NEWS: Georgia News Digest 05-27-08

A service of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies

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Archives and associated files at groups.google.com/group/genewsfiles (from February 2008) and groups.google.com/group/genews (before February 2008)

Politics and elections
1. Opposition protesting in downtown Tbilisi
2. Thousands protest Georgia election results
3. Opposition holds rally demanding new vote
4. video: 10,000 Georgians rally over 'rigged' poll
5. Opposition rallies outside Parliament
6. Opposition sets ultimatum
7. Opposition says it aims to thwart first session of new parliament
8. Christian-Democrats Refrain from clear-cut position on boycott
9. Police prevent opposition leaders from entering parliament
10. Riot squads prevent opposition MPs from entering parliament
11. Opposition protesters end rally
12. Radio reports "attack" on opposition activists in western Georgia
13. video: Election dispute deepens on Georgia's national day
14. Georgian election officials from opposition boycott CEC meeting
15. video: Divisions exposed on Independence Day
16. Parliament can start working with 2/3 MPs
17. CEC rejects complaints
18. Ballots counted, results disputed: Opposition will not recognize parliamentary election legitimacy
19. Opposition demands poll results' invalidation by 1200 gmt 26 May
20. Mikhail Saakashvili led parade away from opposition
21. Saakashvili says ready to cooperate with opposition
22. Saakashvili hopes unanimous opposition boycott will fail
23. Political crisis or peace: Authorities are optimistic about 4-party parliament
24. Nice work if you can get it: Observing, the game you always win
25. Electoralism and mistakes of international community
26. GYLA reports election violence and double voting
27. Legal or illegal funding?
Georgia-Russia relations and conflicts
28. Russia should become part of solution
29. Medvedev calls for better relations with Georgia
30. WTO pursues Russia talks, Georgia obstacle remains
31. Russia-Georgia WTO talks still stalled: Russian chief negotiator
32. Abkhazian law enforcers deny beating Polish journalist
33. Abkhaz autonomy
34. Russian peacekeepers, hardware to arrive in Abkhazia on Tuesday as part of rotation
35. Human decency will defeat ethnic cleansing
36. Russia to hold rotation of peacekeepers in South Ossetia at end-May
37. Russia says no increase in peacekeeping troops in South Ossetia after rotation
Drone incident
38. United Nations confirms Russian fighter jet shot & destroyed Georgian unmanned police aircraft on April 20
39. Georgia to take drone case to international bodies
40. UN concludes Russia shot down Georgian spy plane
41. video: UN: Russia shot down Georgian spy plane
42. Russian fighter shot down spy drone, says UN
43. U.N. says Russia downed drone Georgian craft was flying over separatist region
44. Tensions rise as UN says Russian air force downed Georgian drone
45. President hails UN report on downed drone
46. Russian Air Force official denies UN probe claim on drone downing
47. Senior MP accepts UN finding that Russia shot down Georgian unmanned plane
48. Russian envoy on downed Georgian drone
49. Shamba slams UN report on downed Georgian drone
50. Russia has no relation to Georgian spy planes downing in Abkhazia – Bagapsh
51. UNOMIG probe into April 20 air incident in Abkhazia not objective
Foreign relations
52. Lithuania will remain Georgia’s close friend, ally
53. Estonian general visiting Georgia, Azerbaijan
54. Polish president swears support to Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations
55. Polish president sees Georgia as battleground for influence, domination
56. Georgian, Polish leaders address Independence Day parade in Tbilisi
57. Poland playing Prometheus in Georgia
58. EU foreign ministers on Georgia
59. NATO parliamentary assembled mulls over alliance enlargement
60. Letter from Brussels - “flying the same flag”
61. Turkey hiding behind big brothers in Georgia
62. Dancing the fast Caucasian dance
Misc.
63. Sharadze’s murderers must be “brought to justice”
64. Nino Bujanadze's corruption
65. Preventing drug use in Georgia
66. No food control until 2010
67. Shadow tobacco market down to 10 percent
68. Akhali Kselebi’s 2, 000 subscribers get new phone numbers
69. Georgian National Communications Commission temporarily ceases issuance of broadcasting licenses
70. Protest action on TV company “Maestro’s” air
71. Teimuraz Shashiashvili enraged by journalists
72. Pistol charge denied
73. Georgian cinema one hundred years old
74. ‘Tbilisi-Tbilisi’: A renaissance for Georgian filmmaking
75. Migration and language barrier -cause and effect
76. Ethnic groups in Georgia #15 – Molokans and Old Believers

Jonathan Kulick, Ph.D., Director of Studies, Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, 3a Chitadze, Tbilisi 0108, Georgia (Republic), jonathan.kulick@gfsis.org, office: +995 32 47 35 55, mobile: +995 95 33 33 40, USA voicemail: 310.928.6814