NEWS: Georgia News Digest 07-16-08

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)

Foreign relations and conflicts
1. Escalation of violence in South Ossetia and Abkhazia
2. U.S. questions Russia’s peacekeeper role
3. U.S. criticizes Russia over violation of Georgia's airspace
4. Polish president responded to current situation in Georgia
5. Estonian MEP suggests deploying EU police mission to Georgia
6. Kouchner says he`s ready to visit Georgia
7. NATO aspirations "no threat for Russia"
8. NATO questions Russia’s peacekeeper role
9. Kissinger, NATO and Russia
10. Spokesman for Russia-Belarus Union State: Georgia can join the Union State as well
11. Smallest spark could start war in Georgia regions
12. A war waiting to happen
13. Russia’s foreign policy concept paper: Moscow against Georgia in NATO
14. Russian military confirm elite paratroopers moved to Georgia border
15. Russia ready for UN Security Council session
16. Russia, U.S. simultaneously launched exercises in Caucasus
17. US troops train in Georgia amid tensions
18. U.S., Georgia start joint drills near Tbilisi
19. Comments by Georgian Foreign Ministry
20. Stand up to Russia over Georgia
21. Georgian ambassador to Russia summoned at parliament
22. Recalled envoy briefs MPs on domestic political situation in Russia
Abkhazia
23. Peace plan for Abkhazia
24. Abkhaz speaker rules out Western-proposed joint projects with Georgia
25. Abkhaz leader rejects ‘German plan’
26. Russian, German foreign ministers discuss Abkhazia
27. EU ready to foster dialogue between Sukhumi-Tbilisi
28. Contested Caucasus
29. Pullout from Upper Kodori vital for Abkhaz settlement
30. Russia is going to capture Kodori Gorge
31. Russian officials visit Sokhumi
32. Abkhazia's civilians, caught between two machine guns
33. Abkhazia press summary 1-14 July 08
34. Water shortages reported in Tskhinvali
Government and politics
35. Parliament votes to increase army ranks over "threats"
36. Parliament unanimously enlarges armed forces' size
37. Georgia increases troops, budget for military
38. Budgetary amendments approved
39. New Ambassador to Lithuania approved
40. Gamsakhurdia ditches opposition bloc, calls it fake opposition
41. Six opposition parties denied state funding
42. Opposition disapproves Natelashvili as their leader
43. Members of Labor Party called upon journalists to strike
44. Parliament finally opens ombudsman’s report, but could be too little too late
45. New head of state audit agency appointed
Media
46. Parliament approved Otar Koberidze as member of GPB Board of Trustees
47. Parliamentary committee withdrew Maestro TV-related documents from GNCC
48. Why couldn’t community radios gain foothold in Georgia?
49. Government targets Kavkasia and terrorism of business continues
50. Media crackdown means ordinary citizens are hostages of Georgian Government
Misc.
51. A view from a Kobuleti court house
52. Woman poisoned on April 9, 1989 seeks medical assistance for cancer
53. Prosecutor’s Office stands behind “guilty as charged” verdict
54. Georgian School of the XXI Century threatens health of future generation
55. Only King Solomon can understand Sighnaghi district budget calculations
56. Will there be “shorter holidays” for staff of nursery schools, or not?
57. Giorgi Amiranashvili- A framed political prisoner
58. Khochabeki – A waterless settlement in Samtskhe-Javakheti
59. “Optimus!” Euphemism for cutting nursery schools and human resources
60. Ketilari’s villager fighting over land plots and broken promises
61. Will Tbilisi City Hall permit yet another ugly building in Tbilisi center?
62. Dangerous land slip on Tbilisi-Senaki-Leselidze main highway destroys road sections
63. Investigation over cutting-down of prime Borjomi plateau forest opened
64. Members of fellowship might be deprived of residential building
65. Subscribers paid bills and electricity still cut-off
66. New water-pipes contaminate drinking water in Khidistavi
67. Protester’s mouths tied shut
68. Association of Georgian Attorneys considers Levan Patarkalishvili sentenced as illegal imprisonment
69. Private properties are still harassed in Sighnaghi after elections
70. Georgia turns to the west for ideas
71. book review: I was a teenage revolutionary
72. Georgian youth voices
73. Baku and Tbilisi agreed on WTO
74. Repatriation of Meskhetian Turks still a divisive issue
75. Direct air service on routes Tbilisi - Sochi - Rostov-on-Don launched
Research
76. paper: Living with non-recognition: State- and nation-building in South Caucasian quasi-states
77. paper: Para-States in the post-Soviet area from 1991 to 2007
78. paper: The politics of identity in post-Soviet Abkhazia: Managing diversity and unresolved conflict
79. paper: New Europe and its neo-regionalism: A working case of the ‘Community of Democratic Choice’
80. paper: The problem of lasting change: Civil society and the colored revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine
81. paper: Exporting civil society: The Post-communist experience
82. paper: Filling the void: Ethnic politics and nationalities policy in post-conflict Georgia
83. paper: Resolution through democracy promotion? The role of the OSCE in Georgia conflict resolution
84. paper: Russian in post-Soviet countries
85. paper: The rise and fall and revival of the Ibero‑Caucasian hypothesis
86. paper: The International School Psychology Survey: Data from Georgia, Switzerland and the UAE
87. paper: “Going Native” in the Caucasus: Problems of Russian identity 1801–64
88. paper: Sharing the same blood – culture and cuisine in the Republic of Georgia
Healthcare
89. Palliative medical treatment in Georgia
90. Never-ending saga of “flogged off” - transferred hospitals: Will the Government hold its ground?
91. paper: Improving quality of care: A model for educating emergency rooms nurses in the country of Georgia
92. paper: Cost impact of modernizing delivery care in the Republic of Georgia: Assessment of delivery costs
93. paper: Women’s sexual and reproductive health in post-socialist Georgia: Does internal displacement matter?
94. paper: Shaping women's reproductive decisions: The case of Georgia
95. paper: Postsocialist spores: Disease, bodies, and the state in the Republic of Georgia
96. paper: Human resources for health challenges of public health system reform in Georgia
97. paper: An evaluation of the initial impact of the Medical Assistance Program for the Poor in Georgia

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