Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Looed , just like to add my thanks also . Your contribution again if above and beyond .
Much appreciated
Coggy . Perhaps it did flow but with all the problems the GG was giving frr maybe they kept all the information on the well safe. Probably now stood at the well head with wagon full of granite and gunpowder if Gazprom turn up
I believe this is the man that stands in our way,
I believe Georgia’s façade democracy is having an emotionally charged Fall. Spooked by spontaneous protests that erupted in the Georgian capital in June, the ruling Georgian Dream made a major concession to the public, by pledging fully proportional elections in 2020. But at the decisive moment, the Georgian Dream and its leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili backtracked.
Georgia’s foreign partners approved of the chance to once and for all let Georgia’s political divisions be decided within the Parliament, rather than on the streets. Georgians agreed too: the proportional system had, according to pollsters, 85% of public support.
Yet, the same polls suggested, that while remaining the largest party, Georgian Dream was likely to lose power in fully proportional elections. By binning the bill he himself initiated, Bidzina Ivanishvili tried to protect his oligarchic hold on power. But in doing so, he delivered a major blow to Georgia’s already crumbling democratic façade.
Much like during the seven decades of Soviet Occupation, Georgia is now governed by an unelected party chairman.
One does not emerge from Moscow of 1990s as a billionaire, like Mr. Ivanishvili did, by bowing to the public mood – or by sticking to the principles. This is not the first promise that GD had reneged on. Yet, hardly any of its political about-turns had been so blatant and so crude.
Most observers expected Ivanishvili and his party to try and cheat the proportional poll – for instance, by using his considerable financial prowess to buy the loyalty (and boost media support) of a sufficiently large number of smaller parties to narrowly cling to power. That could have been feasible, since GD has recently nurtured a cohort of “pundits” that eat from Ivanishvili’s hand, the army of social media trolls and GONGOs.
By going for the hard exit instead, GD lost its “liberal façade” when its top fresh-faced and English-speaking MPs quit in furor. But their services seem no longer needed. The oligarch has an adulterated copy of the political system ready to substitute the real one, replete with fake opposition and manipulated debate.
For years already, the pro-governmental media, its aligned plethora of online outlets, social media trolls and bots have been pushing illiberal message akin to those that gained currency in the West both on the far left and far right. Pro-governmental televisions have been carefully crafting anti-Western message wrapped in a Western-inspired shell.
If the public and western partners accept the oligarch’s faked reality, Georgian Dream victory in 2020 elections will seal the transition towards illiberal, oligarchic system.
The winter is here. And it is the winter of many a discontent
Looed . I seem to remember something saying that both party’s had come to an agreement about what was to be arbitrated. So assuming the 1% was not involved in the arbitration. I’m thinking the psa Was for all the 100% and is now not fit for purpose . So a new psa for the 1% would be a new deal ? .
Keysersoze . Thank you very much for taking your time and posting these articles. Much appreciated.
George Gakhari , he can put lipstick on a pig
Looed , I don’t get involved with any politics on here but I would just like to say keep posting, I can assure you your posts are more than appreciated and look forward to your future contributions
Gaf11 . After all the negatives since delisting , now we have lots of snippets to talk about and discuss, which most are positives. We don’t really need such negativity.
Anelika . I noticed the Georgian government terminated the agreement for not performing there financial obligations .
Considering they think FRR have been over performing with the financials , can’t have it both ways. I wonder if the American consortium are well aware of our information and was reluctant to pump any more money at it.
Looed , nice one pal , you are a legend. With all the snippets we have found over the last few weeks, the letters and now this statement , I would say GAME ON GAME F—-G ON
Ivanishvili seems Avery naughty boy this article coincides with the thread I posted last night.
“Omega group owner speaks about extortion”
You’ve lost me there Rainbow rider . If you was referring to one of my posts where a zazza was mentioned you might not have read properly as it was a different person with the same Forename
Okuashvili said pressure on the OG employees intensified after the incident. In a meeting that followed the incident later in 2016, according to Okuashvili, Bidzina Ivanishvili repeated Otar Partskhaladze’s demands in person and requested 4 million payment.
Okuashvili said he was eventually forced to transfer four million GEL to a company that was established in the offshore a day before. The money was reportedly withdrawn from TBC Bank in cash. Okuashvili claims the TBC owners were under pressure from Otar Partskhaladze and Giorgi Gakharia, and gave out the money outside working hours.*
In his interview, Okuashvili spoke on his ties with the Alliance of Patriots party, a radical right-wing outfit, saying he was asked by Bidzina Ivanishvili to fund the party ahead of the parliamentary elections in 2016. The Alliance of Patriots cleared the 5% threshold and entered the legislature with 6 lawmakers. Okuashvili touched upon the upcoming polls as well, voicing support to Grigol Vashadze of the UNM-led coalition, “the only real opposition” to Ivanishvili.
* In a statement released on October 1, TBC Bank denied Zaza Okuashvili’s claims, saying it is “an attempt for propagating a false information.” “On the statements of Mr. Okuashvili, the Bank would like to clarify that all of our transactions take place in working hours, in [full] observance of account opening and processing procedures,” reads the bank statement.
Zaza Okuashvili, one of the founders of the Omega Group, a Georgian business conglomerate, and owner of a Tbilisi-based Iberia TV, accuses the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG) leadership of extortion, racketeering and money laundering.
Okuashvili, who is a member of the Supreme Council of the Adjara Autonomous Republic from the Alliance of Patriots party, made the statement on September 30 in an 80-minute live interview with Rustavi 2 TV, an opposition-leaning television Okuashvili, who is currently in London, said he had “a lot to say” on GDDG’s attempts to seize “the free business and the free word.” “I am ready to speak for our people, for the future of our country, for our freedom, for freedom of speech and freedom of business,” he noted.
The businessmen then described his meeting with former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili, whom he reportedly approached in early 2016 for deliberating on problems in the tobacco industry, including on intentional dumping against the OGT in recent years, as well as on returning the GEL 25 million financial damage that was accrued by the company in 2004-2005.
In the words of Okuashvili, Ivanishvili met him together with the then business ombudsman and the current interior minister, Giorgi Gakharia, and Levan Kipiani, the sports and youth affairs minister in 2012-2015, whom Okuashvili had hired for government relations.
Okuashvili claimed Ivanishvili abused his company’s financial “weaknesses,” and tried to extort money. According to the OG owner, Ivanishvili delegated the matter to Otar Partskhaladze, former chief prosecutor in the GDDG government, who is reportedly in charge of the former prime minister’s sham dealings involving the Prosecutor’s Office.
Okuashvili said he was invited for a meeting by Partskhaladze shortly after his talks with Ivanishvili. In his words, Partskhaladze, accompanied by “a group of armed men who seemed to be under the influence of drugs,” requested a four million payment for settling the dumping problems facing his company and returning the 25 million damage.
Okuashvili said he wanted to arrange the matter directly with Bidzina Ivanishvili and communicated that to Otar Partskhaladze, but later, Levan Kipiani started warning the OG owner that “things would have ended badly” unless he paid the requested amount on time.
Okuashvili added that, following his refusal, Kipiani approached then Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, but the latter was unable to settle the issue. Later, according to Okuashvili, the former sports minister was punished for sidestepping the Partskhaladze group; Kipiani was reportedly incarcerated in a basement overnight and was threatened to be raped.
This Otar partskhaladze seems a bit of a gangster. He was charged for beating the Georgian chief auditor and in the past a copper.
“The state audit office is responsible for presenting findings to parliament on the activities of government entities”
Seems like there’s a lot of bully’s in power over there that’s not going unnoticed
Now that bugsy is a cracking find , thumbs up
Employees of the oil company also objected to the contents of letters from US congressmen, which said the company had been disrupted . As they say, it is misinformation and misinterpretation of the fact.
Employees wouldn’t have been privileged with such information about being hindered or not. IMHO this is being ramped up on the media to save face with the people of Georgia. No disrespect but the so called employees in the news clips sure don’t look like they’ve missed a meal lately and they definatly don’t look like front line troops. To many of them looking quiet and walking about in sunglasses. Looks like an OAPs outing.
It wouldn’t look good on Frr if all the time they are saying the Georgian government is trying to shaft them, only to win and shaft the shareholders. That would be naughty
Giorgi Gakharia, Prime Minister of Georgia met Kelly Degnan, US Ambassador to Georgia upon her arrival to the new country of service.
Meeting was related to the strategic partnership and prospects of furthermore deepened relations within the scope of current cooperation between the two countries.
Head of Government of Georgia and US Ambassador spoke about priorities of the Government of Georgia, which were positively deemed by the diplomat. It was noted that close cooperation exists between the two countries in various directions. Special focus was made on the tangible results of cooperation in defense and security. Opportunities of furthermore deepened economic relations were also underlined at the meeting.
"I really enjoyed the meeting. It was a very substantive discussion. We covered a number of topics, including the security cooperation, our economic cooperation and opportunities to increase our economic ties. We had a good discussion about the importance of education, including the recent program initiative for 7 MLN USD that the USAID has recently unveiled and that should work very well and compliment to the initiative that the Government of Georgia has also unveiled" stated the US Ambassador to Georgia.
As noted by the newly arrived diplomat after a meeting, 2020 is a significant year for the USA and Georgia, as elections are scheduled in both countries.
"This is an important election year both here in Georgia and of course in the United States as well. So I am looking forward to working with the Government and people of Georgia, along with its civil society on the democratic process here, while we go through the same thing in the United States" added the US Ambassador.
Meeting was commented about by Irakli Chikovani, Foreign Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister of Georgia, who believes it was very interesting and substantial. In his opinion, Head of Government of Georgia and US Ambassador to Georgia discussed opportunities stemming from strategic partnership and cooperation.
"First meeting was held between Giorgi Gakharia, Prime Minister of Georgia and Kelly Degnan, US Ambassador to Georgia. It was very interesting and substantial. Head of Government and the newly appointed diplomat spoke about the opportunities stemming from strategic partnership and cooperation between the two countries. Discussions were related to specific topics, priorities defined by the Government of Georgia, along with challenges currently faced by our country" noted Foreign Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister of Georgia.
Head of Government of Georgia expressed his gratitude to the US Ambassador for the unwavering support of territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia demonstrated by the USA, once again stressing the irrevocable nature of European and Euro-Atlantic aspiration of the country.
Meeting held at the Government Administration today was attended by Natia Mezvrishvili, Head of Government Administration; Irakli Chikovani, Foreign Affairs
Interesting little read. Meeting of kelly Degnan and Giorgio for the first time. Looks like US aid is still be handed over. Anyone more computer literate than me can find the link , only on a phone here. Sorry if posted already