NEWS: Georgia News Digest 07-07-08

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)

Georgia relations
1. Medvedev warns Georgia against inflaming Caucasus tensions
2. Saakashvili will discuss Abkhazia with Medvedev
3. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister meets with Georgian PM, ex-Speaker
4. NATO expansion ‘red line’ in Russo-U.S. Ties
5. Georgia escalating tension in conflict areas
6. There is more than fifty-fifty chance of war with Russia
7. Kazakh leader meets his Georgian counterpart
8. OSCE Tbilisi office head concerned on aggravation of situation in Georgia region
9. Premier pledges to avoid "military provocation"
Abkhazia
10. Two die in Abkhazia cafe explosion
11. Four blasts thunder in Zugdidi district, Georgia
12. video: Two dead, seven injured in Abkhazia blast
13. Russia behind blasts in Abkhaz conflict zone
14. Abkhazian state security service confirms two deaths
15. Blasts raise tension on Georgia's border with Abkhazia
16. Bagapsh presents plan on Georgia’s operation against Abkhazia
17. video: Breakaway region shows map of alleged Georgian invasion
18. Tbilisi denies military operation in Abkhazian region
19. Bagapsh presents plan on Georgia's operation against Abkhazia
20. Russian source declines comment on Georgian claims of Abkhazia arms supplies
21. Russian ministry worried about alleged Georgian plan to seize Abkhazia
22. Georgia's plans to use force in Abkhazia fraught with new war
23. Abkhazia doesn’t want recognition on the rebound
24. Breakaway regions "dancing to Russia's tune”
25. Russia deploys more military hardware in Abkhazia
26. Crossfire war
27. Use of force will lead to ‘new war’ in Abkhazia
28. Georgian transport workers to protest to Russian colleagues
29. Tourism in a hotspot: Abkhazia looks to foreign money for security
30. Gazprom will build a pipeline for Bagapsh
South Ossetia
31. Repeat monitoring confirms shelling of South Ossetian capital
32. One reportedly injured in S. Ossetia shooting
33. S. Ossetia claims Georgia preparing invasion
34. Tbilisi-backed South Ossetia official ambushed, four injured
35. video: South Ossetia claims it's under fire from Georgia
36. video: South Ossetian authorities in 'full control' of border with Georgia
37. video: Viktor Mizin interview
38. video: Sergey Arutyonov interview
39. Moldovan separatists "evacuated" from South Ossetia
40. Selling lofty dreams in separatist South Ossetia
Politics and government
41. Opposition has two seats in Confidence Group
42. Levan Bezashvili is discussed as a head of Justice Ministry and Prosecutor General’s Office after merger
43. New Vice-Speaker elected
44. MPs discuss budgetary amendments
45. MPs discuss amendments to tax code
46. Senior MP on planned increase in defence spending
47. Two draft constitutional amendments initiated
48. ECHR verdict on Labor Party case expected next week
49. Investigation of drug-dealing high-ranking official dropped
50. Georgian reforms: Benefits or not, & “who really benefits”
51. Georgia has Shanghaied its flagship of state with rigged elections
This monitoring report can be found on its website www.humanrights.ge

Media
52. Due to purposeful activities of the authority there is no free television left in the country
53. Holy Synod to request GNCC and televisions to protect society from “obscenity and aggression”
54. Public Defender likely to request society for financial assistance for Kavkasia TV
55. Mze TV redundant journalists employed at different TV companies
56. Who will be Mze’s director?
57. Political funding for Georgian TV companies
58. Newspaper Progresi vs. Levan Bezhashvili
Misc.
59. Patriarch visits and presents prisoners
60. Prison hunger strike resumes a week after Patriarch intervenes
61. Health condition of prisoner deteriorated after sewing shut his mouth
62. About 40 employees were dismissed from Gurjaani Cultural Center
63. 100 teachers laid-off from Gurjaani music schools
64. Professors vs. administration: What’s going on at Zugdidi State Institute?!
65. University lecturer dismissed on political grounds appeals decision
66. Agency for social subsidies block assistance to terminal cancer patient
67. UN report highlights problems of children’s rights in Georgia
68. Georgian citizens held in Turkish hotel freed
69. Ketilari villagers protest sale of land plots to foreign investors
70. Ordinary soldiers punished for red tape mistakes of Okruashvili’s generals
71. Children drawing their dreams
72. Ordeal of a delayed train ride: Gori to Tbilisi
73. Books and jobs sacrificed to controversy
74. Lack of roads in Ninotsminda district villages
75. Innocent Georgian parents fined in lieu of teenagers
76. Lack of food threatens to drive family apart again
77. Old blind lady seeks shelter
78. To survive the aluminium wars, mettle was needed [excerpt]
79. Katie won't play the fame game [excerpt]
80. Review: Georgia National Airlines

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