Georgia discovers that Europe doesn`t consider it part of the continent

Tbilisi, was the once-volatile capital of a traditionally unstable Georgian nation. Since the 2003 nonviolent Rose Revolution, the country has seen how corruption was down and foreign investment was up. Rather than being a Russian satellite, Georgia chose to see itself as the easternmost outpost of the WestTo persons that went to live there remind us in Transitions Online all this changes. Andrew Bennett has been a political organizer for the Canadian government and the National Democratic Institute in Armenia, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. He lives in Tbilisi. Leah Kohlenberg is a journalist and journalism trainer in Georgia and Armenia. She lives in Yerevan.

Of all the former Soviet republics to suffer during the aftermath of perestroika,
Georgia had probably fallen from the highest pedestal. It was once the playground of the former Soviet Union, with verdant landscapes, wineries and lush Black Sea coastal towns dotted with resorts and sanatoriums. But since independence in 1991, Georgia had been plagued for more than a decade with energy shortages, poor infrastructure, rampant corruption, and battles with Russia over two of the most beautiful, and agriculturally productive, parts of the country – Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In those wars in the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of Georgian inhabitants were forced to flee from their homes under heavy fire.

Authors says Georgia has also taken a more serious approach to the challenge of democracy building than its former Soviet counterparts. In Armenia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, flawed elections were followed by a trend of brutality, and the suspension of basic civil liberties. But in recent days, as the Western nations failed to take substantial action, either through military aid or sanctions, to help protect Georgia as the Russian military darted menacingly back and forth into Georgian territory, ordinary Georgians approached Western foreigners not in anger but in disbelief. How could anyone imagine that it was possible for Georgia to fight the West’s wars, participate in its institutions and adopt its laws and systems, only to be left defenseless at this critical moment?

Russia has claimed that Georgia committed genocide in Tskhinvali. The Georgians, for their part, have accused the Russians and Ossetians of a calculated campaign of cleansing. None of those claims can be independently checked, because the Russian government is not allowing foreign journalists into the areas, reports nyt

Photo of metro station Rustaveli taken by Paata Vardanashvili. See more at www.paata.ge