Stories from and

Georgia: Ancient Fortress Discovered in Tbilisi

  21 August 2012

During construction to one of Tbilisi's main streets, parts of a 5th century fortress used to defend the city were unearthed. The Young Georgians has a series of photos of the remarkable discovery, which appears on Georgian cartographer Vakkshuti's map of the capital from 1735.    

Georgia: War Photography

  8 August 2012

Just before today's fourth anniversary of the August 2008 Russia-Georgia War, Georgian Photographers features a post accompanied by photos from George Tsagareli on documenting conflict in the Caucasus.

Georgia: Philanthropic Blogging

  1 August 2012

Net Prophet interviews Givi Avaliani, a Georgian blogger [GE] focusing on online campaigning and charitable activities, and who says that human rights protection and highlighting the poverty around him are his main inspirations. The Transitions Online blog says that more than 120,000 people have visited Avaliani's blog in the past...

Caucasus: Olympic Women

  30 July 2012

Ianyan introduces its readers to the female athletes representing the three countries of the South Caucasus in the Olympic games in London.

Armenia-Georgia: Typography Without Borders?

  20 July 2012

Behance features a typographic project to write the Georgian word for hello phonetically in an Armenian script stylized in such a way that it resembles Georgian. Although some letters in the Armenian and Georgian alphabets can resemble each other depending on the fonts and case or styles used, they are...

Russia: Caucasus Stereotypes in Film

Global Chaos comments on a recent video report by Radio Free Europe examining changing stereotypes of the Caucasus in Russian cinema. The blog asks whether the caricatures often adopted for public diplomacy purposes are counterproductive or not.

Georgia: Men Can Wash Their Own Feet

  28 June 2012

Making Connections not only posts a recent video by Georgian bloggers against homophobia, but also one calling for gender equality in the South Caucasus country. The blog notes that the second video, featuring Georgian men saying they can wash their own feet, is in response to a comment by the...

Georgia: Bloggers Against Homophobia

  21 June 2012

Unzipped: Gay Armenia posts a video by Georgian bloggers against homophobia set to the song F*ck You by Lily Allen. The move comes less than a month after a Gay Pride march in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, was disrupted by priests and conservative elements in society. The same month a...

Azerbaijan: British Embassy Awards 4,000th Facebook Page Member

  21 June 2012

The British Embassy in Azerbaijan has awarded the 4,000th member of its Facebook page with a certificate and a small prize. With the British Embassy in Armenia and Georgia boasting 1,526 and 2,581 likes respectively at time of writing, the announcement shows how diplomatic missions in the Caucasus are increasingly...

Georgia: No Sex and the City

  17 May 2012

No Sex and the City — Georgian Liberal (an oxymoron) blog comments on the physical confrontation between priests accompanying religious parents and LGBT activists marching in Tbilisi, Georgia. The blog details events as they happened, including the alleged inaction of the Georgian police when they were asked to intervene to...

Georgia: Lazika, Facebook, and the Constitution

  9 May 2012

Despite growing concerns about plans to build a new city on swamp land, Democracy and Freedom Watch says that Lazika will be included in the country's Constitution. With no transparency in the decision-making process, the blog sarcastically notes that for now the city exists only in the form of a...

Georgia: Face Control

Evolutsia comments on a new policy of face control for entry into many of the Georgian capital's clubs. The analytical site also ponders how such a policy might affect the revenue of those Tbilisi establishments that have introduced it.

Georgia: Beyond Tbilisi

  2 May 2012

Beyond Tbilisi says that local authorities plan to clean up a river full of garbage in June. The blog run by Transparency International Georgia hopes to report on issues outside of the capital and is available in Georgian and English.

Georgia: Concerns over Lazika development

  24 April 2012

Writing on The PIK.TV blog, the channel's English-language editor, Tbilisi-based Nicholas Alan Clayton, comments on plans to construct a new city in Georgia. With little transparency in planning the Lazika development, recently referred to as an ‘instant city in a swamp’ by the New York Times, the blog says that...

Georgia: Forbes magazine accused of self-censorship

  4 April 2012

The Transparency International Georgia blog examines the case of the Georgian edition of the influential Forbes magazine following the resignation of its editor-in-chief who alleges that the magazine's publishers are practicing self-censorship ahead of parliamentary elections to be held later this year.

Georgia: Tongue-in-cheek development forecast

  31 March 2012

A satirical video posted on YouTube takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the development of Georgia ahead of parliamentary elections later this year and a presidential vote in 2013. With the current president, Milhail Saakashvili, unable to run for a third term in office it foresees him following in the footsteps...