LITERATURE: Conversation about Knut Hamsun in Georgia in facebook between Kyrre Johannesen and Giorgi Kvatchadze (facebook.com)

Post #1
Kyrre Johannesen wrote on December 29, 2009 at 8:52am
Does anyone know of Georgian references to Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun's travel in the Caucasus region and Georgia?I'v been looking for such for some time without finding it.

Post #2
Giorgi Kvatchadze (American University in Bulgaria) wroteo n January 12, 2010 at 12:01pm
The books of Knut Hamsun are still adorning shelves of my library. Unbeliavably fine writer, whom I owe a lot of nice memories and splendidly spent time of my childhood. There are Knut Hamsun's references and descriptions of his travel through the caucasus in Georgian language, however I am not aware of any English version. He seemed quite influenced by this journey, and particularly by Georgia. (Excuse me Mr. Kyrre for such a delayed comment, but hitherto I have not encountered your post. Now I randomly did while skimming through some other posts) If you have any other question regarding Hamsun's travel in the Caucasus, I will be more than happy to reply to them.

Post #3
Kyrre Johannesen wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:11pm
Thank you so much.I'd love to have those Hamsun-references even if they are in Georgian.

Unfortunately I don't speak the language yet, but I'm trying to learn it.

Any references will be gold for me. I have this old dream to travel in Hamsun's "footsteps" so to say in Georgia, and I have been loking for these references for some time. I know that there has been a Hamsun day i Tbilisi in November 2009 and I have a hope to find out something from that source. Georgia is such a fascinating country, and my dream stays. I thank you for your answer and I'd be so grateful if you could send the references you know.

All the best.Kyrre.

Post #4
Giorgi Kvatchadze (American University in Bulgaria) wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:20pm
My pleasure. I will do my best to find online versions of those sources that I have in hard copy in here. By the way I myself attended the opening of Knut Hamsun's bas-relief in my home city-Batumi. Also I have his 'Mysteries' in Georgian langauge ( check it out on the following link>>> ). I will be further checking if any version of his 'Journey to the Caucasus' is available. I appreciate your valuable respect for my country.

Post #5
Kyrre Johannesen wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:29pm
Thank you so much. I am so grateful. This brings me a step closer to my dream. Your links are interesting to me, especially your Hamsun bas-relief in the beautiful city Batumi. This lifted my day, Giorgi Kvatchadze. By the way I was born in Lofoten region which is not far from Hamarøy, where Hamsun lived some years of his life and in some of his books the influence from nature scenery in these regions of Norway is visible. Kyrre J.
Report

Post #6
Giorgi Kvatchadze (American University in Bulgaria) wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:31pm
(Here you will see the place in Tbilisi where Knut Hamsun stayed during his stay in Georgia >>>)
Report

Post #7
Giorgi Kvatchadze (American University in Bulgaria) wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:34pm
Knut Hamsun is very specially admired and revered here in Georgia. I dont know how is it in the other part of the world.
Report

Post #8
Kyrre Johannesen wrote on January 12, 2010 at 12:52pm
Well, in my home country, Norway it seems we can never rest the debate on Hamsun. Most people have strong positive view on his literature, and at the same time many cannot forget what position he took for Germany against England and our government abroad during the second world war. My father, Karl Johannesen fought against the german army in Narvik in 1942, (I will send a ref. to a book about this battle if you would be interested) and he didn't appreciate Hamsun's activity during the war, but he never stopped telling me wonderfully about how much he loved Hamsun's books. So you know, my heritige is part of my dream, and I intend to fullfill it some time. Your answer is so positive for me, and it seems I have not been looking closely enough to find some of the references you gave. I thank you so much again. Kyrre.
Report

Post #9
Giorgi Kvatchadze (American University in Bulgaria) wrote on January 12, 2010 at 1:06pm
You are more than welcome sir. I will be providing more interesting links and resources once they are at my disposition. Yes, indeed Hamsun remains highly debatable person in regards with his views on Nazi Germany during the world war 2, however this cant overshadow legacy and geniality of his literature. He is not the sole non-German writer though who is accused of suppoorting the Nazi Germany. Outstanding Georgian novelist Grigol Robaqidze is also commonly slammed for his inclination towards the Nazi Germany, and particularly towards Hitler. It seems to me that Hamsun's relation to Nazi Germany is as ambivalent and mysterious as his 'Mysteries' and all his literature. Your interest to the subject seems to me very stunning and special. Hence, I will keep in touch with you more frequently, albeit not tonight, as it's too late for Georgian time now. However, I am glad we contacted each other due to the common interest in Hamsun's litelature and his weltanschauung. It was nice to talk with you. Have a good night. Sincerely,Giorgi

PHOTOGRAPHY: The Photographer Arsineh Khachikian (flickr.com)

Interview with Armenian photographer: Arsineh Khachikian

Arsineh is a photographer who followed System of A Down in their Mezmerize Tour in 2005, she delivered to fans outstanding shoots for their favorite band.In 2006, Arsineh followed Serj Tankian & John Dolmayan with her camera in their visit to Capitol Hill Observance and their rally to push the Armenian Genocide bill. She also joined 'Screamers' movie crew and took photos of the movie screening in some different places.Arsineh was nice enough to give us her consent for exclusive interview for SOADFans talking about her experience with shooting System of A Down live on the stage, outside the stage and other things. ... full interview >>>

Arsineh Khachikian currently lives and works in Yerevan, Armenia as a freelance graphic designer and photographer. Her expertise is in concept development, image building, identity branding and publishing. She has received the Indie Music Award for Best CD packaging, the Armenian Music Award for Best Album Cover in 2002 and 2005, and was nominated for the same category in 2003. Arsineh recently published her first autobiographical book expressed through her photography, titled "My Nation: The Trails and Trials of an Armenian Repatriate."


OCTOBER 21 • PAINT THE TOWN RED

I've been saying for a few years now that I would like to see an organized effort to fund graffiti artists local and abroad for a "Yerevan Graffiti" project. All these "dallans" and tunnels around town are hardly architectural treasures, and often depressing. Sometimes you see graffiti like in this photo, but never anything fantastic. I know it's not a popular or appreciated art, but it is one that I love and I hope to make this possible one day, or see someone run with the idea. I hold no intellectual property on this idea, if you like it... do it! :) Also, I had no internet yesterday, so I skipped a day. Sorry.

© 2009 Arsineh Khachikian

DECEMBER 3, 2009 • SEVAN SKIES

Winter time in Armenia carries a peaceful serenity that is over-shadowed by the roars of tourists in the summer time. Sevan in particular was a captivating sight surrounded by snowcapped mountains. Enjoying every minute, every opportunity.

© 2009 Arsineh Khachikian


FEBRUARY 7, 2010 • MOTHERHOOD

A tribute to the mothers who battle every day to keep their family going. Mothers in general have it tough. Mothers in Armenia make motherhood in the rest of the world look like a vacation. This is the wife of a distant cousin of mine in Armenia.

© 2010 Arsineh Khachikian

more here:
www.flickr.com/people/arkreative
twitter.com/arskhach
www.arkreative.com/

MUSEUM: Ex-Guggenheim Director betting on Bilbao-Style Project for Baku (eurasianet.org)

By Shahin Abbasov

Thomas Krens, the influential former Guggenheim Museum director who oversaw the museum’s dynamic, yet controversial expansion to Bilbao, Spain, now has energy-rich Baku, Azerbaijan, in his sights.
At first glance, Krens’ vision for Baku -- conceived by his New York City-based consulting group, Global Cultural Asset Management (GCAM), along with the American firm Asymptote Architecture -- might be taken for another one of Dubai’s seaside fantasy palaces. The project features a circular walkway projecting out into the Caspian Sea that is dotted with works by celebrity artists Jeff Koons, Richard Serra and Anish Kapoor. It also envisions a high-rise tower by Guggenheim Bilbao architect Frank Gehry. The walkway, a projected 90-minute stroll, would be anchored to the Baku shoreline by a Bilbao-style modern art museum, as depicted in a YouTube video posted by Asymptote Architecture.

full article >>>

BAKU AZERBAIJAN ECO CULTURAL MASTER PLAN by Asymptote Architecture

INTERNET: EBook Download (pdfgeni.com)

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NEW: Magazine from Georgia +++ "WAS" +++ www.wearesweet.net +++

www.wearesweet.net
wearesweet.net/blog
www.wearesweet.net/first-winter.html

ART & ARCHITECTURE: Art Villa Garikula in Georgia (garikula.org)

Art Villa Garikula invites, hosts and promotes contemporary art and culture festivals and meetings in Garikula, Akhalkalaki (Kaspi region, Georgia).

Art Villa Garikula supports residence, exchange and educational programs. See Event archive.

Garikula, or Art Villa Garikula, works on dream and passion to transform Garikula district of Akhalkalaki into a "city of festivals," an art village where visual artists, filmmakers and musicians will work together, promote their art and invite international contributors and audience from cities and villages.

Contact us www.garikula.org

REVIEW: A new war in the Caucasus? Shanibov and the Circassians. (timesonline.co.uk)

Georgi M. Derluguian
BOURDIEU’S SECRET ADMIRER IN THE CAUCASUS
A world-system biography406pp. Chicago University Press, distributed in the UK by Wiley.
Paperback, £17.50.0 226 14283 3

source (timesonline.co.uk) >>>

There is a new war brewing in the North Caucasus, but so far few people seem to have noticed. It will involve places that rarely make it onto the front page of major newspapers, yet it could be as bloody and intractable as the guerrilla conflict in Chechnya, which has dragged on now, with a brief hiatus, since 1994. Over the past several months, the Prime Minister of Ingushetia, which neighbours Chechnya to the west, barely survived an assassination attempt. Bombs and attacks on local police have become weekly occurrences in the eastern republic of Dagestan. In the west, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachaevo-Cherkessia are beset by interethnic tensions. In Chechnya, the unrecognized secessionist government recently named Shamil Basaev – the architect of last year’s 2004 school siege in Beslan, North Ossetia, which left over 300 children and adults dead – as deputy leader. Basaev’s boss, the Islamic scholar Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev, has announced a policy of widening the holy war against “unbelievers”. Fuelled by local authoritarianism, clan politics, religious fervour and Vladimir Putin’s own intransigence, violence in the North Caucasus is likely to escalate. One is reminded of the old saw about pessimists and optimists: the former believe things could not get worse; the latter know they could.

Making sense of the Caucasus has never been easy. The ethnic complexity of the region, its situation at the intersection of competing states and empires, and the volatile mix of poverty, religion, and the covetousness of geopolitical neighbours – for slaves in one era, for oil in another – have long made it a troubled borderland. Georgi M. Derluguian’s curiously titled Bourdieu’s Secret Admirer in the Caucasus is, without a doubt, the most engaging and deeply analytical guide to this knotty region to have been produced in the past decade. It is even more than that, however, for Derluguian is concerned with answering three gigantic questions about East European and Eurasian affairs. Why did the Soviet Empire collapse? Why did it do so violently in some areas but relatively peacefully in others? And what accounts for the diversity of new polities – from rigid sultanates to consolidated democracies – that now stand on its ruins?

Derluguian’s answers to these questions are unconventional. The collapse of the Soviet system was part of the broader crisis of “developmental states” in the 1980s and 90s, states that had arrogated to themselves a whole host of responsibilities that they were increasingly unable to fulfil. In the context of a collapsing political order, mid-level bureaucrats in these states scrambled for ways of securing their livelihoods; the most resourceful of them turned to nationalism and ethnic exclusivism as alternative sources of legitimacy. The masses, however, were not simply duped by thesenew elites; they, too, found ethnic linkages to be crucial sources of social capital at a time when alternatives – class, for example – suddenly disappeared.

People at all levels of society grasped what they could in the chaotic politics that attended the end of Soviet-style socialism. It is thus no coincidence, as Derluguian points out, that developmental states such as the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia broke up not along lines of ethnicity, but along lines of turf: the mini-republics and provinces where local elites could carve out some degree of authority. If such internal units happened to bear the name of a distinct ethnic group – Kazakhstan for the Kazakhs, Croatia for the Croatians – all the better. Second-rank bureaucrats and third-rate poets could then refashion themselves as fathers of the nation.

The centrepiece of Derluguian’s story is a Circassian by the name of Musa Shanib, known in his earlier Soviet life as Iurii Shanibov. Although the Chechens get all the press today, for much of the nineteenth century it was the Circassians who presented the gravest challenge to the Russian Empire. Their homeland was in the North-West Caucasus, in the plains and hills along the Kuban River and the uplands along the Black Sea. They were within easy reach of the Ottomans, who assisted them from time to time in their resistance to Russian encroachments, and of the British spies and gun runners who saw an independent Circassia as a bulwark against further Russian moves towards Persia and India. The highland resistance in the North-East Caucasus was effectively extinguished in 1859, but the Circassians in the North-West held out for another five years. It took what today would be called ethnic cleansing – the systematic emptying of villages by Russian soldiers and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Circassians to the Ottoman Empire – to end the conflict there.

In the late 1980s, Shanibov became the leader of the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus, “a latter-day Garibaldi”, as Derluguian calls him, who dreamed of a union of Caucasus mountaineers that would at last wriggle free of Russia’s clutches. Shanibov’s was an unlikely career path. He had been a party functionary, a prominent local intellectual, and a passionate student of the Sociology of the French thinker Pierre Bourdieu (hence Derluguian’s title). But the concatenation of the waning of hyperdevelopmentalism as a state strategy and the persistent survivalism of Shanibov’s class of intellectual bureaucrats led him to embrace the national cause.

There is nothing more universally modern than purveyors of ancient identities. The key difference with his counterparts in Chechnya, Bosnia, or elsewhere, though, was that Shanibov turned out to be a rather poor nationalist. He was never beyond using violence, but he soon found himself literally outgunned by a new generation of leaders willing to do the unthinkable, from laying siege to a hospital to bombing passenger trains. In any revolution, resolve is the highest virtue, and Shanibov’s ultimately failed him, especially against terrorists like Shamil Basaev and entrenchedauthoritarians like Valerii Kokov, the President of Shanibov’s own republic of Kabardino-Balkaria. Eurasia is not exactly filled with people like Shanibov. He was such an oddity, in fact, that Bourdieu was known to keep a photo of his Circassian adept hanging above his desk. But there were plenty of people who followed a trajectory only slightly different from his. They have now beaten a well-worn path from their homes in the early Soviet dissident movements or the provincial bureaucracy, towards the highest offices of the post-Soviet Eurasian regimes. Today, their power rests on a combination of violence, resource control and a talent for securing the blessings of outsiders, from Saudi zealots to Western governments interested in prosecuting the “war on terror”.

Georgi Derluguian tells how much of Eurasia, in only a decade and a half, traded the promise of liberty and democracy for a political and moral captivity that will be difficult to escape. Clever, original and at times downright funny, Bourdieu’s Secret Admirer in the Caucasus is both an intimate biography of an unusualCircassian sociologist and an epic account of an entire generation’s trek through modernity. It uncovers the hidden logic behind the tragedies and horrors of the Caucasus – indeed, of the entire late twentieth-century world – and shows how seemingly senseless acts of violence have discernible, and often rather pedestrian, causes.

AmazonShop: Books, Maps, Videos, Music & Gifts About The Caucasus

DOCUMENTARY: BBC Four - Storyville - The Curse of Oil - The Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline

Nick Fraser Storyville Series Editor Now that the oil price appears to be rising inexorably at the pumps, newspapers are full of gloomy predictions related to our increasing addiction to perishable reserves of oil. Bill Cran's series takes a somewhat different approach. We are in fact still amply supplied with oil on planet earth. The problem is that most of it lies in what we cosseted addicts regard as the wrong places. Getting enough oil to fill George Bush's SUV requires dealing with nasty governments or destroying the wilderness. But the relationship between oil companies, consumers and those who live where the oil is extracted is changing very rapidly. It is becoming possible for native populations to obstruct oil companies. Cran's series leaves one with the feeling that there are no easy answers - but that, given the hysteria surrounding the subject, is no bad thing. It's also ravishingly shot.


BBC Four - Storyville - The Curse of Oil - The Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline part 1/6


BBC Four - Storyville - The Curse of Oil - The Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline part 2/6


BBC Four - Storyville - The Curse of Oil - The Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline part 3/6


BBC Four - Storyville - The Curse of Oil - The Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline part 4/6


BBC Four - Storyville - The Curse of Oil - The Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline part 5/6


BBC Four - Storyville - The Curse of Oil - The Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline part 6/6

SCIENCE: Vol. 4 (1) - Winter 2010 issue of the Caucasian Review of International Affairs (CRIA) (cria-online.org)

Vol. 4 (1) - Winter 2010 issue of the Caucasian Review of International Affairs (CRIA) is now available on-line at http://www.cria-online.org

The Table of Contents of the Issue is attached below.

Deadlines for submissions for CRIA’s Spring 2010 issue and Summer 2010 issue are March 15, 2010 and June 15, 2010, respectively. CRIA accepts articles from authors as original contributions. Submission guidelines can be viewed at http://www.cria-online.org/Submit_a_Paper.html .

Yours Faithfully,

Nasimi Aghayev

Editor-in-Chief
Caucasian Review of International Affairs
Email: contact@cria-online.org
Web: www.cria-online.org
ISSN: 1865-6773


VOL. 4 (1) - WINTER 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Note from the Editor-in-Chief (pp. 1-2)
Nasimi Aghayev (http://cria-online.org/10_1.html)

RESEARCH PAPERS

-Russia’s Pragmatic Reimperialization (pp. 3-19)
by Janusz Bugajski (http://cria-online.org/10_2.html)

-Puzzles of State Transformation: The Case of Armenia and Georgia (pp. 20-34)
by Nicole Gallina (http://cria-online.org/10_3.html)

-Russia’s National Security Strategy to 2020: A Great Power in the Making? (pp. 35-42)
by Sophia Dimitrakopoulou & Andrew Liaropoulos (http://cria-online.org/10_4.html)

-International Language Rights Norms in the Dispute over Latinization Reform in the Republic
of Tatarstan (pp. 43-56)
by Dilyara Suleymanova (http://cria-online.org/10_5.html)

-European Foreign Policy after Lisbon: Strengthening the EU as an International Actor (pp. 57-72)
by Kateryna Koehler (http://cria-online.org/10_6.html)

COMMENTARIES

-The Fall of the Berlin Wall: Twenty Years of Reform (pp. 73-81)
by Aleksandr Shkolnikov & Anna Nadgrodkiewicz (http://cria-online.org/10_7.html)

-Kazan: The Religiously Undivided Frontier City (pp. 82-86)
by Matthew Derrick (http://cria-online.org/10_8.html)

INTERVIEW

“The Current Trend of the Kremlin is to Rather Formally Distance itself from the North
Caucasus” (pp. 87-90), Interview with Dr. Emil Souleimanov, Charles University,
Prague, Czechia (http://cria-online.org/10_9.html)

BOOK REVIEWS

-“The Guns of August 2008: Russia’s War in Georgia”, edited by Svante E. Cornell and
Frederick Starr (pp. 91-96)
Review by Till Bruckner (http://cria-online.org/10_10.html)

-“The Caucasus: An Introduction” by Frederik Coene (pp. 97-98)
Review by Alexander Jackson (http://cria-online.org/10_11.html)

-“When Empire Meets Nationalism. Power Politics in the US and Russia” by Didier Chaudet,
Florent Parmentier & Benoît Pelopidas (pp. 99-100)
Review by Samuel Lussac (http://cria-online.org/10_12.html)


CRIA is a Germany-based quarterly peer-reviewed online academic journal. The Review is committed to promote a better understanding of the regional affairs by providing relevant background information and analysis, as far as the Caucasus in general, and the South Caucasus in particular are concerned. CRIA also welcomes lucid, well-documented papers on other countries and regions including especially Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe, as well as on all aspects of international affairs, from all political viewpoints. CRIA is indexed/abstracted in Columbia International Affairs Online, ProQuest Research Library, EBSCOhost Political Science Complete, Directory of Open Access Journals, Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, etc.

CALL: Your to Georgia in April (helene-eriksen.de)

You responded as "maybe attending" the tour to Georgia in April with Helene Eriksen & Carl Linich. Here's the situation: as of now, we don't have enough participants to make it financially possible. We need to know soon so that we can start booking flights, making firm arrangements with our hosts & teachers, etc. so if you're seriously considering coming on this magical adventure I encourage you to come over to the "definite" list, register with Helene, and start looking forward to this unforgettable experience! Here's the link to register:

http://www.helene-eriksen.de/georgia.htm

I just found round trip airfare on Turkish Airlines from JFK for $900, which is quite good.

Looking forward to seeing you in Georgia!

Carl Linich

Come with us to ancient and enchanting Georgia!

Dance, Music and Cultural Tour with Carl Linich and Helene Eriksen to the Republic of Georgia

APRIL 10 - 21, 2010

Nestled in the Caucasus Mountains, the tiny nation of Georgia has a rich and diverse culture. As far back as any history recalls, the Georgians have been right there. Jason and his Argonauts went to Georgia in search of the Golden Fleece - and there is strong evidence to indicate that Georgia is the birthplace of wine. Georgia adopted Orthodox Christianity as the state religion in the 4th century, and there are churches there from that epoch. Amazingly rich in natural resources, Georgia is also strikingly beautiful and diverse, from its snow-capped mountain peaks, to its citrus and bamboo growing in the flatlands along the Black Sea coast, and arid desert to the east - all packed into a very small territory. The Georgian language is related to no other - even the simplest of words that a child might first speak: "mother" is "deda," and, yes - it's true - "father" is "mama"! Once you start exploring the endlessly fascinating world of Georgia, you'll find it hard to stop.

The enchanting and lush province of Achara (also spelled Ajara, Adjara, Adzhara) is one of Georgia's gems. Nestled in the southwesternmost corner of Georgia, it is a center of trade due to its Black Sea ports. Historically, Achara has been a provider of tea, citrus, and fish. It has also been a prime vacation spot, thanks to its lovely beaches along the Black Sea coast. Since Achara was Turkish territory for about 250 years (1614-1878) there has been much cultural mixing, still evident in modern-day Achara.

Our tour will introduce you to the wonderful world of Achara. We will stay near the resort town of Kobuleti, and will have opportunity to visit many of the wonderful sights nearby, such as the 6th century Petra fortress at Tsikhisdziri. Of course, there will also be lots of amazing Georgian food, and time to relax on the beach! But the main focus of our tour will be traditional song and dance, as taught by local masters. Songs will be taught by ear, so all levels of musicianship are welcome (you don't need to read music). Dance will be for all levels. In addition to our classes it will also be possible to arrange extra private classes with our music and dance masters.

At the end of the tour, we will have time to see Georgia's beautiful capital city of Tbilisi, with its many architectural monuments, museums, and other attractions. In Tbilisi we will stay in a guest house and in Achara we will be staying with local families.

The tour will be led by Carl Linich and Helene Eriksen.

Carl Linich is a scholar, teacher, and performer of traditional Georgian polyphonic singing for 20 years, and member of Trio Kavkasia (see: kavkasia.org). Carl lived in Georgia for about 10 years, speaks fluent Georgian, and has led numerous singing tours in Georgia since 2001. In recognition of his work in promoting and preserving Georgian folk song, Carl has been honored as a Silver Medal Laureate of the Georgian government (1995) and has been awarded Georgia's prestigious Order of Merit award (2009).

Helene Eriksen is an internationally active dancer and dance ethnologist who has been studying and teaching dances of the countries between North Africa and Central Asia for over 30 years. She has been leading dance and music cultural tours to Turkey, Morocco and Armenia for many years. Her tours always focus on a cultural experience beyond the beated toursit path. Because her first exposure to Georgian dance in 1978 was one of the main inspirations that launched her career, Helene is very excited to collaborate with Carl for the first time and to take you to experience the firey dance and music culture of Achara.

Links:

Tourism Adjara

Regions and territories: Ajaria

Tbilisi

FOTOSERIE: "Pipe Dreams" - Wo Träume im Öl ersaufen. (spiegel.de)

Eine Gewinnerin fotografiert Verlierer: Rena Effendi arbeitete für einen Energie-Weltkonzern. Dann entschloss sie sich, die Kehrseite des Öl-Booms in ihrer Heimat Aserbaidschan festzuhalten - in dramatischen Bildern. Denn während das schwarze Gold durch Pipelines gen Westen fließt, darbt das Volk. (Von Christian Teevs)

Ölfelder in Balakhani, Aserbaidschan: Rena Effendi ist für ihren Bildband "Pipe Dreams" die 1700 Kilometer der Baku-Tiflis-Ceyhan-Pipeline entlanggereist.

Im Grunde gab BP selbst den Anstoß. Rena Effendi, Fotografin aus Baku, Aserbaidschan, bekam vom drittgrößten Ölkonzern der Welt den Auftrag, einen Kalender zu bebildern - mit den Highlights von BPs Wohltätigkeit entlang einer Pipeline: Krankenhäuser, Kindergarten, Schulen.

"Ich habe das gemacht und ein Projekt nach dem anderen besucht", sagt Effendi. "Doch ich habe mir versprochen, wiederzukommen und das Leben hinter dem PR-Lächeln abzubilden." Ein Versprechen, das sie wenige Monate später einlöste.

Diesmal reiste sie die gesamten 1700 Kilometer der Baku-Tiflis-Ceyhan-Pipeline entlang, durch Aserbaidschan, Georgien und die Türkei. Das Resultat: "Pipe Dreams" - ein Bildband, der in eindringlicher Schwarz-Weiß-Ästhetik Leidtragende eines geplatzten Versprechens zeigt.

Als im September 1994 der sogenannte Jahrhundertvertrag zwischen der "Azerbaijan State Oil Company" und einem Konsortium von Ölkonzernen unter Führung von BP geschlossen wurde, bot die Pipeline Anlass zu großen Hoffnungen. Die Regierungen versprachen Aufschwung, die Bürger glaubten sehnsüchtig an ein besseres Leben. Schließlich fließt jeden Tag eine Million Barrel Öl durch die Pipeline - je nach Preis ein Wert von 70 bis 100 Millionen Dollar.
Doch mittlerweile herrscht Ernüchterung in Aserbaidschan. "Die Schere zwischen Arm und Reich ist größer geworden", sagt Effendi. Nur wenige profitieren, der Großteil der Bevölkerung lebt weiter in Armut. Die Künstlerin selbst gehört zur weitaus kleineren Gruppe. Sie hat dank der Pipeline den Aufstieg geschafft, sagt sie - zunächst als Dolmetscherin bei BP, dann als Beraterin für die US-Botschaft.

Darum habe sie zunächst auch nicht geplant, ein trauriges Bild vom Leben an der Pipeline zu zeichnen. "Ich bin nicht gegen die Pipeline", sagt Effendi. "Mir ging es um eine realistisches Bild. Eines, das in der PR-Kampagne und der Propaganda der Politiker keine Rolle gespielt hat."

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AmazonShop: Books, Maps, Videos, Music & Gifts About The Caucasus

RADIO: Afternoon Reading - A Georgian Trilogy (bbc.co.uk)

James Hopkins trilogy of short stories about Georgia will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4, on February 2nd, 3rd, 4th at 3-30pm.
Series of specially-commissioned stories by James Hopkin, inspired by his travels in Georgia in autumn 2008.

Afternoon Reading - A Georgian Trilogy - 1. A Peacock in Sulphur
Niko Pirosmani was one of Georgia's greatest artists, but was it his art that killed him?
Read by Allan Corduner
Produced by Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

Afternoon Reading - A Georgian Trilogy - 2. The Wurst Express From Kakheti
A Georgian poet staying in Berlin isn't expecting to hear shattering news from home. It is summer 2008 and an impoverished Georgian poet is living in Berlin for three months. He is not expecting to hear shattering news from his homeland.
Read by Tom Goodman-Hill
Produced by Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

Afternoon Reading - A Georgian Trilogy - 3. The Soul is Missing Fairy Tales!
A tour bus of journalists, writers and artists breaks down on the infamous military highway from Vladikavkaz to Tbilisi. It is only nine days since the Russian army withdrew from parts of Georgia, but there are rumours of a return.
Read by Ben Miles
Produced by Rosalynd Ward
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.

Programme Information / Go to Afternoon Reading site

ART: Alex Berdysheff oil paintings (alexberdysheff.posterous.com)

links:

alexberdysheff.posterous.com

Alexander Berdysheff (artgalleryline.com)

FILM: Documentairies by Salome Jashi (salomejashi.com)

Restaurant ‘Bakhmaro’ and Those Who Work There [in production]

The Leader is Always Right 45’ [2010]

Speechless 12’ [2009]

A Mr. Minister 16’ [2008]

Their Helicopter 22’ [2006]


SALOME JASHI is a documentary filmmaker based in georgia. she was born in soviet union [1981] and grew up during struggle for the country’s independence followed by civil wars. with first degree in journalism she studied documentary filmmaking at Royal Holloway, University of London.
her films are observational discovering tiny details that surprise but also evoke a feeling of some intuitive familiarity.
georgia is a minefield for observation, both inspiring and frustrating. now it is the best time to make documentaries here with remnant sovietism being transformed into something yet unknown.
among other places salome’s films have been screened at the National Portrait Gallery in London [2006], Leipzig International Film Festival for Documentary and Animated Film [2007], George Pompidu Center as part of Cinema du Reel in Paris [2007], One World Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Prague [2009].

Link: www.salomejashi.com

BLOG: Radisson Blu Replaces Iveria - View Stays Breathtaking! (nicolaslandru.blogspot.com)

"From the 18th floor, where is located the "Oxygene Bar", the view is still the same as in old times. One can enjoy it already from the transparent elevator while going up... And for the richer ones, sauna and swimming pool are all surrounded by a bay window, so that one can swim or sweat (naked!) in front of an aerial panorama, facing the Caucasus Kazkbek Range - and without being seen..." (Text and Photos by Nicolas Landru)

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VIDEO DISPATCH: In the Caucasus, a Web of Alliances and Animosities (STRATFORvideo)

As tensions continue over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, neighboring powers are attempting to manage the conflict to their own ends. But analyst Marko Papic says Russia, Turkey and iran also risk being drawn into a conflict they cannot control.

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NEWS: RFE/RL Caucasus Report 2/2/2010 (rferl.org)

2/2/2010 4:57:01 PM A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about the countries of the South Caucasus and Russia's North Caucasus region. For more stories on the Caucasus, please visit and bookmark our Caucasus page .

Armenia Police Drop Charges On Activists Armenian police have dropped the cases against three opposition activists due to a lack of evidence, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports. More
'He Asked For A Blessing From His Family Members' Two Azerbaijani soldiers last week shot and killed four officers on their base before allegedly turning their guns on themselves. The incident was the latest troubling reminder of the state of the Azerbaijani Army, which observers say is rife with corruption, hazing, and abuse. More
Azeri President's Brother Sues Journalists The brother of President Ilham Aliyev has filed a lawsuit against two journalists at the opposition newspaper "Yeni Musavat," RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports. More
Georgia Satellite Channel Claims Kremlin Pressure Took It Off The Air Georgia's Russian-language television channel, First Caucasian, says it is being taken off the air by its France-based satellite provider due to pressure from the Kremlin. More
Is Ramzan Kadyrov's Star On The Wane? Just a few months ago, Ramzan Kadyrov's position as Chechen Republic head appeared unassailable. He was even named in December as a possible candidate for the post of federal official responsible for the entire North Caucasus. But since the start of the year, he has incurred veiled criticism from both Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In addition, he has been the subject of damaging allegations from media outlets both in Russia and abroad. More
Georgian Offer Of Afghan Transit Unlikely To Tempt NATO Georgia this week revived the idea that it could become a bridgehead for a NATO transit corridor through Central Asia to Afghanistan. The idea was first floated a year ago, but has been ignored by the United States and NATO, which currently supply their forces in Afghanistan via routes crossing Pakistan and Russia. More
U.S. Envoy For Eurasian Energy Explains Goals, Strategy For Region The White House's Special Envoy for Eurasian energy has laid out the U.S. government's policy strategy for the region, and says the key to its success will be engagement. More
Six Dead In Shooting At Azeri Military Base Six servicemen are dead and two more wounded after two soldiers went on a shooting rampage on an Azerbaijani military base near the border with Armenia. More
Georgia Unveils 'Strategy On Occupied Territories' The Georgian government has made public its strategy with regard to regaining control over the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Like successive draft peace proposals that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili presented since his election in 2004, it is phrased in such a way as to impress the international community, rather than to address the existential fears, and win the trust of, the population of the regions in question. More
MEP Sees Stronger EU Role In Caucasus Should the European Union take a more active role in the South Caucasus? Evgeni Kirilov, a Bulgarian member of the European Parliament and member of the parliament's delegation dealing with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, thinks it should. More
What Georgia Can Learn From The Melian Dialogue Georgians must not just continue to look to distant powers to solve their problems with Russia. They must address them themselves. That requires understanding of what both Georgians and Russians want, and seeking ways of building confidence and cooperation. More
Smear And Loathing In Tbilisi: Mudslinging Targets Rising Georgian Political Star Georgian media with ties to President Mikheil Saakashvili have launched a mudslinging campaign against opposition figure Irakli Alasania. The apparent reason: Alasania promises to be a strong candidate in Tbilisi’s mayoral elections this May, and is expected to use that post as a staging pad for a presidential bid. More
UN’s Role In Georgia Has ‘Fundamentally Changed’ Johan Verbeke is the former head of the now-defunct UN observer mission in Georgia and was the UN’s special representative at the Geneva talks initiated after the August 2008 Russia-Georgia war. Verbeke has since been named Belgium’s ambassador to the U.K. On the eve of a fresh round of talks in Geneva on January 28, Verbeke spoke to RFE/RL correspondent Olesya Vartanyan about the possibility of restoring observer missions in Georgia and the continued challenges regarding Russia, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia. More
Springing To Hitler's Defense In July 2008, just a couple of weeks before the Russia-Georgia war, Sakartvelo TV, affiliated with the Georgian Defense Ministry, quoted Adolf Hitler. More
Armenian, Azerbaijani Presidents Agree On Preamble To 'Madrid Principles' Meeting in Sochi with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev, reached verbal agreement on the wording of the preamble of the most recent revised version of the "Madrid Principles" that constitute the outline of a more comprehensive Karabakh peace agreement. More
Confusion Surrounds Former Armenian President's Visit To Iran Former Armenian President Robert Kocharian travelled to Iran last week for a two-day visit that has been variously described as "private" and "unofficial," or, alternatively, undertaken as the result of a "state invitation" extended by the Iranian leadership. More
North Ossetian Prison Imam Accused Of Links With Insurgency Djimmi Tanduyev, whom Muslim inmates of a North Ossetian jail selected a year ago as their imam, has been placed in solitary confinement for three months after being found in possession of materials urging Muslims to join the jihad and pictures of Chechen resistance commanders Shamil Basayev and Doku Umarov. More
Can New Medvedev Vision Bring Stability To North Caucasus? Russia observers have spent a great deal of time trying to explain the rationale behind President Medvedev's appointment of Aleksandr Khloponin to oversee the new North Caucasus Federal District. But questions still remain. More
Did Georgian Leadership Try To Influence Ukraine Election? Several prominent Georgian oppositionists have expressed concern at the political implications of two telephone conversations posted online which could be construed as evidence that the Georgian leadership sought to influence the January 17 Ukrainian presidential election to secure a victory for Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. More
Medvedev Creates New North Caucasus Federal District Russian President Dmitri Medvedev yesterday divided the Southern Federal District to create a new North Caucasus Federal District comprising six of the seven North Caucasus republics, plus Stavropol Krai. More
Azerbaijan Remembers 'Black January' Twenty years ago today, on January 20, 1990, Soviet troops stormed Baku by order of the Kremlin in an ultimately failed attempt to save Communist rule and put down Azerbaijan's independence movement. More
Armenia-Turkey: Who Will Blink First? Over three months have now elapsed since the signing in Geneva on October 10 of two protocols on establishing and developing "good neighborly" diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey. But the prospects that either parliament will ratify those protocols in the near future remain slim. More
Saakashvili Announces Yet Another Volte Face In Georgia's Defense Policy After years of progressive increases in military spending and raising the maximum number of armed forces personnel, the Georgian leadership has apparently decided to bite the bullet and comply with NATO's recommendations to downsize. More
Georgian Parliament Elects New Election Commission Chairman In a move that will only fuel the antagonism between the authorities and the embattled and embittered opposition, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has engineered the election as chairman of the Central Election Commission of a professional number-cruncher whom opposition parties suspect of answering to powerful Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili. More
Who's Out To Exacerbate Chechen-Ingush Tensions? Over the past several years, relations between Chechnya and neighboring Ingushetia, which from 1934-44 and again from 1957 to June 1992 constituted a single Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, have become increasingly strained and acrimonious. More
Springfield In The Caucasus “The Simpsons” has just celebrated 20 years on the air, and it’s not only U.S. viewers who have felt the impact of the groundbreaking cartoon. Its mix of social satire and slapstick has made deep inroads into the former communist bloc. More