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☆ Georgian president calls for protests after ruling party wins disputed election; U.S., allies call for probe
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-28 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Georgian Dream Party supporters celebrate the exit poll results in Tbilisi on Saturday. Diego Fedele / Getty ImagesPresident Salome Zourabichvili spoke the day after the vote, which the electoral commission said the ruling party had won. The Georgian Dream party clinched nearly 54% of the vote, the commission said, as opposition parties contested the result and vote monitors reported significant violations. Georgian Dream has become increasingly authoritarian over the past year, adopting laws similar to those used by Russia to crack down on speech. Despite that, Georgian Dream has adopted Russia-style laws and many Georgians fear the government is distancing the country from the West and into Moscow’s orbit.

Persons: Diego Fedele, Salome Zourabichvili, Georgia’s, ”, Zourabichvili, Antonio López, White, Charles Michel, “, Irakli Kobakhidze, ” Hungary’s Victor Orbán, Tiko Gelashvili, Natia Seskuria Organizations: European Union, Georgian Dream Party, Getty, European, Sunday, Georgian, The United National Movement, Regional Institute for Security Studies, AP Locations: United States, Russia, Europe, Tbilisi, Georgian, Russian, Brussels, South Caucasus, ”, Georgia, Tiko, Georgia’s, Moscow, Soviet Union, Javakheti

☆ Georgia’s opposition disputes result of crucial vote which could decide the country’s role in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-27 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Initial figures suggest turnout is the highest since the ruling Georgian Dream party was first elected in 2012. Georgia’s Central Election Commission said Georgian Dream won 52.99% with the majority of votes counted. Georgian Dream stood against four main opposition groups, which indicated they did not accept the results. The biggest opposition party, United National Movement, said its headquarters came under attack on polling day. Many Georgians fear Georgian Dream is dragging the country toward authoritarianism and killing off hopes it could join the EU.

Persons: Ivanishvili, Tina Bokuchava, “, ”, Russia —, Salome Zourabichvili, ” Qristine, Nika Gvaramia, ” Ivanishvili, Party ”, Giorgi Gakharia Organizations: European Union, Georgia’s, Commission, Georgian, EU, United National Movement, CEC, Associated, NATO, Coalition, AP, Party, Unity National Movement Locations: Georgian, Russia, Brussels, South Caucasus, Zugdidi, Marneuli, Tbilisi, Georgia, Soviet Union, EU, U.S, Ukraine, Strong Georgia

☆ Alleging ‘Russian special operation,’ Georgian president calls for protests over disputed election
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-27 | by ( Jill Dougherty | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Ivanishvili had vowed to ban the opposition if his party won the election, and his opponents are taking him at his word. On Saturday, as Georgians cast their ballots, thousands of Georgian and international election observers fanned out to voting precincts across the country, from urban centers to poor, remote villages in the Caucasus mountains, trying to evaluate whether the vote was free and fair. Throughout election day, video of violations, some of them egregious, like a man boldly jamming ballots into a ballot box, spread quickly. “She is on the right side of history,” said opposition politician Nika Gvaramia. The illiberal leader has found common cause with Georgia’s ruling party and was the first international leader to congratulate them after the election – even before the votes were officially tallied.

Persons: Georgia CNN —, Salome Zourabichvili, “, Georgia …, ”, oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, Ivanishvili, ISFED, John Shimkus, Margareta Cederfelt, Zourabichvili, Nika Gvaramia, Elene Khoshtaria, isn’t, Viktor Orban Organizations: Georgia CNN, Georgian, International Republican Institute, National Democratic Institute, International Society for Fair Elections, Democracy, “ Coalition Locations: Tbilisi, Georgia, Georgian, Russian, “, Gvaramia, Russia, ” Moscow, Hungarian

☆ Georgia faces an uncertain future as all sides claim election victory
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-26 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The Georgian Dream-supporting Imedi TV channel showed the ruling party winning 56%. Georgian Dream did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Oct. 26, 2024. Georgian Dream has drawn the ire of its Western allies for what they cast as its increasingly authoritarian bent. Sandro Dvalishvili, a 23-year-old Georgian Dream activist, told Reuters last week that Georgia would face “danger” if his party of choice was defeated at the polls.

Persons: Georgia Reuters —, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Ivanishvili, Tina Bokuchava, Mikheil Saakashvili, Ivanishvili’s, Bokuchava, “, Irakli Gedenidze, Salome Zourabichvili –, ”, Andronikashvili, George W, Bush, Kostya, Viktor Orban, Sandro Dvalishvili Organizations: Georgia Reuters, United National Movement, Reuters, ”, Party, EU, Georgian Locations: TBILISI, Georgia, South Caucasus, Georgian, Russia, Ukraine, Europe, Tbilisi, Soviet, Tbilisi’s, Tbilisi , Georgia, Moscow

☆ Georgia's election forces voters to choose between a future with Russia or Europe
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-25 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Supporters of the ruling Georgian Dream party at the party's final campaign rally in Tbilisi on Oct. 23, 2024, ahead of the Oct. 26 parliamentary elections. Despite its increasingly anti-Western rhetoric, Georgian Dream insists it still wants Georgia to join the EU and its election posters feature the party's logo along with the symbol of the EU. People walk past campaign posters of the ruling Georgian Dream party in Tbilisi on Oct. 22, 2024, ahead of the Oct. 26 parliamentary elections. Georgian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili attends the final campaign rally of the ruling Georgian Dream party in Tbilisi on Oct. 23, 2024, ahead of Oct. 26 parliamentary elections. Georgia's President Salome Zourabichvili, staunchly critical of the ruling party, addressed crowds of supporters last weekend, telling them that the vote would "demonstrate people's will for freedom, independence, and a European future."

Persons: Giorgi Arjevanidze, There's, Bidzina Ivanishvili, —, oligarch Bidzina, Salome Zurabishvili's, Vano Shlamov, Ivanishvili, Salome Zourabichvili, Zourabichvili, Salome Zurabishvili Organizations: Afp, Getty, Center for, NATO, European Union, EU, Western, Russia, Party, Institute for, Kremlin Locations: Georgian, Tbilisi, Georgia, Russia, Soviet, Russian, Moscow, Washington, Europe, Western Ukraine, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, South Caucasus, Central Asia, European

☆ As Georgia votes, fears of a return to Moscow’s orbit loom large
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-25 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Ulf Mauder/picture alliance/Getty ImagesMany observers fear the ruling Georgian Dream party will resort to anything to stay in power. This year, Georgian Dream pushed through a Kremlin-style “foreign agent” law, which critics say aims to shut down watchdogs who call the government to account. She described some of the statements made by Georgian Dream officials as a “copy-paste” of those from Stalin’s show trials. ‘Soviet mentality’A question puzzling many is why the formerly center-left Georgian Dream has made a sudden authoritarian pivot. Joining the EU would require cleaning up the country’s judiciary and giving up power if Georgian Dream is voted out on Saturday.

Persons: Joseph Stalin, Stalin “, ”, Stalin, Stalin’s, Ulf Mauder, Ivanishvili –, –, Vladimir Putin’s, “, everybody’s, ” Natalie Sabanadze, Sabanadze, Vano Shlamov, Ivanishvili, Mikheil Saakashvili, ” Younger, Uriel Sinai, Moscow’s, Davit, Georgia’s, Salome Zourabichvili –, Ivanishvili’s, Bera, ” Ivanishvili, Hillary Clinton, Viktor Orban, Irakli Kobakhidze, Orban, Mirian, Levan Khabeishvili –, Khabeishvili, “ Ivanishvili, He’s, Giorgi Arjevanidze, Sergei Naryshkin Organizations: CNN, Joseph, Joseph Stalin Museum, European Union, Party, Chatham House, Georgian, Getty, Kremlin, Stalin, –, Governance, NATO, EU, Hungary’s, Conservative Political, Georgia’s, Police, Western United National Movement, UNM, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service Locations: Gori, Soviet, Caucasus, Georgian, Soviet Union, Georgia, Russia, Everybody’s, London, Chatham, Tbilisi, AFP, Moscow, Georgia’s South Ossetia, Gori ., Abkhazia, Gori , Georgia, Ukraine, Europe, Budapest, Anadolu, Nuremberg, Brussels, Moldova, Belarus

Yang Yimin / University of Chinese Academy of SciencesThe Bronze Age coffin was discovered during the excavation of the Xiaohe Cemetery in 2003. The fact that those items included chunks of kefir cheese alongside the body showed that “cheese was important for their life,” she added. They identified the cheese as kefir cheese, which is made by fermenting milk using kefir grains. The journey of the cheese took them to tracing the journey of the kefir culture, which is used to make the final cheese. Asked if the kefir cheese was still edible and if she would try it, Fu was less enthusiastic.

Persons: ”, Fu Qiaomei, Xinjiang —, Yang Yimin, Fu, Ping Wanjing, Fu’s, they’re, ” Fu Organizations: Chinese Academy of Sciences, NBC News, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, “ Locations: HONG KONG, China, Beijing, what’s, Xinjiang, East Asia, Xiaohe, Europe, Caucasus, Russia, Asia, Tibet

☆ DNA from 3,600-year-old cheese sequenced by scientists
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-25 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

A decade after the dairy discovery on strikingly intact remains mummified by the Taklamakan Desert’s arid conditions, scientists have extracted and sequenced DNA from the 3,600-year-old cheese, the oldest in the archaeological record. Fu is director of the ancient DNA laboratory at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing. The researchers recovered animal and microbe DNA from the kefir cheese discovered on the Tarim Basin mummies. Fu and her colleagues also sequenced the bacterial genes in the ancient kefir cheese, revealing insights into how probiotic bacteria evolved over the past 3,600 years. “Ancient DNA analysis, especially on microbes, is fraught with technical problems, mostly stemming from contamination by modern bacteria,” he added.

Persons: ”, Christina Warinner, John L, Loeb, Warinner wasn’t, Qiaomei Fu, Fu, Yang, it’s, Taylor Hermes, ” Hermes, Pichia kudriavzevii, kefir, we’ve, ” Fu, Hermes, Warinner, William Taylor, Taylor, wasn’t Organizations: CNN, Cell, Social Sciences, Harvard University, Vertebrate Paleontology, University of Arkansas, University of Colorado, school’s Locations: what’s, China, ”, Beijing, Tarim, China’s Xinjiang, Asia, Russia, Tibet, United States, Japan, Caucasus, Anatolia, University of Colorado Boulder

☆ I'm a retired pilot who worked for royalty. I had no idea how the rich spent their money.
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-19 | by ( Mikhaila Friel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewThis as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kent Davis, a retired Air Canada pilot with more than 40 years of experience. AdvertisementA prime minister, movie stars, and royaltyIn 1972, I joined Air Canada and spent 33 years flying for them. In 2005, I retired from Air Canada and was hired by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, a Saudi prince based in Riyadh. Kent Davis flew Prince Al Waleed bin Talal (pictured) and his family around the world. I'm mostly retired now, except for some consulting work with my company, Trans Global Aviation Solutions.

Persons: —, Kent Davis, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, Prince Al Waleed bin Talal, CHRISTOPHE ENA, George W, Bush, I'm Organizations: Service, Air Canada, Business, Aviation, Royal Canadian Navy, Navy, Airbus, Boeing, Air India, Trans Global Aviation Solutions Locations: Montreal, Saudi, Riyadh, New York, Republic of Georgia, Greater Caucasus

☆ The plot to topple Putin
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-09 | by ( Paul Starobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +32 min

But it was only when Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine , in 2022, that Ammosov began to plot the overthrow of his homeland. As I found in months of wide-ranging interviews, everyone aspiring to a new Russian revolution grasps the seemingly impossible odds of their bid to topple Putin. Ponomarev — who was profiled last year in The Washington Post under the headline "Could this man bring down Putin?" Most applicants live in Russia, Sokolov tells me, but submissions have come from as far away as Uruguay. "I know a lot of good officers" in the CIA, Ponomarev told me, who "sympathize" with the anti-Putin insurgency.

Persons: Vladislav Ammosov, Ukraine —, Ammosov, wondrously, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Simona Supino, Alexey Navalny —, Ilya Ponomarev, Ponomarev —, —, Sean Guillory, Denis Sokolov, Sokolov, Galina Starovoytova, Anastasia Sergeeva, Sergeeva, Valter, Putin —, Tatiana Kosinova, Yelena Bonner, Itil, Boris Nemtsov, Nemtsov, Vladimir Lenin, specter, NurPhoto, Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, Boris Akunin, Ponomarev, Trotsky, Mao, Castro, Alexei Sobchenko, Sergei Chuzavkov, Ilya Ponomarev Ponomarev, Michał Kamiński, Kosinova, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, Nikolai Gogol's, . Barnum, Bernie, Madoff, Donald, Leonid Nevzlin, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Navalny, King George III, Khodorkovsky, Garry Kasparov, Putin's, Andrey Volna, Brian Fitzpatrick, Charlie Wilson's, Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Daniel Fried, William Burns, Fried, Biden, We're, Evgenia, it's Organizations: Putin, Ukrainian, Russian Federation, The Washington Post, University of Pittsburgh, Civic Council, Kennan, Wilson Center, GRU, Russia, BI, International Republican Institute, CIA, Kremlin, Russian, Memorial, Soviet Union, of America, Civic, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, Russian Volunteer Corps, European, Human Rights, Siberian Battalion, Ammosov, Ukrainian Armed Forces, Putin's Defense Ministry, True, Bolsheviks, of Russia Legion, People's Deputies, State Department, Justice Department, Polish Senate, Trump University, Trump, Khodorkovsky, FBI, Intelligence, Senate, Ukrainian Security Services, Bolshevik Locations: Siberia, Russia, Warsaw, Poland, Ukraine, Sakha, India, Putin Russia, Russian, Kyiv, The, restive North Caucasus, Washington, Soviet Union, Moscow, WhatsApp, Ukrainian, Soviet, Crimean, USSR, Europe, Uruguay, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, America, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Australia, Belgorod, Kursk, Kremlin, China, Cuba, True Russia, Ponomarev, Northern Virginia, Polish, ., Lviv, Yukos, London, Pennsylvania, Texas, Afghanistan, Putin Russian, Tallinn, Estonia

☆ I hiked a mountain in the Andes to celebrate my 40th birthday. The hallucinations and violent vomiting that followed had not been part of the plan.
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-12 | by ( Elizabeth Lavis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

I got altitude psychosis a few hundred meters from high camp as I scaled the frigid face of Huayna Potosi, the ninth-highest mountain in the Bolivian Andes. The geodesic dome was surrounded by snow at Huayna Potosi High Camp. Elizabeth LavisThanks to my excellent guide, I made it to high camp and spent the night in an orange geodesic dome perched on Potosi's precarious eastern side. He rapidly identified the seriousness of the situation, carried my day pack the rest of the way, and helped me ascend slowly to high camp. While I was fairly fit and prepared to climb Huayna Potosi, I didn't consider the mental or extreme physical toll the mountain would take.

Persons: —, hallucinating, crampons skidding, Elizabeth Lavis, I've, it's Organizations: Service, Business, Bolivia's La, El, Huayna, Psychiatry Locations: Huayna Potosi, Bolivian, Caucasus, Potosi, Bolivia's, Bolivia's La Paz, El Alto, Lake Titicaca, Peru, Bolivia, Camp, Svaneti , Georgia

☆ At a Mountain Retreat, Wine, Lamb Kebabs and Lots of Climate Talk
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-02 | by ( Max Bearak | Nanna Heitmann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A few days ago, at an ornate hilltop hotel in Azerbaijan’s wine country with panoramic views of the Caucasus foothills, the world’s top climate diplomats debated how to marshal whopping amounts of money to fight global warming and compensate poor and vulnerable countries that suffer its worst effects. “Some say single-digit trillions. Some say double-digit,” said Yalchin Rafiyev, Azerbaijan’s chief climate negotiator. The meeting was a pre-meeting, of sorts, for the main event: November’s United Nations sponsored climate negotiations, known as COP29, to be held in the seaside capital, Baku, a few hours away. At previous summits, the world’s nations had struggled to agree on a seemingly basic premise in the fight against climate change, namely that humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels must be curbed as quickly as possible.

Persons: ”, Yalchin Rafiyev Organizations: November’s United Locations: Azerbaijan’s, Caucasus, November’s United Nations, Baku

☆ Russia’s Dagestan temporarily bans wearing niqabs following deadly shootings
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-03 | by ( Mariya Knight | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Russia’s southernmost Dagestan province has announced a temporary ban on the wearing of niqabs, a full-face veil with an opening for the eyes, as a security measure following deadly attacks by gunmen last month. The niqab ban is to take place until “the identified threats are eliminated and a new theological conclusion is issued,” deputy head of the Mufti of Dagestan Abdulla Salimov said in a video message Wednesday. The duration of the ban depends on the development of the situation in the region,” he said. Bastrykin blamed “Islamist terrorists” for the deadly shooting in Dagestan. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, but law enforcement agencies told Russian state media TASS that the attackers are “adherents of an international terrorist organization.”

Persons: ”, Dagestan Abdulla Salimov, Dagestan Muhammad Muhammadov, ” Alexander Bastrykin, “, Bastrykin Organizations: CNN, Gunmen, EA Regnum, Center, TASS Locations: Dagestan, Russian, North Caucasus, Russia

☆ Terrorist attacks are on the rise in Russia as Putin remains 'distracted' by war in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-29 | by ( Cameron Manley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The attacks, which killed around 20 people, raised major questions about whether the Kremlin has the resources to protect its citizens back home while pursuing its war in Ukraine. The attacks also illustrated "the diverse range of militant actors Russia has angered through its domestic and foreign policy actions," he added. North CaucasusRussia's North Caucasus region has a long history of rebellion against Kremlin rule, especially in Chechnya, where Russia battled separatists in two bloody wars — in 1994-1996 and then in 1999-2009. Despite Sunday's incident being the second major terrorist attack in just three months, Russian security services "have not really changed their strategy," Harold Chambers, a political and security analyst specializing in the North Caucasus, told BI. Russia's security services "do not seem to possess the same level of intelligence about threats — or, if they do, they are not acting on it," Youngman added.

Persons: —, Molotov, Lucas Webber, Wilayat Kavkaz, Vladimir Putin, Mark Youngman, Youngman, STRINGER, Webber, Russia's, Harold Chambers, Chambers Organizations: Service, Kremlin, Business, Soufan, Dagestan region's, Center for, Washington DC, Anadolu, Getty, Islamic, Tass, Federal, Crocus City Hall, Islamic State Locations: Russia's, Dagestan, Ukraine, New York, Russia, Northern Caucasus, North Caucasus, Washington, Makhachkala, Derbent, Russian, Rostov, Crocus, Moscow, Tajikistan, Dagestan's, Caucasus, Chechnya, Syria, Iraq, Islamic State, Africa, Iran

☆ Putin pledged decades ago to conquer the horrors of Islamic extremism. Deadly Dagestan attack again proves he failed
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-24 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Only a fraction of the violence that raged across Dagestan on Sunday is visible at the moment, and it is already horrific. But it is particularly bad in Dagestan, where protests broke out in the earlier months of the war, as their sons had been disproportionately mobilized. Putin came to power in 1999 graphically pledging to wipe out “in the toilet” the extremists apparently behind apartment bombings in Moscow. But it is still the same problem Putin faced when he sneaked into Beslan in 2004. A raging sore for the Kremlin, and a reminder of both how Putin came to power and his limits on it.

Persons: Putin, Shamil Basayev, Vladimir Putin, –, Lenin, jihadists, ISIS’s Organizations: CNN, Hall, Kremlin, National Antiterrorism, Antiterrorism, Police, ISIS Locations: Dagestan, Moscow, North Caucasus, Moscow’s Crocus, Ukraine, Russia, Chechnya, Chechen, Chechnya’s, Beslan, Ingushetia, Boston, Makhachkala, South, Central Asia

☆ Russia has seen two terror attacks in just three months. Here’s what we know
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-24 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | Jerome Taylor | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

In Dagestan, Russian security forces fought an Islamist insurgency in the mountainous region in the 2000s that spilled over from neighboring Chechnya, though attacks have become rarer in recent years. Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with his election campaign confidants at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia March 20, 2024. ISIS-K attack on music venueThe coordinated attacks in Dagestan come just weeks after Russia suffered its worst terror attack in decades. For a leader who has long promised security and stability to Russians, the major attack on Russian soil was another powerful blow. In the aftermath of the March attack, Putin called for Russia to remain united.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov, Jill Dougherty, Vladimir Putin, confidants, Evgenia Novozhenina, Bashar al, Assad, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Benjamin Netanyahu, ” Organizations: CNN, ISIS, Ukraine grinds, Russian Jewish Congress, Attackers, TASS, Russian Federation, Soviet, Hamas, Makhachkala Uytash Airport, Kremlin, Reuters, Saudi, Israeli, Central, Migrants, Kazakhstan — Locations: Russia, Russia’s, Dagestan, Moscow, Derbent, Makhachkala –, Makhachkala, Russian, Republic of Dagestan, Russia’s Caucasus, Caucasus, Soviet Union, Chechnya, –, Grozny, Ukraine, ”, Gaza, Israel, CNN Moscow, Reuters Russia, Iran, Soviet, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan

☆ Georgia president overruled as lawmakers push forward with Russia-style 'foreign agents' law
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( Sam Meredith | In Samuelmeredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Demonstrators protesting the "foreign influence" law crowd outside the parliament building in central Tbilisi on May 28, 2024. Georgian lawmakers on Tuesday voted to override a presidential veto on a Russia-style "foreign agents" law, pushing forward with legislation that has triggered international condemnation and large-scale protests in the South Caucasus nation. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili vetoed the controversial legislation on May 18, saying on social media platform X that the "fundamentally Russian" law represents "an obstacle to our European path." Zourabichvili, a critic of the ruling Georgian Dream government, has called for a repeal of the law. Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has said the bill will create "strong guarantees" to help ensure long-lasting peace in the country.

Persons: Salome Zourabichvili, Irakli Kobakhidze Organizations: Union, NATO, United Nations, EU, Kremlin ., Georgian Locations: Tbilisi, Russia, South Caucasus, The U.S, Georgian, Soviet Union

☆ Georgia’s Ruling Party Secures a Contentious Law on Foreign Influence
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Georgia’s Parliament overrode a presidential veto to give final approval on Tuesday evening to a contentious bill that has plunged the country into a political crisis and threatened to derail the pro-Western aspirations of many Georgians in favor of closer ties with Russia. The law will require nongovernmental groups and media organizations that receive at least 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as organizations “pursuing the interests of a foreign power.” The country’s justice ministry will be given broad powers to monitor compliance. Violations could result in fines equivalent to more than $9,000. The passage of the bill is likely to represent a pivotal moment for Georgia, which has been one of the most pro-Western states to emerge from the collapse of the Soviet Union. The bill has already unsteadied Georgia’s relationship with the United States and the European Union, and it could upset the fragile geopolitics of the Caucasus, a volatile region where the interests of Russia, Turkey, Iran and the West have long come into conflict.

Organizations: Soviet Union, European Union Locations: Russia, Georgia, Soviet, United States, Caucasus, Turkey, Iran

☆ Opinion | Do Not Allow Putin to Capture Another Pawn in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-26 | by ( Serge Schmemann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The law has drawn stiff rebukes from the United States and Europe. The State Department has announced visa restrictions on officials behind the foreign-agent law and Congress has threatened further sanctions. The clash over the foreign-agent law in a small country nestled in the Caucasus Mountains has been largely overshadowed by Russia’s war on Ukraine. Georgia, in fact, was the first neighboring country invaded by Russia post-Soviet Union, in 2008, to block its westward drift. Now the ruling party, Georgian Dream, seems to share Russia’s goal, though it has generally avoided openly siding with Russia.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili —, Russia —, Ivanishvili Organizations: Russian, The State Department, European Union Locations: Republic of Georgia, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, United States, Europe, Ukraine, Georgia, Russia, Soviet Union, Georgian, Tbilisi, ”

Tbilisi, Georgia CNN —Georgia’s parliament has passed a controversial “foreign agents” bill despite widespread domestic opposition and warnings from the European Union that its enactment would imperil the country’s chances of joining the bloc. Many Georgians fear their foreign agents bill will be used the same way in their country. Georgia’s parliament now has 10 days to send the bill to President Salome Zourabichvili, who has already vowed to veto it. However, EU leaders have made it clear that the foreign agents bill’s passage would jeopardize Georgia’s chances of accession. Georgian law enforcement officers detain a demonstrator near the parliament in Tbilisi on May 14.

Persons: Georgia CNN —, Salome Zourabichvili, Zourabichvili, Giorgi Arjevanidze, Bidzina Ivanishvili, they’ve, Putin, ” Zourabichvili, Shakh, Levan Khabeishvili, “, ” Khabeishvili, ” Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s, Irakli, CNN’s Christian Edwards, Anna Chernova, Vasco Cotovio Organizations: Georgia CNN, European Union, EU, United, Getty, Soviet Union, Georgian, CNN, European Locations: Tbilisi, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Europe, Soviet, United States, Caucasus, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, AFP, Russian, Moscow

☆ Georgia’s Parliament Gives Final Approval to ‘Foreign Agents’ Measure
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Parliament of Georgia gave final approval on Tuesday to a contentious bill that has prompted a series of tense protests in the capital, Tbilisi, spurred by fears that the legislation could push the country back into the Kremlin’s orbit. President Salome Zourabichvili has promised to veto the bill. But Georgian Dream, the governing party in Georgia since 2012, has enough votes to override her veto. Georgia’s justice ministry would be given broad powers to monitor compliance. Violations would incur fines equivalent to more than $9,300.

Persons: Salome Zourabichvili Locations: Georgia, Tbilisi, Caucasus

☆ What is Georgia’s ‘foreign agents’ bill, and why is Europe so alarmed?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Joshua Berlinger | Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Georgia’s parliament is set to pass a highly controversial so-called “foreign agents” bill that has triggered widespread protests across the former Soviet republic nestled in the Caucasus Mountains. Here’s what you need to know about the proposed law and the uproar it has caused. The bill would require organizations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “agents of foreign influence” or face crippling fines. About 50,000 protesters gathered in Tbilisi to protest the proposed legislation on Sunday. The proposed law is modeled after a similar one in Russia that the Kremlin has used to increasingly snuff out opposition and civil society.

Persons: CNN —, Salome Zourabichvili, Irakli Kobakhidze, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Vano Shlamov, Ivanishvili, they’ve, Georgia’s, Kobakhidze, Mirian, Jake Sullivan, ”, Dmitry Peskov, “, Ursula von der Leyen, Anna Chernova Organizations: CNN, Getty, European, House, Washington, Georgian, EU, “ Locations: Soviet, Caucasus, Tbilisi, Here’s, Georgian, Georgia, AFP, Russia, Europe, Ukraine, Soviet Union, European Union, Georgia’s, Didn’t Georgia, Anadolu, backsliding, George, Brussels, “ Georgia

☆ Charges Against a Congressman Lay Bare Foreign Government Influence Attempts
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-04 | by ( Kenneth P. Vogel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As tensions flared over disputed territory in the Caucasus region in the summer of 2020, Azerbaijan’s squadron of high-priced Washington lobbyists scrambled to pin the blame on neighboring Armenia and highlight its connections to Russia. Unbeknown to members of Congress, Azerbaijan had an inside man who was working closely with the Azerbaijani ambassador to Washington at the time on a parallel line of attack, according to text messages released by federal prosecutors. Azerbaijan’s ambassador responded enthusiastically. “Your amendment is more timely than ever,” the ambassador, Elin Suleymanov, wrote to Mr. Cuellar. “It is all about Russian presence there,” added Mr. Suleymanov, who referred to the congressman as “Boss.”

Persons: Unbeknown, Henry Cuellar, Elin Suleymanov, Cuellar, ”, Suleymanov Organizations: Azerbaijan’s, Texas Democrat, Russian Locations: Caucasus, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Washington, Texas, “

☆ Georgia rocked by protests as government pushes Putin-style ‘foreign agent’ bill
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —After spending his days making wine in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, Tsotne Jafaridze returns home to Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, and begins his new routine. Jafaridze, who also owns a travel business and says he receives 95% of his income from foreign sources, says he would “immediately” be listed as a foreign agent under the broadly-written law. But the government reintroduced the same bill in March and appears determined to force it through, despite protests that grow fiercer every week. Despite recent Russian aggression against Georgia, Georgian Dream has long been accused of harboring pro-Russian sympathies and its billionaire founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, made his fortune in the Soviet Union. Bidzina Ivanishvili addresses a rally in support of the "foreign agent" law in Tbilisi, April 29, 2024.

Persons: Jafaridze, ”, Vladimir Putin, “, Giorgi Arjevanidze, isn’t, ” Natalie Sabanadze, –, Levan Khabeishvili, Khabeishvili, Bidzina Ivanishvili, ” Buziashvili, Ivanishvili, Bidzina, Shakh, Sabanandze, Irakli Kobakhidze, Kobakhidze, ” Sabanadze, Viktor Orban, Europe’s, Matthew Miller, Washington, Georgia “, Irakli Gedenidze, Viktor Yanukovych, doesn’t Organizations: CNN, European Union, Getty, EU, United National Movement, National Security Council, Soviet Army, Soviet Union, Belarus ’, Party, Georgian, Conservative Political, United, State Department, Protesters, Reuters Locations: Caucasus, Tbilisi, Georgia’s, Russia, Georgian, Russian, Soviet, AFP, Brussels, Georgia, Belarus, Ukraine, Soviet Union, Hungary, Hungarian, United States, stoke, ”

☆ Sex and marriage patterns in an ancient empire revealed by DNA
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

With opulent graves but no written records, the empire and its people have remained largely in the shadows of history until recently. But a landmark April 2022 study involving ancient DNA taken from the graves of the Avar elite shed light on the empire’s far-flung origins. A tiny sample is drilled from a bone at the ancient DNA laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. In the case of men, researchers found two partners in 10 cases, three partners in four cases and four partners in one case. “Polygamy (having multiple marriage partners), serial monogamous marriages and extramarital relations are all possible explanations,” she said.

Persons: ”, Zsófia Rácz, Rácz, aren’t, Guido Alberto Gnecchi, Max Planck, Eötvös Loránd University Múzeum Lara Cassidy, “, polygyny, Ruscone, Cassidy, Bryan Miller, wasn’t Organizations: CNN, of Archaeological Sciences, Eötvös Loránd, Múzeum, University’s, Archaeological Sciences, Max, Max Planck Institute, Eötvös Loránd University, Trinity College Dublin, Turks, Central, University of Michigan Locations: Central, Eastern Europe, Hungary, Rákóczifalva, Budapest, Leipzig, Germany, Europe, Mongolia, Caucasus, what’s, Constantinople, Byzantine, Eurasia

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