Member Info for OneDayRodney1

Good morning all
I see a few messages have been deleted by admin again. It seems that stating an opinion about whether or not elections might be free or fair or not is off the agenda here...
GLAsnost

final bit:

For information, on August 6, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Natia Turnava, said that the government had decided to provide a one-time assistance of 1200 GEL to the former employees of Frontera. The Minister of Economy called on Frontera to pay the wage arrears to the former employees.

contd:

We felt a great obligation towards Georgia and we believed then and still believe that as a loyal corporate citizen we will play our role in the country's economy even during the great national hardship. After the end of the war, we happily participated in the IDP and Rehabilitation Assistance Philanthropy. We are proud of this story. Then, we could not even imagine that in the 12 years since the Russian invasion we would have seen the government, Which drove the country away from a very strong pro-American and pro-democratic policy. Instead, unfortunately, the government evolved disguised into the current kleptocratic oligarchy. International observers know that our similar business experience is a real-time indicator of what is actually happening in a country’s geopolitical and economic landscape. In this context, it is clear from our experience that while the Georgian government is constantly seeking Western attention and foreign aid due to Russia's occupation of its territories, it is silently embracing the values ??that the 2008 Russian invasion should have inherited. This is a very dangerous masquerade. The goal of the 2008 Russian invasion was largely achieved. As we see today, the Georgian government is succeeding in To significantly destroy the free enterprises of the Western private sector. For example, our business and the prospect of Georgia's energy independence related to it have been damaged and halted by the government, which was prevented by the Russian military invasion 12 years ago. We could not have imagined that after this horrific war, we would find ourselves in an environment where democratic reforms are opposed, and Russian, Iranian, and Chinese private sector investments are more welcomed by the government than by the Americans. As the largest US private sector investor in Georgia, we have met with the Prime Minister and his government many times over the past year to try to restore the positive spirit of the US / Georgia partnership. Unfortunately, all these appeals were ignored or we were rejected in response. However, as we saw in the last week of July, the pro-American masquerade continues, with other priorities. The president, prime minister and his government found more time to meet with Iranian officials to discuss normalization of relations and economic development issues. We once again appeal to the Prime Minister and his government to stop this deliberate, deceptive, damaging and insincere propaganda campaign. Instead, we encourage you to reach out to people sincerely and work directly and in good faith with our company to pave the way for a true partnership. We believe that we can set a positive example for American private sector investment in Georgia. We respectfully urge the Government to remain committed to the decision of the Arbitral Tribunal, to respect the terms of the contract,

For information, on August 6, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Natia Turnava, said that the g

Thanks DomFok. Here you go:

The Government of Georgia has continued the disinformation campaign against our company, - the company "Frontera" said in a statement . The company is responding to the government providing one-time assistance to former Frontera employees.

"Last week, on August 6, the Georgian government continued its disinformation campaign against our company. Suddenly announcing through the media that it had decided to provide a small amount of one-time assistance to people it referred to as "former employees" instead of having a direct connection to the company as a constructive partnership, members of the government again chose to make a public statement on a fictitious issue. The public should be aware that the government has not even attempted to work with our company to find out or verify the facts about our employees, in return for making another false public statement about the so-called August 6th. If the government was really interested in the well-being of our employees and the business that ensures the well-being of our employees, At that time, they did not spend 40 million GEL on legal services in order to terminate our contract through international arbitration against us in 2018, which ended in the failure of the government. The question arises, why did they decide to spend this huge amount of money to kill private American investment, when they knew that their success would create massive unemployment and economic downturn in Tbilisi and Kakheti? While the government is digging up the issue of workers with empty generous public statements, we should know that the government has been deliberately using the international court as a weapon for the last two years. The only reason for this is to damage our business and our employees, forcing us to leave Georgia. Eventually, their corrupt attempt failed. However, I wonder who is responsible for the misuse of such valuable state funding in the conditions of Georgia's ruined economy? Just a two-year expensive legal dispute did not turn out to be enough for those who ordered it. At the same time, the government has created regulatory resistance to increase pressure, blocking crude oil exports and hindering the sale of extracted natural gas. In addition, we do not repay VAT debt, which exceeds 20 million GEL. Is this the action of a government that is interested in encouraging private American investment and long-term employment of the people? Last week marked the 12th anniversary of Russia's invasion of Georgia. On August 8, 2008, when Russia was invading Georgia, Frontera began investing $ 20 million in the Sagarejo district. In the drilling of new wells and the construction of natural gas infrastructure. Despite the terrible situation, we continued our work with local and foreign staff. The area around our operations was even bombed in Kakheti, however, we did not stop working amid great support from the government. We felt a great obligation towards Georgia and we be

jv123: I have the same opinion as JimSlade has just set out.

It was published by TW I think subsequently but no-one in Georgia seems to have got hold of it; or if they have they're frightened of releasing it. As we know publication requires the consent of both the GG and FRR so I guess anyone else is scared of precipitating a legal case.

Yes: good to read DomFok's article. The pressure from the US/Zaza is certainly yielding reaction; let's hope it develops into more than just words.

jv123 - you asked me "Why are you believing these corrupt people?"
I absolutely do not believe them. They appear to have caused us no end of challenges. But proving that may not be as easy as it my seem.
What I said was that no evidence of that was presented to the independent arbitration tribunal and I believe that the 152 page account that was leaked here looked completely genuine so I believe the tribunal.

daingean: that's a very interesting suggestion. Could you give an example of how that might happen please?

Good morning ZiggyZag. In answer to your question, I have no idea. It would seem a logical thing for GOGC to counter with.

Gipps: in the arbitration document it states that Zaza said all the kind of stuff he has now stated publicly about the GG blocking Frontera constantly. The committee requested evidence and Zaza didn't produce any. So it seems he has none as that would have been the place to produce it so that we could have 'won' the arbitration. So I wouldn't hold your breath that Zaza will produce anything now.

Regdik: there are no SMs mentioned in the arbitration ruling (well not that I saw; very happy to be corrected). In fact there is no sensitive data. Zaza is playing a dangerous bull**** game, but he has no option. If he agreed to the ruling release then we would be history as far as Georgia is concerned. The fortunate fact is that the US is clearly trying to direct regime change and Zaza is the most enabling pawn in that quest.
GLA

Looed: thanks for the information/research. Let's hope the media penetration is ensuring that the issue is being seen by the electorate.

It's all very well doing these interviews; and Zaza did seem remarkably relaxed, but are the voting Georgian population seeing them? The population of Georgia is over 3.7m. How many will have watched the interview on the TV; presumably the channel is a minority one. There are 4,300 views on YouTube. Most of those are probably RR ;), but, joking aside, the concern is what the penetration (and so effectiveness) of these interviews is. It would be good to get a measured view of someone who knows Georgian media.
GLA

Apologies for the reality check, but until ownership of the asset is sorted, by which I mean the liquidator accepts they haven't got the asset and FRR can show they have, there is no way that any Company will consider any sort of investment/buy out.

Contra: you're perfectly entitled to your opinion ... and I enjoyed tsbs's post :).
Unfortunately I view the report some of us have seen as genuine. I would love to be proved wrong.

Arsenal: there's no way Zaza will agree to the release of the arbitration report. He has been offered that many times by the GG but has always refused. We all know why. His statement about agreeing a joint statement is just a tactic to avoid the truth coming out. If they do start talking there's no way that he will agree to any joint statement. He is playing a clever game but, given the facts of the arbitration report, a dangerous one.
GLA

Looed - of course. Thanks.

Thank you Looed.
I am not suggesting that everything is translated but would prefer that everything that Zaza says is translated. Please don't take what I am saying as a negative or a criticism; it is far from it. It's just an opinion/observation.
Cheers :).

Good morning Looed.
Many thanks again for your continuing hard work, especially in organising all the translations. It is definitely not a thankless task as it is appreciated by all on here :).
I wanted to pick up on your recent post on translation policy. You mentioned that if we get a short clip of Zaza talking that is accompanied by an article, it won't be sent for translation. I am sure you agree that the translations of Zaza talking are the most valuable. In my experience sometimes inexperienced and uninformed journalists often report the bits they 'think' are important and I am concerned that if we don't get these translated then we could miss a gem of information. What do others think?

In a nutshell:
The GG have withdrawn the termination notice, but Zaza is playing hardball and wants much more and, in doing so, has stolen the initiative and left the GG in a difficult place. The US seem to be behind us and maybe using us as a lever to help achieve regime change in October.

Phil: you clearly haven't been keeping up with developments over the last week. Maybe do some catch up reading?

Good morning all
Indeed Looed thanks for sorting such a quick translation. Interestingly the 1% GG, 99% Frontera comment remains. It makes no sense to me; can anyone explain the possible reasoning behind it?

Welcome back Code.
Did you find the caps lock key in your absence ;)?