Member Info for Looed

StarRage - thanks for that and yes makes sense. This is a thinking out loud question not a specific one to you, so if thats the case why isn't he dealing with it? He has it all sorted, or he's gone full court jester and playing to the crowds as a pure political play? All the more reason to find out.

I posted a few days ago about the Lelo Party, set-up by the Anaklia Port founders. I did wonder if the Award had been announced last year instead of this year would there be a similar type of party set up by Zaza.

I can see Mole has decided to pick-and-choose what he replies to! His prerogative of course but I do wish he could clarify the inconsistencies in his comments on comms with Zaza - I can't get my head around him saying he had comms until relatively recently but also say he has no clue what has been going on since before delist. It cant be both right?

Also I asked about but he never answered about FSHG - I also see that FSHG didn't reply to Jiff who mentioned reaching out to Guisti on twitter (sorry Jiff, I don't do twitter but hopefully others tried to connect). Anything from anyone?

Instead we keep getting told to focus on USA and avoid the Georgia sideshow - was we don't know the situation with comms / FSHG - we also don't know who / why we might be being 'herded' in this way.

I think a lot of might still wait for, or assume FSHG are still representing us and waiting for them to act somehow but it feels it's been a long time since they did anything on our behalf. Not surprising if they never got any response.

For me, if Georgia was a side-show then why is Zaza focusing all his attention there? Why not in the USA fighting? We are told to ignore they very place where we know Zaza is. Not saying US isn't of importance - but it cant be all that current-critical if Zaza is focused on Georgia.

The Forbes article got a lot of recycling in the Georgian press. Given that I am going to contact the outlets that reproduced it, or have history of publishing FRR content to (again) see they are interested in the SH side of things. Not everyone might agree with that so please also share any other ideas and suggestions.

The Forbes article gets put through the GD spinner -

"Oil Policy: Texas Politicians v. Georgia" - Forbes article on Frontera

It just recycles the article, nothing new. Might open the door to a response from the company.

https://rustavi2.ge/ka/news/175102

This is the first part of a long article that lists many examples of interference by the GD (and which will seem very similar to the FRR story)

The Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC), the company originally selected by the Government of Georgia to develop the strategic Anaklia Port Project, today shared additional details of the Government’s campaign, directed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, to undermine the project by dissuading potential project investors, lenders, contractors and suppliers from joining the project in order to kill it.

The following statement is issued on behalf of the ADC Supervisory Board:

“All infrastructure projects of such scale require government support; namely the encouragement of lenders and investors, the assistance in permitting, regulatory approvals and a favorable tax regime, and providing any ancillary support; in this instance, the provision of land and the construction of road and rail infrastructure. For a government to actually oppose an infrastructure project that it had itself approved is highly unusual in the global economy.

“The Georgian Government’s campaign to strangle ADC’s ability to develop the Anaklia Port Project represents a self-inflicted wound for itself and considerable injury to Georgia’s economy and its role in the region.

“Taken together, the Georgian Governments specific actions are part of a deliberate and well- orchestrated campaign to destroy a project which the Government itself originally sponsored and endorsed, but subsequently chose to destroy as a result of what appear to be the political and economic self-interests of the Georgian Dream Party and its principals.

“The Government manufactured all sorts of excuses for not wanting to see various investors, lenders and partners involved in the project, but the Government really only had one purpose: to choke the project to death by scaring away everybody who might have an interest in supporting it.

The full article is here - https://bm.ge/en/article/details-released-of-georgian-governments-campaign-to-strangle/63393

The ADC has an informative website that includes updates on this issue and the arbitration case -http://anakliadevelopment.com

That 0.5% allows for lots of spin / headlines such as -

“Increase of FDI is the response to those, who declare that investors are fleeing Georgia"
https://bm.ge/en/article/increase-of-fdi-is-the-response-to-those-who-declare-that-investors-are-fleeing-georgiaquot-/63345/

"Economy Minister: increase in FDI confirms effectiveness of our economic, anti-crisis policy" https://agenda.ge/en/news/2020/2761

The main investor is the UK at 24% of the total. The USA, the main strategic partner of Georgia accounts for just 8% of the total for the quarter. The largest share of FDI was registered in the financial sector, reaching $78.1 million in Q2 2020, the energy sector was the second with $29.6 million, followed by the construction sector with $27.7 million.
https://agenda.ge/en/news/2020/275

SOCAR Georgia Gas, the Georgian branch of Azerbaijan State Oil Company, exported about 812 million cubic meters of natural gas to Georgia during the first six months of 2020, Ibrahim Ahmadov, Deputy Head of SOCAR’s Public Relations department has told Trend.

It should be noted that SOCAR is the main supplier for natural gas, oil and petroleum products to Georgia. Azerbaijan produced 22.3 million cubic meters of gas during the first seven months of 2020. Georgia accounted to 1.4 billion cubic meters of gas exports from Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan also accounted for 18.7 percent, or 114,000 tons of total volume of fuel exported to neighbouring Georgia in January-July in 2020, becoming second largest fuel supplier to Georgia after Russia.

This has been edited from - https://oglinks.news/socar/news/exports-812m-cubic-meters-of-gas-to-georgia-in-1h2020

The good news is that it looks like other election monitoring bodies will still attend -

Germany is preparing a group of observers for the upcoming elections in Georgia, which will be part of the OSCE/ODIHR mission, - German Ambassador to Georgia Hubert Knirsch said.

When asked if international observers would arrive in Georgia for the October elections, the ambassador said he was sure they would arrive as “Georgia supports the presence of international observers”.

"I am sure we will have international observers for the elections. Germany is preparing a group of observers to be part of the OSCE/ODIHR mission. Observers from other countries will also arrive in Georgia. We know that Georgia supports and wants the presence of international observers during the elections, and we, as a partner country, will do our best in this direction," - said the ambassador.
https://www.interpressnews.ge/en/article/109065-hubert-knirsch-germany-is-preparing-a-group-of-observers-for-the-upcoming-elections-in-georgia

The OSCE/ODIHR is the 'Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights'. It has a Mission Statement & report specific to Georgia. It gives a very detailed analysis of the new electoral system and the issues surrounding it, though for the most part it is cautiously optimistic for a clean election. Part of the Executive Summary states -

The 150 MPs are elected for four-year terms. Under the new system, 120 MPs are elected proportionally through closed party lists, and the remaining 30 MPs are elected in single-member constituencies. Parties must receive at least one per cent of valid votes cast to qualify for proportional seat allocation. The party must receive at least 40 per cent of the vote in order to be assigned a majority of seats in parliament. In majoritarian contests, candidates can be nominated by the parties or run independently and must receive over 50 per cent of votes cast to be elected. If no candidate receives the required number of votes, a runoff is held on the third Saturday after the election day between the two candidates who received the highest number of votes. For the 2024 parliamentary elections the system will be changed to a fully proportional one.
https://www.osce.org/odihr/elections

Polls taken between July and August show the GD getting 33-39% (there is one showing from August that has them at 52% but thats from a pro-GD news channel) and their polling numbers are up significantly since last year. As in the above summary the majority benchmark for the proportional body is 40%.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Georgian_parliamentary_election

There are many other polls (NDI etc) that show strong support from voters for EU / USA relations. if the GD manage to appease the USA between now and October (which hopefully includes a deal for FRR) then it is possible their polling numbers could further improve.

This is a western friendly press statement from the Lelo Party, and its probable that FRR could be included in the reference to "numerous projects". When you understand the background to this party it might explain why the Anaklia Port issue is getting more traction in the press. Here is the article -

"Bidzina Ivanishvili did his best to stain this idea and personally us, but he will not succeed. I promise him that the Anaklia port will be built, - Mamuka Khazaradze, chairman of the Lelo for Georgia party, told reporters.

According to him, the Anaklia port will be the "gateway of Georgia" to the whole world.

"Suspension of the Anaklia project is not only a huge problem for us, the state, the country, but a crime against the development of our country, which was committed by Bidzina Ivanishvili. He did his best for the collapse of the project. He did his best to stain this idea and personally us, but will he will not succeed. I promise him that the Anaklia port will definitely be built! It will be a gateway of our country to the whole world. It will be a powerful pillar, first of all, for Samegrelo, because the enrichment and development of Samegrelo is the first step in starting a serious dialogue and reintegration with Abkhazians.

Our task is to send the Georgian Dream away. They stopped numerous projects aimed at the development of our country and put Georgia in a deadlock. We must open this deadlock and start rebuilding the country with very big steps," Khazaradze said."

https://www.interpressnews.ge/en/article/109066-mamuka-khazaradze-bidzina-ivanishvili-did-his-best-to-stain-this-idea-but-i-promise-him-that-the-anaklia-port-will-be-built

Couple of things to note about this relatively new party -

1-The Lelo for Georgia political party was created in 2019 by the co-founders of TBC Bank Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze - who also founded the Anaklia Port project.

2- Mr Khazaradze’s entry into politics has been met with resistance from the Georgian establishment. Shortly after his announcement in July 2019 that he planned to launch a political movement in September, he was faced with fraud charges relating to an 11-year old transaction at TBC bank. International observers in Tbilisi believe those charges to be fabricated in response to his step into politics, with Lelo seen as a realistic contender to fill the gap among the electorate where voters are disillusioned with the established Georgian Dream and United National Movement parties. It is also understood Mr Khazaradze’s involvement in the Ankalia port had also made establishment figures such as Bidzina Ivanshvili, the Chairman of the Georgian Dream party, fearful that Mr Khazaradze’s influence inside Georgia would grow. https://eutoday.net/news/politics/2019/georgias-lelo-movement

The Govt won't help, the courts won't help, so maybe going political is the only option left.

There will be a 1001 articles out there on the election. I will try to only post those that impact the election process, or if i think in some way relevant to FRR.

If the day-in-day-out of the elections is of interest, the following site has recently started a live blog and seems to cover both GD and opposition developments -

https://civil.ge/archives/363949

I am sure more will appear as Oct 31 approaches.

If you have nothing to do on 8th Oct then this might be for you -

VIRTUAL EVENT. GEORGIAN ELECTION 2020: WHAT TO EXPECT AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
Thursday, October 8, 2020, 12:00pm EDT, Zoom webinar & YouTube Live

Please join the Harriman Institute for a panel discussion about the 2020 parliamentary election in Georgia.

On October 31, 2020, Georgia will go to the polls to elect a new parliament. Since the last parliamentary election four years ago, Georgia has experienced a spate of opposition demonstrations, continued slow annexation by Russia into Georgian territory and, like the rest of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic. The election will test Georgia’s ability to further consolidate its democracy, give opposition forces an opportunity to strengthen and diversify their voices in parliament, challenge the governing Georgian Dream coalition to persuade the Georgian people they deserve to remain in power, and will chart Georgia’s political course for the next four years. This panel of Georgian and American scholars and activists will discuss this election and its meaning from several key perspectives.

Info on how to access and details of the speakers can be found here -

https://harriman.columbia.edu/event/virtual-event-georgian-election-2020

Mole thanks for your reply. I didn't realise SN was even less communicative than Zaza.

In your reply you say - "The company are just not engaging with shareholders in any way at all since things got complicated in mid 2019"

Does that mean FSHG had comms until then (as I thought there had been no comms from the company) or are you talking about your personal comms with Zaza. I know you have mentioned a few times you had comms for a while with Zaza, and as you have mentioned them here are you able to share any details of those chats?

I would say the politics has stopped of late (with the exception of translation #29). We wait to see if thats because he's been canned or not. He no longer appears on TV with opposition leaders. Even when he did it was to call for changes within the government. I used to wonder is he using the opposition leaders or are they using him. I think the US Govt, various local polling points to a GD victory though it might be with a reduced majority or in need to form a coalition. Thats why the emphaisis is to discipline the GD pre-election and not regime change, not so far anyway.

Again, I think we would all appreciate it if you clarify the 'public record' around FSGH / your comms with Zaza so we have clear timeline of events.

The Caucasus Online sage rumbles on. Does this quote sound familiar ?

“We hope the Government of Georgia will intervene and ensure the rule of law is upheld and our investments are protected.”

https://www.interpressnews.ge/en/article/109051-final-countdown-georgias-ultimatum-for-caucasus-online-acquisition-capacitymedia

More carrots from the US Govt -

"Today, Ambassador Kelly C. Degnan joined Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia David Zalkaliani to announce the U.S. Embassy and the InformationCenter on NATO and the EU will continue their partnership for two more years to provide information to Georgians at 13 regional centers about Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration. Georgia’s western integration process contributes to the growth of foreign investments, reduction of unemployment, and improvement of the quality of life of every citizen of Georgia. The U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Section also provides assistance to complementary projects supporting strategic communications, promoting resilience towards anti-western narratives, and supporting conferences on the Black Sea security and other topics."

https://ge.usembassy.gov/ambassador-kelly-degnan-visits-nato-eu-information-center/

(This isn't a result of any actions by the GD or Georgian electoral commission. A robust systems will still allow monitoring)

"NDI will continue to cooperate with international and diplomatic partners in these efforts, as well as with Georgian election monitors. NDI deeply appreciates the significant efforts the Government of Georgia has undertaken to facilitate deployment of international observers and the warm reception that its pre-election team received from all electoral stakeholders. NDI recognizes and commends the great work of the Georgian people and authorities in managing the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the safety of deploying a mission of international delegates also depends on conditions elsewhere. The global COVID-19 pandemic is still not under control internationally, including in the United States. After reviewing these international conditions, and considering carefully its own capacity to mitigate risks to its partners and itself in this environment, NDI has decided it will not deploy an in-person international observer delegation to Georgia in late October for election day.

While NDI regrets conditions are such to force this decision, the Institute nonetheless feels fully confident that its election support program as outlined above, in cooperation with partners inside and outside Georgia, is sufficient to enable an informed and comprehensive perspective on the conduct of the upcoming elections. The Institute’s commitment and capacity to monitor, analyze and ultimately report on conditions in support of a credible, transparent and representative electoral process, through October and beyond, remains strong."

Full article and details of the monitoring program can be found here - https://www.interpressnews.ge/en/article/109046-ndi-will-not-send-international-observers-to-georgia

I think one of the last posts in that thread was from tsbs1 in which he compared another poster to a 'part' of the male anatomy. So it's possible that was seen as abusive, although I am sure I have seen that word on other boards / posts.

Apologies to tsbs1 if that was a different thread, but I see that post has also gone.

I guess 'dormant' might be the best word to describe FSHG for the past few months. I can remember one of the group saying on here that he was effectively giving up as there had been no replies despite their many collective efforts.

If there has been a change within FRR, a new attempt to reach out might be met with more success. Slim chance I know based on the history, but can FSHG consider if they think it worth a try?

If FRR read the emails then at least the company will know this sort of rumour is out there and can decide to act or not.

There are no biological threats in Georgia

"According to the Chairman of the Committee on Defence and Security, Irakli Sesiashvili, an attack on the Lugar Lab is part of Russia's hybrid war.

He said the aim of the above was to discredit the Georgia-US relations.

"The Lugar Lab is unique not only in Georgia, but in the Transcaucasia and it only serves the health system.

We periodically see the intentional attacks of Russia's representatives on this lab. These are disinformation-based statements aimed at discrediting the Georgia-US relations and proving that there are biological threats in Georgia, which is absurd. This is part of Russia's hybrid war and we, as well as the embassy of the United States, have made a number of clear statements about it', said Sesiashvili."

https://www.interpressnews.ge/en/article/109025-irakli-sesiashvili-there-are-no-biological-threats-in-georgia/

Thanks WHamboy - at least the EU press are reporting more critically on the Georgian investment scene.

The Georgian press has reported on a German magazine article that focuses on the Caucasus Online issue and the general investment culture in Georgia. The article also mentions FRR -

"According to the article, the government's recent actions against foreign and domestic investors call into question the rapprochement between Georgia and Europe.

The author links this development to a change in the law that was initiated in July and regulates electronic communications, allowing the government to have its own managers in firms to control them.

The article cites examples of Forntera and NEQSOL Holding whose contracts were terminated by the Georgian government.

"In 2019, NEQSOL Holding, an international group with infrastructure investments in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Caucasus, and Asia Minor, acquired a 49 percent stake in Caucasus Online. Between the Caucasus, Asia Minor and Asia.

According to the company, he was constantly informing the government about long-term plans in the country. "The Georgian government expropriated the company on the basis of inadequate information and terminated the contract," the Cicero article reads.

In 2017, the American gas and oil company Frontera was also expropriated, presumably as a result of Russian influence."

I can't access the German magazine site so not sure if there is any more detail on FRR - if anyone can check that would be great

This is the German site - https://www.cicero.de/aussenpolitik/georgien-annexion-russland-eu-investitionen-corona

And this is the Georgian report - http://www.tabula.ge/ge/story/177530-samagalito-bavshvi-mcdar-gzaze-germanuli-gamocema-cicero-saqartveloze

This interview links the investment environment with Russian interference. It doesn't mention FRR but does talk about American investment in general as well as Anaklia Port and the Caucasus Online issue. Although this snippet might as well be talking about FRR -

"..unfortunately, the Government or the Georgian Dream party in power has continued to throw obstacles in the way of this Port Project. And even though the Ministry of the Economy has said it was a top priority, it’s obviously not. If it was a priority, it would be happening, but it’s not. And of course, the Kremlin is behind this, because the Kremlin doesn’t want to see Georgia become prosperous;"

https://www.interpressnews.ge/en/article/108984-ben-hodges-only-the-kremlin-benefits-when-there-is-no-private-investment-in-georgia

DomFok - I re-read the comments from the Minister (I think from a different article). Following on from the quote you posted -

“The government is currently in quite positive and active communication with Frontera"

She goes on to say -

"As long as this dialogue with Frontera continues, we will provide very important assistance to these people once and for all," Natia Turnava said."
https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/30769548.html

"As long as dialogue continues" - You pointed out the negative press seems to be paused, and we haven't heard about any more employee protests. So its possible talks are taking place.

Slim evidence I know....

Some additional comments from the Ambassador -

"Q- about the monitoring missions of NDI and IRI, whether they will arrive to observe the elections in October and also about the Speaker Talakvadze’s recent initiative to toughen the penalty for voter intimidation and other kinds of violations

Ambassador Kelly Degnan: Well, I saw the very good news that OSCE/ODHIR plans to send a robust monitoring mission, both long term observers and short term observers, which is obviously going to be very important as a way to supplement that. We, the Embassy, other embassies, as we have every election, plan to send out teams of election observers on the day. Obviously, we are not the professionals, we are going to supplement that and the domestic observers here, who are professionals, are very experienced and well-trained. NDI and IRI are going to remain very involved in monitoring the elections here. They have a long history of being a part of elections in Georgia and they would not want to miss this one either. So I am sure they are making their own calculations about the composition of their teams and how they are going to do it. We are waiting to coordinate with CEC to get more information about the precautions that need to be taken to make sure that all the monitoring missions, as well as all voters, can go to the polling stations safely in October. As for the second part of the question, as I said earlier, enforcement, rigorous enforcement of all of the election reforms is going to be very, very important and any effort to eradicate vote buying, voter intimidation, abuse of administrative resources, some of the problems that Georgia has seen repeatedly in its elections over the last thirty years, is a good step forward. The next important step is vigorous implementation. And again, all of this is to take measures that will help ensure that these are free, fair, transparent elections and a step forward for Georgia in terms of better elections than previous ones."

https://ge.usembassy.gov/ambassador-kelly-degnans-remarks-to-media-at-the-celebration-of-entry-into-force-the-code-on-the-rights-of-the-child/