danohu | (no subject)

I've spent Far Too Long (TM) following today's protests in Georgia. Don't laugh, it's a longstanding obsession, caused largely by the fact that Georgia is small enough that it is possible to follow most of the english-language news there, but with a tendency towards the utterly batshit insane which could make even a hardened diplomat giggle, Plus, it's somewhere I'd love to live, if I thought I had any chance of learning the language (I don't. It makes Hungarian look simple).

Anyway, this has helped me finally get a handle on Twitter (where I am perspectivelute. Blame Rudolf II). Once I started thinking of it as an inferior version of irc, it started to make sense. I still don't like it, but I can't really criticise twitter and still bemoan the lack of twitter irc channes, can I? If anybody knows a decent political IRC channel, let me know. Please. Or maybe I should create one...

For those of you not paying attention: in the past few days, Moldova has had massive protests. Some of the protesters (who are mostly young and pro-western, with all that implies) have been communicating via twitter. This is immensely exciting to a certain kind of pundit, who turned this into the main feature of the protests. The Georgian government noticed this, and very slickly started up their own twitter account yesterday. [The Georgian government are unbelievably slick when it comes to playing up to the Western media. I guess it's because they're all very young, and educated in the US. Still, compared to any other government on the planet, they're stunning]. A couple of Georgians and a slightly larger handful of interested outsiders pile on, and we more-or-less manage to pick over the news. i.e. exacly what would happen in irc, but with a hideous interface.

Anyway, upshot of the protests: ~50,000 people, no violence, no passers-by beaten before dying, no likelihood of the government toppling, come back tomorrow for the smaller, angrier version.

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dear friend
What about ordinary Georgian? what do think about them? is it possible to reach some kind of positive outcome in Georgia. why i am asking? The most prosperous countries in EU are very small ( Scandinavian and Austria or Denmark). Therefore, I believe that Mr. SAA.. is completely right that he has done and he's going to to do!!! Unfortunately he has made a few mistakes but only SAA ... is available to change something in Georgia at the moment( he is not soo unwise to understand what is going on). The peaceful protest's is a perfect reflection of that he is quite flexible and western political figure with quite extraordinary personality as a Georgian, but i my point of view, i cannot see some alternative politicians there to bring to Georgia prosperity. he should be economical and political dictator for next 15 years. of course it is not liberal way, but regarding to economical situation the new revolution is right way down.

That's a bit of a complicated question to answer in one comment. Most of my posts on Georgia are at my other blog. Briefly: I was glad of Saakashvili in 2003. I think he's made a lot of dubious decisions since then - ones that harm the 'ordinary Georgian'. I think that Burjanadze, Alasania etc. are making a mistake in trying to force Saakashvili to resign, rather than trying to reduce his power, affect his decisions, and build up a power-base to defeat him in the next elections. If Saakashvili would stop launching ridiculous attacks on his opponents, and let people like Okruashvili back into the country, it would make the whole political system a great deal healthier.

But I'm interested. Are you in Georgia? How did you find this post?

Many thanks for your quick respond
I'm not in Georgia,I prefer to not wasting my entire life living in non developing countries.
Attacking his opposition is the battle for idea in which he sincerely believes. The opposition itself is not too different but significantly weaker than Mr. SAA..., because they have split. it could lead to political non united disability,struggle between a and chaos. as a leader SAA.. would have learned more quickly than opposition's leaders. there is no time to for a new political debates and divisions in this economical situation. it would be better to reach certain agreement with SAA... to share some power in order to prevent complete economical collapse. Georgian got enough for last but SAA.. is able to change more quickly. The question about democracy is not so vital at the moment, economical stability after war.

please send your request once again, i am falling asleep and having trouble pushing the right buttons ;)