Friday, October 26, 2007, #205 (1472)

Week in Brief:

The year’s first session of the Joint Control Commission, a quadripartite format for South Ossetian conflict dialogue, finished with no results whatsoever. Tbilisi is trying to move away from the format, which it says is dominated by the Russian side.

One Abkhaz was killed and a Georgian policeman injured in a shootout near the administrative boundary with breakaway Abkhazia. Separatist authorities said their border guard repelled a Georgian attack, while Tbilisi says they were trying to apprehend a car thief.

The ten-party opposition coalition, barnstorming in the regions, drew thousands to a rally in Kutaisi. Soon afterwards, they warned Tbilisi City Hall to expect 100 000 protestors for the promised mass protest on November 2—and for demonstrations to continue if the government doesn’t meet their demands.
A new opposition parliamentary faction had a shaky start, as a key member purportedly quit parliament from his hospital bed. The hospitalized MP, formerly with the ruling party, later denied resigning his post.
Rustavi 2, one of the country’s leading television networks, replaced its controversial director general. His hiring last year prompted some of the station’s journalists to quit, claiming he brought political pressure to bear on their work.

The de facto capital of Abkhazia hosted a conference on the breakaway region’s involvement in preparation for the 2014 Winter Olympics in the nearby Russian city of Sochi. The cash-strapped secessionist region is looking eagerly at selling construction materials for builders, something Tbilisi strongly opposes as illegal investments.

A regional branch of the state university is awash in corrupt student enrollments and diplomas, an internal university investigation found. Sweeping education reform has been a top priority for this government.

Israel has a “problematic view” of dialogue between Tbilisi and Tehran, officials there told Georgia’s foreign minister while he was in Jerusalem. Georgia buys military equipment from Israel, and is looking for energy deals and investments from Iran.
The capital celebrated itself with the annual Tbilisoba. Handicrafts, concerts and an enormous wine press were brought in, but some Tbiliselebi complained it just wasn’t like the old days.



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