Tensions Around the Rim of the Former Soviet Union

08 April 2009

Tensions Around the Rim of the Former Soviet Union

from EarthPhotos.com

Photo of Rustaveli Boulevard and the Parliament building, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia from EarthPhotos.com.

More protests in Moldova (more later) coincide with a protest being planned in another former Soviet Republic. Watch the Republic of Georgia tomorrow at 13:00 local time, when organizers have promised a "Tulips - No to Violence" rally in Tbilisi, in which "participants will hand tulips to police officers."

The National Interest has background on the event, which comes as reaction to a Presidential pardon after a murder many believe was government-connected. The period since last August's Georgia/Russia war for South Ossetia hasn't been kind to President Mikheil Saakashvili, and it looks like he's feeling the heat.

There have been calls for his resignation, arrests of opposition leaders and the voluntary suspension of the Georgian language version of the Georgian Times, which came with this remarkable article in the Georgian Times' English edition.

Georgia Poised for an Unstable Spring reads a headline in the Gulf News. We hope not. We remain in touch with a friend we met on our visit to Tbilisi in 2006. With his permission, we'll share his impressions of the current state of affairs in the coming days.

But besides all that, Georgia is just one gorgeous little slice of the planet. Poised near the spine of the mighty Caucasus Mountains, here is the 14th century Trinity Church (Tsminda Sameba) perched beneath mighty Mt. Kazbek, at 5033 meters/16512 feet, taller that western Europe's tallest mountain, Mt. Blanc.