Cáucaso

Mikheil Kavelashvili in the Georgian parliament | Photo Credit: AP

MundoCáucaso,

With the dawn of the 21st century, post-Soviet States experienced a wave of uprisings known as the “colour revolutions”. The movements were associated with specific colours and were largely peaceful protests to replace pro-Moscow governments with a pro-West government in the name of democratic reforms. Though they were non-violent, peaceful and democratic, the Russian elites often perceived them to be western-backed strategies in order to weaken Moscow’s sphere of influence.

The most notable examples include Georgia’s Rose Revolution (2003), Ukraine’s Orange Revolution (2004), and Kyrgyzstan’s Tulip Revolution (2005). These protests, on the face of it, appeared peaceful and democratic. Still, these movements received active help from western governments and organisations such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), formed during the Cold War to support and promote American social and political values.…  Seguir leyendo »

Protesting the Georgian government’s decision to suspend talks on joining the European Union, Tbilisi, December 2024 Irakli Gedenidze / Reuters

MundoCáucaso

On a cold mid-December evening in the center of Tbilisi, I met Nika Khotchdava, a 28-year-old disc jockey and manager at the popular techno club Left Bank. As we spoke, Nika and I were surrounded by a vast crowd of tens of thousands of his compatriots, mostly in their 20s and 30s, who had gathered in front of the Georgian parliament building to protest the ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision to suspend accession talks with the European Union. On the heels of a national election in late October that is widely believed to have been rigged, the decision about the EU has plunged Georgia into a crisis in which the country’s future in the West may be at stake.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Streets of My Country Are Full of Fury

MundoCáucaso,

Acts of disobedience are exploding in the streets of Georgia.

In the capital city of Tbilisi, the gates of the Parliament building have been battered, its windows smashed and burning objects thrown through. For more than a week, Rustaveli Avenue, the city’s central street, has been a nightly battleground of tear gas and pyrotechnics. Anti-government protesters hurl fireworks that explode over the heads of the special forces and the lights of laser pointers swarm like insects. People pry off anything that will come loose — benches, plant pots, construction hoarding — and feed it into makeshift fires or onto barricades.

The state responds with water cannons and tear gas, which seeps down the avenue, stinging our eyes and throats.…  Seguir leyendo »

Protesters clash with police in central Tbilisi, Georgia, Wednesday. (Giorgi Arjevanidze/AFP/Getty Images)

MundoCáucaso

Running through an eerie blue fog, I darted into a church just across from Georgia’s parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue. Masked riot police were chasing protesters through clouds of tear gas. It clings to your lungs and makes every breath a struggle.

Inside, people rinsed each other’s eyes with saline eyewashes to stop the burning. But police exploded more gas canisters at the doors of the church — a symbol of sanctuary during the 1989 anti-Soviet protests — and it too started to fill with smoke. I thought, “I shouldn’t have entered this enclosed space”. But stepping outside meant risking arrest.…  Seguir leyendo »

Fireworks shot by protesters explode near police in riot gear firing tear gas during a fourth day of nationwide protests against a government decision to shelve EU membership talks in Tbilisi early on December 2, 2024. Police in Georgia fired tear gas and water cannon on a fourth straight day of pro-EU protests that drew tens of thousands of people, as the prime minister rebuffed calls for new elections. (Photo by Giorgi ARJEVANIDZE / AFP) Giorgi Arjevanidze/AFP via Getty Images

MundoCáucaso

Georgia is at a turning point. Demonstrations have spread across the country in response to the ruling Georgian Dream’s shocking decision to suspend Georgia’s European Union membership process, started in 2022, after the opposition accused it of rigging a victory in the October parliamentary elections. The events bring to mind the 2014 Maidan Revolution, when Ukrainians protested then-President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to pull Ukraine away from the EU and closer to Russia.

Georgian authorities have responded to protesters with heavy-handed tactics. They have used water cannons, tear gas, and anti-riot forces, targeting journalists and arresting activists in an effort to weaken the protests and deter further dissent.…  Seguir leyendo »

Azerbaiyán usa la COP29 para ocultar su autoritarismo

MundoCáucaso,

El 11 de noviembre, miles de dirigentes políticos, representantes de partes interesadas y activistas de todo el mundo dieron inicio a la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático (COP29) en Bakú. Mientras aumenta la emisión de gases de efecto invernadero y se intensifica el calentamiento global, la cumbre de este año acertó en poner la financiación de la acción climática en primer lugar de la agenda. Pero el lugar elegido para la reunión dista de ser ideal: el régimen azerbaiyano apuesta a usar el encuentro para limpiar su historial en materia climática y sus políticas cada vez más represivas.…  Seguir leyendo »

Security personnel walk outside the venue for the Cop29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, 9 November 2024. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP

MundoCáucasoReflexionesNaturaleza, ,

During rapidly escalating climate and humanitarian crises, another authoritarian petrostate with no respect for human rights is hosting Cop29 – the UN’s latest annual climate summit that starts today and is being held after the re-election of a climate-denier US president.

Cop meetings have proven to be greenwashing conferences that legitimise countries’ failures to ensure a livable world and future and have also allowed authoritarian regimes like Azerbaijan and the two previous hosts – the United Arab Emirates and Egypt – to continue violating human rights.

Genocides, ecocides, famines, wars, colonialism, rising inequalities and an escalating climate collapse are all interconnected crises that reinforce each other and lead to unimaginable suffering.…  Seguir leyendo »

Maia Sandu applauds her supporters after winning Moldova’s presidential election, 3 November 2024. Photograph: Vladislav Culiomza/Reuters

MundoCáucaso,

Having lived in Britain for 12 years, I returned to my native Moldova in 2022 because I was worried that Russia’s war in Ukraine would spill into my country. Thanks to the Ukrainian resistance, the skies are still clear in Moldova. But in the past weeks leading up to the presidential runoff between the pro-European incumbent Maia Sandu and the Russian-supported former prosecutor general Alexandr Stoianoglo, I felt as if I might lose my country once again.

The scale of interference in these Moldovan elections has been unprecedented. As reported by excellent independent journalists in the country, our law enforcement agencies alleged the existence of a large-scale, vote-buying scheme in the first round, run by Ilan Shor – a Russian-backed fugitive oligarch, who denies any wrongdoing.…  Seguir leyendo »

Georgian opposition supporters protest the results of the parliamentary elections in central Tbilisi on Oct. 28. Giorgi Arjevanidze/AFP via Getty Images

MundoCáucaso,

In November 2004, Ukraine’s pro-Russian prime minister, Viktor Yanukovych, tried to steal the country’s presidential election, triggering the Orange Revolution protests and reactions from the West. Then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell memorably went to the press briefing room and declared that the United States could not accept the results as legitimate. Current U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken should do the same for Georgia now.

Georgia’s parliamentary elections on Saturday were marred by widespread attempts of “intimidation, coercion and pressure on voters”, according to international and domestic monitoring groups. Despite official results claiming that the incumbent government, led by the Georgian Dream party, retained a majority of seats, the election was not in line with international standards, according to independent observers.…  Seguir leyendo »

People attend an opposition rally where Georgia's President Salome Zurabishvili protests the results of the parliamentary elections, outside the parliament building in Tbilisi on 28 October 2024. Photo by Mirian Meladze/Anadolu via Getty Images.

MundoCáucaso,

As the people of Georgia went to the polls on 26 October, many were hoping not only for a democratic change of government but also for an end to one-party dominance and a return to the path of European integration. The previously weak and divided opposition had grouped itself into four major electoral centres, promising a coalition government and framing these elections as a choice between Europe and Russia.

Ahead of the election, President Salome Zourabishvili had put forward the Georgian Charter, a blueprint for a stable and democratic transition to a new style of governance and for initiating reforms to fulfil conditions for EU accession.…  Seguir leyendo »

Georgian Dream party supporters in Tbilisi celebrate after the announcement of exit poll results, 26 October 2024. Photograph: Zurab Javakhadze/Reuters

MundoCáucaso,

After the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party run by the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili secured a parliamentary majority in Saturday’s Georgian election, the reaction from Moscow was jubilant. “Georgians have won. Attaboys!” wrote Margarita Simonyan, head of Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT, on X.

Meanwhile, a devastated friend texted me Sunday morning to say they felt as if they “woke up in Russia”.

The question of whether Georgia would continue its drift into Russia’s orbit or change course and embrace Europe hung over the election. But with reports of voting irregularities and the largest opposition party, United National Movement (UNM), outright rejecting the result, it is unlikely to be settled anytime soon.…  Seguir leyendo »

People walk past graffiti on a wall next to the parliament building on Shota Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi, Georgia. July 2024. CRISIS GROUP / Elissa Jobson

EuropaUnión EuropeaAmpliaciónMundoCáucaso,

On the eve of a crucial election in Georgia, scheduled for 26 October, the government’s relations with the European Union are worsening. In December 2023, Brussels granted Georgia the EU candidate status that successive governments have long sought. For the EU, the decision affirmed its support for Georgia’s integration with the West as Russia continues its full-scale war in Ukraine. Just six months later, however, the governing Georgian Dream party introduced legislation that echoes Russian measures used to suppress civil society and stifle dissent. The EU has declared this law, now in force, to be incompatible with Georgia’s accession to the bloc, meaning that the process has ground to a halt.…  Seguir leyendo »

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola (C) address to the people as Moldova's President Maia Sandu (C,R) listens on, during a pro-EU rally in Chisinau on 21 May 2023. Photo by ELENA COVALENCO/AFP via Getty Images.

MundoCáucaso, ,

Moldova and Georgia both go to the polls at the end of October; Moldova for presidential elections on the 20th and Georgia for parliamentary elections on the 26th. The two countries share a number of similarities – beyond their justified reputation as world-class wine producers. They are both small, low- to middle-income countries that have struggled to consolidate their democracies and have experienced oligarchic political influence. Both are candidate countries for EU membership, with Moldova a step ahead having been invited to start negotiations.

For both countries these elections represent a fork in the road: either move unambiguously into the Western world, or step back from it and become more closely tied to Russia again and its way of governance.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso

Baku is gearing up to host COP29 in November, an event being prioritised by Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s authoritarian leader—not due to environmental concerns, but for image management. Over 90% of Azerbaijan’s exports are oil and gas, and its economy remains undiversified. The country’s serious environmental issues have never been a priority for the regime.

So why the sudden desire to host this global event? Quite simply, Mr Aliyev is interested in laundering his reputation, which has been stained by two decades of authoritarian rule, blatant corruption (repeatedly exposed through diligent work of brave investigative journalists and via Wikileaks and the Panama Papers), and a disdain for the human rights and political liberties of the citizens of Azerbaijan.…  Seguir leyendo »

Posters for the country’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, bearing the EU flag and the slogan ”Europe with Dignity,” on display in Akhaltsikhe, Georgia, September 2024. Tim Judah

MundoCáucaso,

As we sped down Georgia’s main highway, the spine of the country linking east and west, Vato Bzhalava, who had helped set up this trip, showed me a video. He had made it as plainclothes policemen bundled him into a van during last spring’s anti-government demonstrations in the capital, Tbilisi. By chance, journalists who were livestreaming the protest also filmed the moment, and his friends saw the footage. This was lucky. Georgia is a small place; one way or another everyone knows everyone. Messages got through to the police: “Don’t beat up Vato!” They did not. Others were not so lucky.…  Seguir leyendo »

Police monitoring a protest against the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, Tbilisi, Georgia, May 2024. Irakli Gedenidze / Reuters

MundoCáucasoReflexionesDemocracia

In May, the Georgian parliament passed a “transparency of foreign influence” law amid large-scale protests. The new legislation requires Georgian media and nongovernmental organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their annual funding from abroad to register with the state as entities “pursuing the interest of a foreign power”. The law has met with intense criticism, spurring tens of thousands of Georgians to take to the streets. Opponents of the law—including Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who had attempted to veto it—have called it the “Russia law” for its similarity to the Kremlin’s legislation targeting so-called foreign agents. Since 2012, Moscow has used its own foreign-agent legislation to persecute independent NGOs, media outlets, and citizens who criticize the Russian government’s policies, and many Georgian civil society leaders view the new law as a threat to civil rights and an obstacle to Georgia’s prospects for joining the European Union.…  Seguir leyendo »

Russian forces at the ceremonial closing of a Russian military base, Khojaly, Azerbaijan, May 2024. Aziz Karimov / Reuters

MundoCáucasoEuropa

On April 17, a column of Russian tanks and trucks passed through a series of dusty Azerbaijani towns as they drove away from Nagorno-Karabakh, the highland territory at the heart of the South Caucasus that Azerbaijan and Armenia had fought over for more than three decades. Since 2020, Russian peacekeepers had maintained a presence there. Now, the Russian flag that flew over the region’s military base was being hauled down.

Although it caught many by surprise, the Russian departure further consolidated a power shift that began in late September 2023, when Azerbaijan seized the territory and, almost overnight, forced the mass exodus of some 100,000 Karabakh Armenians—while Russian forces stood by.…  Seguir leyendo »

Las protestas contra la ley de agentes extranjeros se repiten en Tiflis y otras ciudades de Georgia desde hace semanas. AFP

MundoCáucaso

El orden internacional que ha regido la geopolítica y la economía del mundo desde la Segunda Guerra Mundial está al borde del colapso y este camino hacia la anarquía ha favorecido la extensión de la guerra por el planeta y su uso, cada vez más generalizado, por las grandes potencias. Son muchos los ejemplos que ilustran esta afirmación (Ucrania, Gaza, Sudán, Etiopía...) y uno más de los que contribuyen a esta deriva con finales funestos son los acontecimientos que están acaeciendo en una pequeña república caucásica, Georgia, constreñida por el abrazo ruso.

Ocupada en parte por las tropas de Putin desde la efímera guerra de 2008 (Osetia del Sur), previamente Abjasia había declarado su independencia, la mayor parte de su población anhela formar parte de la UE (es candidato a miembro desde diciembre de 2023) para librarse de la influencia rusa, sobre todo ahora, cuando ha visto cómo el Kremlin traicionaba a los armenios y los dejaba abandonados a su suerte.…  Seguir leyendo »

Las implicaciones mundiales de la crisis política en Georgia

MundoCáucaso

La dirigencia política occidental, cada vez más preocupada por las guerras que se desarrollan en Ucrania y Gaza, corre riesgo de perder influencia geopolítica en un país de las costas del Mar Negro, pequeño pero estratégicamente importante: Georgia.

El 29 de abril, en una de sus escasas apariciones públicas, Bidzina Ivanishvili (un multimillonario ermitaño, fundador y líder de facto del gobernante partido Sueño Georgiano) acusó a Estados Unidos y a la Unión Europea de ser un «partido [occidental] de la guerra global» y de inmiscuirse en los asuntos internos de Georgia.

Tomando prestada una página del manual del presidente ruso Vladímir Putin, Ivanishvili prometió reintroducir una ley sobre «agentes extranjeros» por la que toda organización que reciba más del 20% de su financiación desde otros países quedaría catalogada como una entidad bajo influencia extranjera.…  Seguir leyendo »

Demonstrators hold a Georgian flag during a protest against the “foreign agents” bill on May 15, 2024 in Tbilisi, Georgia. (Photo by Nicolo Vincenzo Malvestuto/Getty Images)

MundoCáucaso

Eduard Shevardnadze – Soviet foreign minister and the second president of independent Georgia – is spinning in his grave. Deposed in the country’s Rose Revolution in 2003 for his government’s corruption and bygone-era politicians, he was nonetheless a proud Georgian who would not have mortgaged his country’s destiny, as the current leadership is doing.

Once the poster child for progress towards Euro-Atlantic integration and democracy, Georgia is a reminder that a country’s ‘progress’ is neither linear nor inevitable.

Atrophy and capture are just as possible. It is the South Caucasus state’s appropriation – by a small section of the Georgian elite and effectively by Russia – that is of the most concern today.…  Seguir leyendo »