of small states by population and area represent a good example of that. These examples need to be constantly monitored and studied by public and private segments within the format of public and private partnership in Georgia. One of the outcomes of the cooperation in this format will be the embedment of situationally suitable elements of so-called “emerging strategy” within the Georgian grand strategy (higher degree of security, better economy).

7. The notion of “national interest” has become rather complex and sometimes quite ambiguous in the past decades. It is not surprising considering the pace and scale of economic and technological or public and social changes. As a result, it has become difficult to determine the boundaries of “national interest.” Like in other countries, I think, the “Georgian national interest,” for the need to materialize in practical politics, must reject a static state and acquire a greater dynamism in time and space. Furthermore, agreement must be achieved on the formulation of several fundamental, systembuilding principles of national interests.

I believe that these principles include: (a) economic sustainability based on national security (without it a modern “national state” is a sheer fiction); (b) societal and institutional resilience to neutralize internal and external extremism and radicalization; (c) functionality of the country in the regional and subregional arena - without practical benefit to partners we will be forgotten while been forgotten we will become an easy prey for an adversary.

8. One can often hear today talks about a possible de-Americanization of Europe.

Obviously, the weakening of “link” of our strategic partner with Europe will directly translate into a further worsening of security environment in the greater

Black Sea basin. Thus, this possible trend (although, in my assessment, the US foreign and defense policy documents depict a bit opposite picture) is directly related to that understanding of Georgian national interests, which we have already discussed. Even more, the “lack of progress” in further enlargement of the North Atlantic Alliance makes it inevitable for Tbilisi to try new initiatives and possibilities. I called such attempts “compensation models” in my previous papers. In the conditions of Alliance’s “inability to enlarge”, the essence of “compensation” implies key elements such as: (a) a certain regional security configuration by applying a Black Sea factor (examples of which are available in the world practice, especially in the regions of Pacific and Indian Oceans); (b) a formal establishment of bilateral, highest-status security relations with the involvement of Georgia; (c) or both – the combination of Black Sea regional and bilateral security. It is a fact that revised initiatives are necessary to reduce geopolitical “bufferization” of a substantial part of greater Black Sea region and the official Tbilisi must take a direct and active part in formulating those initiatives. A stance of waiting for others, fully delegating the responsibility for national security on others in the world that is exhausted with innumerable problems is an inexcusable mistake which is greater than crime.

9. Our partners must understand full well that success of the Georgian cause is not a success of Georgians alone. It is their success too. Therefore, the ongoing processes require a cool-headed, rational and sound assessment. Being carried away, individually or collectively, by unsubstantiated criticism, the failure to objectively evaluate difficulties will cause damage to all participants in the common cause… Even more, a successful positioning of Georgia in the region is tantamount to successfully projecting the message of our partners via Georgian “soft power.”

We are destined by the history to live in a very complicated but at the same time, interesting period. This is a luck too as in contrast to previous generations we are given a chance to serve the present and future of our country both by talk and action. This is a great burden and simultaneously, a unique responsibility which needs to be adequately appreciated and acted upon, instead of wasting “political calories” senselessly and aimlessly as we see it becoming a vice “standard” of behavior today.

The world is becoming increasingly egotistic while resources of unconditional kindness and selfless support have been depleting. However, the number of those seeking these resources has not decreased. In order to avoid getting stuck in the waiting line of eternal seekers, we must put Georgian national efforts of professionalism, patriotism and integrity at the service of our own fate and future - even more so, as soon as possible.

UK Pledges £88 mln to Ukraine to Support Democracy and Reduce Reliance on Russia

BY ANA DUMBADZE

T

he United Kingdom is to provide GBP 88 million of new funding to aid efforts to build Ukraine’s resilience and reduce reliance on Russian energy supplies.

According to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, London is ready to continue military assistance and deepen economic cooperation with Ukraine, as well as to impose sanctions on Russia in case of aggression.

As Boris Johnson said during his visit

to Kyiv on February 1, the United Kingdom and other countries will be judged based on how much they help Ukraine.

According to Johnson, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will end in a humanitarian, political and military catastrophe for Russia and the world.

Johnson denied that the US and Britain were exaggerating the scale of the Russian threat.

“This is an obvious and current threat,” he said.

The presidential press service said Ukraine and the United Kingdom had agreed to work together to strengthen Ukraine’s security and the ability to

defend itself.

The leaders also expressed their commitment to strengthen Ukraine’s energy security and support its efforts towards the green transition.

In this context, Johnson announced GBP 88 million of new funding to aid efforts to build Ukraine’s resilience and reduce reliance on Russian energy supplies.

In conclusion, the two countries’ leaders reaffirmed their desire to deepen the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the UK in all areas of mutual interest, and to continue their engagement, particularly in the framework of the Ukraine-UK Strategic Dialogue.

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY FEBRUARY 4 - 10, 2022

5

Javier Colomina on Georgia’s Chances of Joining NATO, and Russia’s Ultimatums the things we need to see are there. But, of course, there are a few things that are not, and we've been conveying that to the Georgian side in terms of the reforms that we need to see, the domestic political situation, the extremes between the different parties is something that we don't like to see, of course, and we've been quite clear about that. That is among the concerns of those within the alliance that might have a different view on an open door for Georgia.

IS THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE IN THE PATH OF GEORGIA THAT IT NEEDS TO IMPLEMENT REFORMS AND TO IMPROVE THE DOMESTIC POLITICAL CLIMATE IN THE COUNTRY?

Javier Colomina, NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Security Policy and Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia. Image source: 1tv.ge

INTERVIEW BY VAZHA TAVBERIDZE

M

r Javier Colomina, a Spanish diplomat who replaced James Appathurai as NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia in September 2021, gave his first interview to Radio Free Europe.

Talking to Vazha Tavberidze about the security issues in the region, NATO's collective response to Russia and the so-called Rasmussen approach of getting Georgia into the alliance, Colomina says he plans to visit Georgia before the Madrid summit.

THERE WAS A STATEMENT MADE DURING THE OSCE & RUSSIA TALKS THAT WAS PARTICULARLY EVOCATIVE – THE POLISH CO-CHAIR SAID “THIS IS THE CLOSEST WE'VE BEEN TO A WAR WITH RUSSIA FOR THE LAST 30 YEARS”. IS THIS FEELING SHARED AT NATO? It's a difficult question to answer. The situation is a serious one, that's for sure.

The Russian military buildup has not stopped, and therefore the risk of conflict remains. At the same time, and whenever we've talked about that the Secretary General has been extremely clear, we are doing our utmost to work on the diplomatic path: we have offered paths of consultation to the Russians, we provided a set of specific proposals

that we believe can be a basis for dialogue, but not the ones they proposed us, which are basically unacceptable. We have been working on all the things that we believe can be a basis for a dialogue and a process related with transparency and risk reduction measures, with nonproliferation, with the communication between NATO and Russia, which is right now completely stalled. We really believe that it's time for diplomacy, we really believe there is still time for dialogue, but we need, of course, to continue work on our defense and deterrence.

And it is needed due to Russia’s actions.

We will convey that message as much as we need, and hopefully the Russians will stay engaged on this diplomatic path.

RUSSIA HAS MADE IT EQUALLY CLEAR THAT THEY'RE NOT INTERESTED IN THAT KIND OF DIALOGUE, AND THEY'VE OFFERED THEIR OWN ULTIMATUMS WHICH, AS YOU SAID, ARE UNACCEPTABLE TO YOU. SO WHERE DOES IT LEAVE US? Well, it leaves us in a difficult situation, to be honest. We are working and hoping for the best, but we need to prepare for any contingency. We know they have offered a few things that were mostly unacceptable. And we told them so, that we won’t compromise on our basic principles; we won't compromise on the rights of any nation to design, freely, its own path and its own security arrangements. We will, of course, support the territorial integrity and the sovereignty

of Ukraine and Georgia. Our hope, my personal hope, as a special representative and as a diplomat, is that they will really follow the diplomatic path.

MANY NEWS OUTLETS, AMONG THEM THE NEW YORK TIMES, GUARDIAN, THE HILL AND SO ON, INSINUATE THAT THERE COULD BE A MORATORIUM ON ENLARGEMENT - THE SIDES AGREE, LET'S SAY, NOT TO ENLARGE NATO FOR 20 YEARS AND THEN SEE WHAT HAPPENS. IS THIS ON THE TABLE? It is not on the table, it's completely off the table. I've read many articles in that sense, too. But we've been extremely clear with the Russians: we won't compromise on our basic principles, we won't compromise on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine or Georgia. I think it's 100% clear from NATO that we won't compromise on our open-door policy.

A CONSENSUS IS NEEDED TO ADMIT UKRAINE AND GEORGIA, BUT THERE ARE SKEPTICS TO THAT IDEA IN NATO. AS A SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE SOUTH CAUCASUS, WHAT WOULD NEED TO CHANGE FOR THAT CONSENSUS TO BE REACHED? Georgia is a very valued partner. All the tools that we offer our partners are in place, and we're working very well with Georgia, both in practical cooperation and in terms of political dialogue. We are very engaged, and I think most of

Yes, probably. What I said to the Georgians is that they need to be prepared for whenever the time comes. We know that right now is not the time for a breakthrough in the open-door policy. And I know the Georgian authorities know that, but they still need to be prepared, to fulfill all the reforms that are neededin electoral reform, judicial reform, security, etc. I know that the Georgians are doing a good job, but in some aspects, that job could be improved. And we need to see those reforms coming along. 2021 wasn't the best year in that sense. We saw a few things, such as the withdrawal from the April agreement with the European Union, which can be read as messages that are confusing to the allies. I had to do some talking here to explain the situation.

IF THERE WASN’T A RUSSIAN FACTOR, WOULD GEORGIA BE A MEMBER ALREADY? The decisions on the open door policy are taken by the 30 allies and by partners wanting to become part of the Alliance, no third party has a veto on those decisions. Russia doesn't have any influence.

Does the situation in the world geopolitics have an influence? Of course it does- on everything that is happening in the world. We've been very clear: accession is a matter that will be decided by the 30 allies. And by Georgia in this case.

WHAT ABOUT THE TERRITORIAL CONFLICTS IN UKRAINE AND GEORGIA? DO THEY IMPACT THE DECISION MAKING IN THE ALLIANCE? We have also been very clear about the territories occupied by Russia, and in my view, there is an absolute consensus by the allies that we support their sov-

ereignty and territorial integrity, and we have asked on repeated occasions for the withdrawal of Russian troops in countries where they are not welcomed.

We believe that Georgia should continue on its Euro-Atlantic path and whenever Georgia is ready to access NATO, it will do so, although I don't think there is a possibility to integrate just one part of Georgia. We believe that the territorial integrity of Georgia is a fundamental principle. And therefore we will press the Russians to withdraw their troops and at the same time, continue to work as we are doing towards Georgia’s accession.

THE FORMER SEC GEN FLOATED THE IDEA OF ADMITTING GEORGIA WITHOUT SOME OF ITS TERRITORIES. AND YOU COMMENTED ON THAT IN THE PAST, SAYING “IT'S NOT VERY HELPFUL IN THE CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES.” HOW SO? I think we have to stick to the principles we have defended all along. One of those is the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia. We wouldn't be doing a favor to the Georgians, in my opinion, if we accepted a sort of extension of a part of Georgia and moratorium on the territories that are occupied. I think we have to put the pressure where it has to be put, and that's on the Russian side. They know they have to withdraw their troops from the occupied territories. And we know that that's actually the path for Georgia to regain control of its own sovereignty. That's what we all want.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE CURRENT CONDITION OF THE GEORGIA MILITARY, ESPECIALLY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF WHETHER IT LIVES UP TO NATO STANDARDS? In most aspects, the relationship and the level of Georgian troops is optimal. It's not for every partner to be able to have 800 troops in a NATO operation without any trouble. We are having a NATO exercise in March. NATO and partners exercising within the partnership is not something that we do with every partner; it is something that we do very specifically with the partners that we believe are actually trained at the level to exercise with NATO directly. This alone is proof of how excellent the relationship is. I said before that I was planning a visit to Georgia at some point before the summit, and I will try to do so in the framework of the exercise.

Opposition UNM Party Ends Parliamentary Boycott

BY ANA DUMBADZE

T

he United National Movement has called off its parliamentary boycott and will engage in active parliamentary activities, Khatia Dekanoidze, Chairwoman of the National Movement faction, stated at a briefing on Monday.

As she noted, there were differences of opinion within the party on the issue, however, the decision was made “by the majority of members.”

The party, Dekanoidze says, will return

to Parliament with its own agenda, which includes “fierce spring protests” on the streets “to fight for the rights of the population by all means.”

“I would like to explain why our faction made this decision. Our party and country are facing the harshest realities and challenges. The third president of Georgia is in prison, captured by the regime. The international community says that his imprisonment is the political revenge of the regime and Bidzina Ivanishvili. Therefore, one of the main axes of our parliamentary activities will be the public disclosure of the regime, how the regime treats Mikheil Saakashvili using its repressive institutions. That

is why we are going to set up a factfinding commission.”

“This will be our own strategy to fight for the security and dignity of our people at all stages, on all fronts, not only in Parliament, not only in the city councils, but also in the streets, including fierce spring protests,” Dekanoidze said.

After the 2020 parliamentary elections, the UNM refused to enter parliament, and demanded the abolition of parliamentary mandates. Members of the biggest opposition party entered parliament on June 8, 2021. However, one month after that entry, after the violent events of July 5, the party again announced a parliamentary boycott.

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POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY

FEBRUARY 4 - 10, 2022

Red Tide Rising: Xi Jinping and the Rise of Chinese Influence

In late 2022, the Chinese Communist Party will hold its 20th National Party Congress, where Xi Jinping may push for a third unprecedented term. Source: Xinhua News Agency

BY MICHAEL GODWIN

T

he increasingly concerning issue of great power competition between the East and West has again come into focus with Russian and NATO relations. Lurking behind these events is the rapidly ambitious Chinese.

With their hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics, they are once again seizing the opportunity to utilize the levers of power to gain more legitimacy and influence on the world stage.

In a recent series of events, the Hoover Institution has deeply examined this expansionism and how China’s leader, Xi Jinping, could use these levers to expand his authority and outreach to other sectors of the globe. The Hoover Institution, a public policy research organization and think tank attached to Stanford University, has a wide portfolio of some of the globe’s brightest minds in politics, democracy, foreign policy, and social issues.

Convening with some of those bright minds on the matter, the Hoover Institution brought together George Soros, Chair of the Soros Fund Management and Open Society Foundations; Oriana Skylar Mastro, Center Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; Matt Pottinger,

a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Former US Deputy National Security Advisor; and Orville Schell, Director of the Center on U.S.China Relations at the Asia Society.

Soros postulates that 2022 is going to be a particularly unique year, noting such pivotal events as the French presidential, American mid-term, and Hungarian parliamentary elections. These coupled with the current NATO tensions with Russia makes the year increasingly decisive for Europe as a whole. With this backdrop, China’s Xi intends to replicate the 1936 Olympics in Germany and score a propaganda victory, he says.

As a furtherance of this, Xi has undone much of his predecessor’s work to draw investment and business to his nation.

He has worked tirelessly to bring all that was once in the private sphere under government control, including various social institutions and the military. This firm grip on the country, amplified by the development and use of artificial intelligence and digital censorship, has been carefully coordinated to insure his indefinite rule.

However, Soros puts forward the idea that there are cracks beginning to form within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Elites within the party, watching the absorption of industry by the state as a potential threat to their own profits, could see the party headed for a monumental schism. With the Chinese econ-

omy under threat from an imminent real estate crisis, Soros sees the current model as unstable. Chinese land and housing prices are falling and, when paired with a declining birth rate, the prospects of Xi’s glorious vision could be a delusion.

In his closing statements, Soros outlines that while Xi has the tools to rectify the situation, it is doubtful that he will do so. The only viable solution is for him to be replaced with someone with more reasonable ideas and a drive to move the nation in a more desirable path. As the Chinese 20th Party Congress looms, the billionaire and philanthropist proposes that Xi intends to enshrine himself as the “leader-for-life” alongside his longtime idol, Mao Zedong.

In a subsequent discussion between Matt Pottinger and Oriana Skylar Mastro, the pair attempt to understand the ambitions of the Chinese President. From his possible attempt at a third term in his position, typically limited to only two terms, to the ramifications of his military, social, and foreign relations reforms, each shares their insights on Xi. Mastro believes that Xi intends on staying in power for, at a minimum, another decade. He has structured the nation’s institutions, particularly the military, to be in his favor. By doing this, it acts as an insurance policy for his reelection and a significant lever against any internal opposition. That opposition, Pottinger suggests, will not be the traditional grassroots ousting seen in other corners of the world. Rather, it will be other Chinese elites within the CCP that move to usher Xi out. Xi’s only alternative is to install his daughter, Xi Mingze, groomed in his own (which is to say, Mao’s) image, as the next leader.

Both Pottinger and Mastro agree that the West is largely not taking Xi’s ideological campaign seriously. Internally, Xi has won the favor of the people by supposedly rooting out corruption, accomplished by eliminating any opposition in the government. These purges are notorious for swiftly removing those who fail to accurately toe Xi’s model of party ideals.

In addition, he angles the populace against foreign influences and ideologies. A recent speech, largely ignored by Western press, praised Mao and the Communist forces in the Korean War.

Pushing for preemptive actions against the West, particularly the United States, Xi states that by one early punch they can prevent a war of a thousand punches.

Holistically, Xi’s promulgated ideology centers around the Stalinistic principles of party preservation over all.

As a part of that party preservation, the development and expansion of the Chinese military, combined with its role as a nationalistic propaganda tool, cements the party’s power. China’s military, like the Russian military, has gone through widespread and immense reforms in both structure and technical modernization. Mastro states that China can only be in one of two states; undeterred and happy or deterred and angry.

This modernization is a push to achieve the former as well as deterring the West from capping Chinese global influence.

This global influence contest is a precursor to the next competition between East and West. As a rising shortage of semiconductors looms on the horizon, China is already positioning itself as the dominant producer. Pottinger urges the West to cut Xi from gaining this upper hand and ramping up production. Adding to this, Mastro says the West must move to control the leak of advanced technologies to China in order to maintain any edge.

In order for the West to truly compete,

they have to do so in the third world, states Mastro. When compared to organizations like USAID and EU support programs, Xi’s China aims not to elevate the small nations but to rather economically enslave. Pottinger outlines that at the same time the West tries to fight corruption, an uphill battle at best, China uses it to their advantage and weaponizes it.

China also expands this on a global scale. Pottinger explains that the World Bank, a largely American institution that receives the majority of its funds from the United States, has China as its largest recipient. While many of these are indirect, stating that approximately 39% of funds go to Chinese state-owned enterprises, Pottinger explains that a mechanism to prevent this from happening has to be in place.

As China prepares to host this year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, this is merely a cover for the outward expansion and internal crisis Xi is dealing with. It is for these reasons that the potential for a massive propaganda victory with the Olympics is imperative to his upcoming bid for a third, and potential indefinite, term as the Chinese President. While it’s undoubtedly true that the West must seek a symbiotic relationship with China, they must also contend with Xi’s aggressive ambitions in the globe that threaten any harmony from forming.

Billionaire George Soros has said China’s Xi Jinping may fail to extend his rule of the country later this year in contrast to what most observers expect. Source: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Nikoloz Samkharadze: Only Point on which Georgian Political Parties Agree is that Our Redemption Lies in Our Union with West

A

t the Joint Sitting of the Foreign Relations and EU Integration Committees, where MPs heard the European Parliament’s Rapporteur on Georgia, Sven Mikser, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee thanked the MEP for his visit to the Georgian Parliament and for participating in the Joint Sitting of the Committees.

“I would like to emphasize that your visit to Georgia is taking place against the background of a rather tense regional situation,” stated Nikoloz Samkharadze, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs. “These are critical days not only for Ukraine but for the Black Sea region as a whole, and for the post-Soviet space. We look to the West with great hope that it will not follow Russia’s will to redistribute the world as a sphere of particular influences. We very much hope that the negotiations that have started between NATO and Russia, as well as between the US and Russia, will finally bear fruit and that this situation will end peacefully. At the same time, the interests of Georgia, as well as the interests of Ukraine, will not be compromised.

This is the most important and principled issue today, and regardless of political beliefs in Georgia, the only point on which Georgian political parties agree is that our redemption lies in our union with the West.”

POLITICS

GEORGIA TODAY FEBRUARY 4 - 10, 2022

7

Georgia’s Double-Edged Political Opposition

Image source: AFP

OP-ED BY NUGZAR B. RUHADZE

T

he political opposition may not be measured with the same yardstick in every country. Its level and extent is marked with a circumstantial character, depending on specific situations and the state of affairs in a nation. In some, their opposition is desired and tolerated, and in others it is

repressed and rejected, all in accordance with the level of democracy or dictatorship in the system. Opposition as such is the reflection of one or many critically poised political forces on a wide range of developments on the daily agenda of a nation, as suggested by the current leadership of said nation.

In our multiparty country, the entire political spectrum, including hundreds of political groupings, has been criticizing the political force in power passionately and incessantly at all stages of

Georgia’s 30-year existence as an independent nation. Opposition here is double-edged: parties against each other, and all of them in concert against the sitting government: noisy speeches, mendacity, manipulation, bitterness, intimidation, vote-buying, coercion, fabrications, false promises, brutality and aggression in the streets and on the floors of Parliament and, of course, on social media- all this used as the choice tools of a struggle wrapped in flagrant political deception, in addition to a certain

number of fair demands and slogans meant to correct the governmental moves and measures.

For voting purposes and even for further national leadership, our local political soil and electoral psychology are often prone to seek out a political figure with the wondrous ability to bring about a drastic revolutionary modification to the life of society, based on the idea that they will introduce some unexpected sociopolitical or economic novelty. In the last 30 years, this nation has been through the hands of such messianic personalities many times, and all of them have ended up in exile, jail, or forced retirement.

We are a nation of self-confidently speaking leaders, not of diffidently listening followers. Even those squeezed faceless into the thick of protesting crowds carry the charge of a leader harbored inside a temporarily restrained political animal.

Although the democratic process is very loud and obvious in Georgia, it still lacks maturity and is still ridden with undemocratic tendencies and attitudes. The typical Georgian seems loathe to give up that love of power which seems to be an inborn streak of greed for leadership.

Here prevails the ever-present suspicion of election rigging, which was either a conviction acquired at the very beginning of our independence and kept, or which is an abused instrument in the fight against the government, who is technically responsible for taking the country through the painful electoral process.

One of the strongest determiners of the outcome of elections and the effective influencers of votes in Georgia is

social media, not just the conventional means of mass communication like TV, Radio and Press. It is likely that two million out of the entire population of 3.8 million people in the country are well versed in the internet means and ways, and are involved in the universal talk of the country, being politically active, sharp-tongued participants in the process, bisected into two opposing political camps – that of the opposition and that of the ruling party. We love to freely express our political opinion and have it registered on social media, which guarantees a higher level of participation in the political process. This means that the Georgian political opposition is mainly built in the social media space, full as it is of opinions, attitudes, judgments, evaluations, approaches and outlooks, where very often misleading thoughts are expressed and spread, conducive to threatening the political process with subversion and erecting unwanted obstacles for the governmental performance in leading the nation.

Hence, against the background of frank oppositional disapproval, the stimulation of sympathy towards the government and building up of public support becomes almost impossible, even if the media, supporting the administration, tries very hard. The political discourse, based on technological progress in Georgia, is nonstop and widespread, which is good, provided the passions and overly harsh usage of language is reduced and logic and reason are promoted in the ever-growing onslaught of the opposition on the government, inflicted as it is with more headaches than it can possibly endure.

Cabinet Discusses Defense and Pharmaceutical Plans M onday’s Cabinet session, chaired by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili at the Government Administration, discussed issues related to military empowerment and protection of Georgia’s pharmaceutical sector.

“To strengthen the defense capabilities of Georgia’s Armed Forces, and improve anti-armor capacities, the government is working on procuring an additional supply of Javelin man-portable anti-tank missiles,” the government’s press service announced. “In 2021, the Department of State made a decision on a possible foreign military sale of $30 million worth of additional Javelin missiles to Georgia. The Defense Ministry, in order to carry out this transaction of national and public importance, will employ simplified procurement to acquire new Javelin man-portable antitank systems under the relevant agreement between the Governments of the two countries.”

Given the priorities of the Defense Ministry, it has been decided that the financing to this end, amounting to $26,246,866, will be covered with the amount allocated by the US and, in line with the agreement between the governments of the United States and Geor-

gia, with sums transferred from Georgia’s state budget.

Monday’s Cabinet meeting also discussed proposed amendments to the Law of Georgia on Medicines and Phar-

maceutical Activities. According to these amendments, importing pharmaceutical products to Georgia will require a certificate confirming production in line with GMP (good manufacturing

practices) standards. Before March 2022, the Government of Georgia will present mandatory stages and terms for producing said certificate.

These amendments are designed to

ensure equal approaches to pharmaceuticals manufacturers, wholesalers, and importers. The Government will endorse the bill to the Parliament with a request for an expedited review.

8

BUSINESS

GEORGIA TODAY

FEBRUARY 4 - 10, 2022

POTI NEW SEA PORT Officially Opens

T

hrough the joint effort of Pace Group and the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the construction of a new seaport in Poti has been successfully completed. The Poti New Sea Port’s official opening ceremony was attended

by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Natia Turnava, US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan, members of Georgia’s Cabinet and Parliament, and representatives of the diplomatic corps and maritime industry.

The guests were addressed by Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia.

“One of our Government’s key goals and priorities is to shape Georgia into a regional hub tapping into our location and potential. Let me single out the engagement of our key strategic partner, the United States of America, in this project, namely 50 million USD in financing allocated by the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), another demonstration of Georgia’s being an attractive country for foreign investments, one with the largest transit and transport potential in the region,” the PM stated.

PM Garibashvili thanked Pace Group’s President Ioseb Dolidze and each employee of the company for successfully implementing a project of this scope, and for exhibiting remarkable social responsibility, especially in light of the pandemic, by creating hundreds of new jobs.

The Poti New Sea Port, with its value amounting to 120 million USD, is one of the largest among Georgia’s ongoing maritime projects. Notably, the financing allocated by the US International Development Finance Corporation is the organization’s single largest investment into a project in the region.

“I’m delighted that the United States,

through the Development Finance Corporation, has played a key role in the Pace Terminal’s construction. It is a demonstration of our continued commitment to Georgia’s prosperity and to the Georgian people. Georgia’s investments in becoming the safe, responsible transport partner come at an opportune time. These investments further Georgia’s ability to make global and regional connections when the world is looking for alternative routes and supply chains,” US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan said in her speech.

According to Degnan, this port is a key link between prosperity and security, and the United States is committed to assisting Georgia, a strategic partner, in developing port infrastructure. “Our mutual interests are served in an environment that respects freedom of navigation, access to waterways, the rule of law, and national sovereignty.

“This port is part of the physical lifeline connecting Georgia to Europe. It is also a symbol of Georgia’s continued Euro-Atlantic aspirations,” Kelly Degnan added.

A total of 93 million USD has been invested in the construction of the new seaport, with large hydrotechnical facilities and modern port infrastructure built, including: – A 260-meter berth; – Fully reconstructed breakwater structures; – 1.5 million cubic meters of soil removed from the Poti New Port harbor to further increase its depth to 13 meters; – Closed warehouses with a capacity of 50,000 tons, equipped with fully automated reloading systems manufactured in Europe; – Open storage areas stretching 6 hectares; – Two new portable cranes exclusively manufactured and installed at the seaport, each with a load capacity of 100 tons.

The project’s subsequent expansions, an endeavor valued at an additional 30 million USD, involves the construction of a new 230-meter deep-water (13 meter) berth. Modern port machinery and devices will be installed, such as a conveyor system and a ship-loader.

“This port symbolizes Georgia’s imposing economic transformation since regaining independence in 1991. The

will also continue the years-long productive partnership between the United States of America and Georgia,” Kenneth Angell, Managing Director of the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), emphasized in his video address.

The berth and new port’s infrastructure allow for up to 50,000 Mt cargo capacity bulk carrier and container vessels to be

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT PACE GROUP

Poti New Sea Port will create new jobs and spur economic growth, also empowering Georgia’s positions as a strategic and transit country linking the Caucasus and Central Asia to Europe, further bolstering trade. The Poti New Sea Port

served. The port will handle bulk and break bulk cargos, as well as containers.

After the project’s finalization, the capacity of Georgia’s unified seaport infrastructure will increase by 3.5 tons.

These opportunities and the port’s importance are discussed by Albright Stonebridge Group’s Chair and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in her letter celebrating the opening of the Poti New Sea Port.

“The Poti New Sea Port project offers greater economic opportunities to the residents of Poti, to Georgia, and every Black Sea and Caspian state. By transporting 3,000,000 tons of cargo via the seaport, everyone’s a winner,” Albright noted.

“The United States of America is convinced that every country has the right to decide its role in relations with the rest of the world. But we also know that every country is entitled to real opportunities to trade in various markets. This instrument is part of putting to use trade and choice potential—this aspect imparting special importance to it not only from the point of view of trade and commerce, but also making a difference for all of us striving to ensure a better life for our families and countries,” her letter goes on.

The Poti New Sea Port will give a tremendous boost to the country’s port capacity and transit potential, also offering new opportunities for redirecting new cargos to Georgia’s transport corridors.

and transport infrastructure, and on attracting new cargos, based on modern technology.

Pace is a US-registered company established in New York, in 1992. Pace International has transported humanitarian cargos allocated by the Government of the United States of America to the Caucasus and Central Asia regions, mostly via the Poti and Batumi seaports.

In the late 1990s, Pace started transporting commercial cargo alongside humanitarian goods. Since the early 2000s, Pace—based on a long-term lease agreement—has been operating 8 berths of the Poti seaport. In 2002-2003, the company built a warehouse complex, a move making it possible to rerouting the transportation of the Tajik Aluminum Plant’s primary aluminum through Georgia. Later on, after acquiring special machinery/ equipment, Pace started transporting aluminum oxide, a raw material, from Poti to said plant in Tajikistan.

In 2007, Pace and Israeli company ZIM founded ZIM Georgia, enabling Pace to expand its container transportation activities.

In 2013, Pace and AGRICOM jointly built a reverse-type grain terminal. In the same year, Pace bought the Poti Shipyard Factory and decided to create new, modern port infrastructure in this territory.

The agreement on financing the construction of the new seaport was signed on February 4, 2019. Construction work launched in September of 2020.

PACE Group is the largest transportation company in Georgia, incorporating maritime agencies, brokerage, logistics, container services, berth, and terminal operator companies. The group has an annual cargo turnover of 3,000,000 tons and employs over 1,000 people. Pace Group focuses on developing marine

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY FEBRUARY 4 - 10, 2022

9

USAID Independent Living Program in Georgia – The Lagodekhi Independent Living Center

W

hen Diana’s daughter was just three years old, she was diagnosed with autism.

Not knowing where to go or who to ask for support, Diana quickly learned that disabilities were widely misunderstood in her community.

Moreover, she found that the providers of critical services, such as healthcare workers, often lack the knowledge and skills needed to effectively support the thousands of persons with disabilities living in Georgia, as well as their families.

In her search to find somewhere to turn, Diana found herself at a parent conference facilitated by the McLain Association for Children (also known as MAC Georgia), a Georgia-based NGO that has been providing support and resources for people living with disabilities and their families since 2008.

There, Diana learned more about autism and its effects on her daughter. Along with other parents of children with disabilities, she received resources and skills to help navigate a world that still struggles to properly understand disabilities, let alone provide the support needed to help people with disabilities achieve their full potential. Diana was able to get better access to services for her daughter. Now, she is helping others in her community to do the same.

Today, Diana is one of four team leaders who run the Lagodekhi-based Independent Living Center. Established by MAC Georgia with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), it is one of six centers located across Georgia. These centers, in Batumi, Ozurgeti, Kutaisi, Zugdidi, Telavi and Lagodekhi, fill a critical service gap by raising awareness about the needs of persons with disabil-

ities and providing resources and information for those in need of support, whether for themselves or for a family member with a disability.

While the Independent Living Center in Lagodekhi is the youngest of six set up across the country, it has quickly established itself as a crucial lifeline for people living with disabilities; providing varied support to individuals, their families, and the broader community.

Much like in the rest of the country, people with disabilities in Lagodekhi face a number of social, cultural, and structural barriers to being able to fully participate in Georgian society.

Access to and delivery of critical services is often impeded by lack of awareness among local authorities and healthcare professionals of the rights and needs of people with different disabilities.

Building and transport infrastructure is rarely adapted to allow access for people with mobility disabilities.

This results in a cascade effect, with challenges to mobility limiting people’s access to education, healthcare, and employment opportunities.

For those who require wheelchairs, getting a wheelchair often comes with obstacles, with many healthcare professionals lacking the knowledge needed to prescribe the correct wheelchair to suit individual needs. Manual wheelchairs, for example, suit people with upper body strength and control, while others may require a postural support or electric wheelchair due to physical limitations.

In addition, many people with disabilities are unaware of their rights and the entitlements they are eligible to receive from the government, while many more feel shunned by society due to a lack of understanding and acceptance, or the discrimination that they encounter on

a regular basis.

These are just some of the many obstacles that have cultivated a society in which people with disabilities are often left in the dark to fend for themselves.

This is a familiar story for Guramn, a determined, passionate, and friendly young man who has recently joined the team at the Independent Living Center in Lagodekhi.

“Before I found employment, I was living in the shadows,” he says.

Guramn describes how he felt closed off from society for years due to a lack of wheelchair access in community buildings and the dearth of employment opportunities for people in wheelchairs, which is largely the result of a lack of understanding among the wider community of the capabilities of people with disabilities.

Frustrated by living on the fringes of society, Guramn began reading up on his rights and entitlements. He soon realized that in order to be able to live a normal life, he would have to start breaking down some of the barriers himself.

“People with disabilities constantly face discrimination, and I am defending my rights wherever I go,” he says.

But it is not only his rights that Guramn is defending. Since joining the Independent Living Center just a few months ago, Guramn has become a fervent advocate, working to educate people across Lagodekhi about the fundamental rights of people living with disabilities.

Along with his colleagues, Diana, Lali, and Manana, he has been working tirelessly to break down some of the social, cultural, and structural barriers faced by people living with disabilities in their locality. Specifically, they are raising awareness of disability rights, challenging harmful misinformation and negative stereotypes, and building local skills and knowledge to facilitate adequate service delivery.

One of the main ways the team does this is through outreach and advocacy.

The team is actively providing advocacy support to eight people, and in the short time it has been operating, it has helped many more overcome some of the challenges people living with disabilities in Lagodekhi are regularly confronted with.

Lala, a young woman living in Lagodekhi municipality, reached out to the team a few months ago in need of assistance.

Wanting to apply for a driver’s license at the local council, Lala traveled to the relevant service center, only to be told that she would have to undertake an exam to assess her mental disability before being able to submit an application.

But Lala does not have a mental disabil-

ity; the physical limitations that have led her to require a wheelchair do not impact her mental abilities in any way.

Frustrated by the unnecessary demands asked of her, Lala looked to the Independent Living Center team for support.

The team responded swiftly; reading up on the requirements for people in wheelchairs and helping Lala pull together the relevant paperwork that proved she did not have to undertake any assessments other than a driving exam.

Today, Lala is waiting for her driver’s license to be issued. She is excited about the prospect of being able to travel independently and not have to rely on a public transport system that, for the most part, does not cater to wheelchair users.

Another individual (who requested not to be named) is a forty-year old woman with cerebral palsy, a group of disorders that affects a person's ability to move and maintain balance and posture.

Cerebral palsy is one of the most common motor disabilities in children, and is classified by level of severity, with many mild forms not posing significant limitations on a person’s life.

This individual, however, has a more severe form of the disability, which requires her mother to be her primary caregiver.

Her mother was no longer registered as the legal guardian of her daughter and did not know how to begin the process of re-applying. So, the two reached out to the Independent Living Center for support.

With Guramn's help collecting documents and filling out the application, the woman’s mother was able to lodge an application with the government and receive full legal guardianship of her daughter, a critical step in helping to ensure that she has a loved one to represent her interests in the legal areas throughout her life.

As the Lagodekhi center develops a name for itself as a key resource for people living with disabilities across the community, the team is also actively reaching out to those in need through door-to-door visits.

Erik, a 52-year-old ethnic Azeri man living on the outskirts of Lagodekhi, has been in a wheelchair since he was seriously injured in Afghanistan more than twenty years ago. Erik has not been able to secure a job due to his disability, and struggles to support his family with the limited financial assistance he receives from the government as a war veteran.

The house he and his family live in does not accommodate a wheelchair, meaning his family must carry him when he wants to move upstairs, downstairs, and outside - where the bathroom is located.

The team received word about Erik’s situation, and traveled to see him and hear his story.

After speaking with Erik to identify the main challenges he faces, Guramn decided that the center would facilitate a more thorough needs assessment to help determine what financial assistance he might be eligible for, and identify any other areas in which he could be provided support.

The USAID-supported Independent Living Centers are also working hard to build the capacity of service providers to support people with disabilities and their families.

Lali, the fourth team leader of the Independent Living Center, is particularly focused on raising awareness among healthcare workers on the rights and needs of people with disabilities- distributing information to doctors and nurses about diagnosis, treatment, and government resources available.

Lali's motivation stems from her own story as a mother of a child with a disability who has struggled and fought for her son’s rights since his birth. After years of lobbying for better access to healthcare, education, and financial assistance so that she can help her son achieve his full potential, she says she is working as an Independent Living Center

Leader because she does not want other parents to have to go through the same struggle she has been through, or to have their children confronted with the same challenges that her son continues to face.

Lali wants to see a future for her son that is free from unnecessary barriers; a future in which he can achieve his full potential and lead a fulfilling life, supported by a community that understands that people living with disabilities can be independent and contribute to society in the same way as anybody else, if given the chance.

With the amount of people the center has helped, one would think it has been running for years. However, the Lagodekhi Independent Living Center only opened last June.

The progress that the center has achieved in such a short amount of time is a testament to the dedication and passion of its four Leaders to not just break down the barriers that prohibit people with disabilities from living independent and fulfilling lives, but to cultivate a community that shines a light for those who have been left in the dark.

While the center is small, the same cannot be said for its reach and ambitions. When asked about the team’s main goals for the year ahead, Guramn speaks with passionate resolve: “We can’t pick just one thing we want to achieve in 2022, there are many things, many people in the community in need of support.

And we will continue to help them, whatever it takes.”

The USAID-supported Lagodekhi Independent Living Center was established by MAC Georgia under the USAID Independent Living Program in Georgia, one of more than 35 USAID programs that help the Georgian people build a more resilient, democratic, and prosperous society.

10

SOCIETY

GEORGIA TODAY

FEBRUARY 4 - 10, 2022

Reno, Tbilisi (As in Renovation) Now the workers will measure everything up and give me a price for their work, plus a time estimate to finish it all.

This will have to include tearing out the old wallpaper and cupboards, and lots of carting rubbish to the dump just to get it out of the way and not clutter the stairways with it all, as too many of my neighbors do.

I have the color set in my head as well as in photos to send to my wife, although she has given me the green light to do what I want within our monetary parameters. This is unlikely to be our long-term retirement flat, but we do want it to be nice enough for renters to want. Anything has to be better than the old kitchen, though, which while useable was just not pleasant to spend time in!

My philosophy remains to buy the best that we can afford, rather than the cheaper things which will need replacing sooner anyway. In a place where both humidity and changing temperatures are factors, such as a kitchen, this is important. I can now do my last-minute shopping for Svaneti, and then leave on the long minivan-bus trip home tomorrow knowing that things are being taken care of. And then we will just have to be patient to see the finished room.

BLOG BY TONY HANMER

I

t’s been good to have a few days away from the Svaneti winter while I consider the complete replacement of the kitchen of a flat of ours in the Big City. My wife is still in Etseri, but another volunteer young people’s team is with her, and all is fine there. Winter continues to be relatively mild, even prompting a much too early appearance of buds on trees, for which they may well sadly pay later, when frosts return. At least the water pipes have not frozen this season, which might be a winter first if it continues thus.

We have friends who are in the construction and renovation trades in Tbilisi, and they connected me with the workers who will do the actual job. Then we went to the flat. Its kitchen is something I genuinely hate, being very old and run-down, in rather appalling condition. Everything must go, from torn-up linoleum floor to all furniture and plumbing- the lot!

Other workers had just installed central heating in this apartment, so this is already a big step in the right direction of making it much more comfortable to live in. We considered furniture positions and payouts, counters and cupboards, made a lot of measurements, then went on the next day to actually choose materials.

Our budget for this is middling: we don’t need solid wood cabinets and granite countertops. Fortunately, there is a wealth of choices for such an outlay. The

workers know exactly where these shops are, often in more industrial parts of town which you might drive by all the time and not look at twice. But the materials are well presented and enable you to make quick, coordinated decisions.

Some of the storage facilities are old abandoned factories, now repurposed

to great effect as enormous warehouses with forklifts patrolling them.

I took photos of the basic materials with my camera as we went along. Floor tiles, wall paint, some decorative tiles near the sink. These gave me a base set of colors to work with as I considered the next items. What colors and materi-

als for the cupboards, upper and lower, and countertops? My color scheme is greens, yellows and beiges. We chose different hues for upper and lower cupboards, considering how it would all tie together, then added door handles, a pull-out bottle drawer, sink and faucet set, and we were done for the day.

Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with nearly 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/ groups/SvanetiRenaissance/ He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti

Tbilisi City Hall to Fund Research for Citizens Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis

T

bilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze stated at the government session held on February 2, that Tbilisi City Hall is to provide additional research to the beneficiaries of the “Expensive Medication Financing Program for Citizens Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.”

“From 2022, Tbilisi City Hall will finance magnetic resonance imaging of the brain

and/or spine and spinal cord for the beneficiaries of this program. Symptoms of the disease appear between the ages of 20 and 40, and become the cause of non-traumatic disabilities in this age group. Through the City Hall program, it is possible for people with multiple sclerosis not to be chained to a bed or wheelchair, but to engage in daily activities and feel like full members of society,” Kaladze said.

Education Continues in Schools

D

eputy Minister of Health Tamar Gabunia said studies will continue in the format they are currently in, noting that schools are well prepared to lead the process. She added the Omicron in children presents

as mostly mild.

Amiran Gamkrelidze, head of the National Center for Disease Control also agrees teaching at schools should not stop. He noted the percentage of infections and that the share has not increased in either students or teachers.

“I agree that education should not be stopped. These two years of experience have shown us that in addition to health damage, in addition to economic damage, it has caused enormous damage to our children, especially their education,” Gamkrelidze said.

CULTURE

GEORGIA TODAY FEBRUARY 4 - 10, 2022

11

BI Auction ‘for ART’ Ceremony and Exhibition for Young Artists Competition

T

hree years ago, BI Auction Company started a new project to promote young artists by organizing a ‘Competition for Young Artists’ under 30 years old. This month they organized the 3rd Competition Ceremony accompanied with the exhibition of artworks from young artists.

“Every year, the number of applicants increased at least 50%,” says Bengü Akçardak Küçük, Co-Founder of the company. “In the past five years, we proudly see that every initiative we did had a great impact on the market, especially our auctions for ‘Contemporary Art ‘ and for ‘Young Artists,’ motivating market players and catching the interest not only of art lovers but also increasing the dynamics in the art sector as a whole.

“We are proud to see almost every day there is a new exhibition or event fea-

turing young artists in Tbilisi. With BI Auction, my aim is to do my best for a better future, and we must collaborate for a good result.”

On February 2, the awards ceremony for the 3rd BI Auction Competition for Young Artists was organized with the support of its sponsors - IArt Gallery and WE'AR Art. The winners are rewarded with presents from Vestel and Katana.

Following the ceremony, the selected paintings of all applicants are to be exhibited until February 7, when five artists will be announced as winners of the competition and will be given prizes.

Those winners, alongside other selected artists will have their artworks entered into the classical BI Auction auctions with outstanding already renowned Georgian artists.

From February 2, you can visit the new

exhibition at IArt Gallery (13 Udznadze Street) and bid for the artworks of young artists, perhaps great artists of future themselves.

“Investing in art, in young artists, is something you won’t regret in future,” Küçük says. “And, yes, St Valentine’s is coming, and there can be no better present to symbolize your love everyday with art.”

BI Auction was the first art auction company in Georgia, established in 2016.

The company’s aim is to promote Georgian art and artists and enlarge the market. In more than 5 years, BI Auction ‘for ART’ has organized 10 auctions and presented more than 550 paintings from 150 Georgian painters. In every auction, the collection is selected from among thousands of paintings from well-known legendary artists of Georgia and also from promising young artists.

SPORTS

Nona Gaprindashvili: I am Georgian. Yes, Throughout my Career I Played Against Male Chess Players and often Defeated them’

B

ethHarmoninThe Queen’s Gambit is played by Anya Taylor-Joy. Nona Gaprindashvili says it was a lie to suggest she had never played men.

SPLASH NEWS /ALAMY Yes, I’m Nona Gaprindashvili, I’m Georgian. Yes, throughout my career, I played against male chess players and often defeated them, so I was honored to become the first female grandmaster among men, – Nona Gaprindashvili, a Georgian chess player, said about the decision of the California court.

A California court judge late last week rejected Netflix’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Georgian chess player Nona Gaprindashvili. Netflix had called for the lawsuit to be dropped, as it claims the series is a “work of art” and its creators are given a “wideranging artistic license by law.”

“To speak of the language of chess, the debut is won. In general, there are several essential conditions for success in life, as well as in sports: faith, a thirst for battle, professionalism, and the necessary qualifications, fans, and

truth,” Gaprindashvili noted Friday.

“I defend my past life, nationality, and achievements that have been mistreated. I have felt the amazing support of my fans all my life. Professionalism, in this case, is reflected in the strong team of my Georgian and American lawyers, who have done an amazing job,” she said.

The chess player thanked the American court and many people in Georgia and around the world who had expressed their support and assistance, adding: “The fight continues until the final victory.”

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