Georgia&Democracy; a discussion

Sort of discussion with my friend Nino on democracy, georgia and the protest. It sure is a way more complicated issue then assumed by western media.

Nino
Dear Inge, please, don't disappoint me, don't tell me that you like Misha

Inge
i am happy not to dissappoint you, I do not like misha :). I'm just afraid that the strategy of the opposition does not work. since 1. I have the feeling they only want misha out, but don't have political programs to make a change, 2. are too devided and 3. do not have one leader, furhtermore 4. blocking roads everywhere does not build sympathy with the ones not already joining your protest and 5. i'm afraid changing leaders in a democratic country only by revolutions/protest does no good. oh and 6. the one political party with a political program (the republicans) do not have a seat in the parliament, so i'm just wondering how this all will develop in a somewhat democratic way which will benefit the georgians the most....

Nino
Oh, I am relieved that you don't like Misha :)).I fully agree with you about opposition being weak, poorly organised and not prepared well but Misha is simply distroying my country - He is killing all sectors on which country should be based - economy, energy, health, education, agriculture, environment. He is killing independent court and independent media. He is killing civil society, he is killing science, art, sport... And finally, he is losing territories. What can be worse than all abovementioned???You say that "changing leaders in a democratic country only by revolutions/protest is not good". I agree with you but cheating in the elections in democratic countries is also not good. And who has said that opposition is going to have a revolution? As far as I know opposition only wants to have an out of turn presidential ellections.

Inge
:)good points; especially those on his economical en environmental policies. Could not agree more with you on that! Though I still would like to stress that, altough I do believe some fraud has been conducted in the presidential elections, I was observer in Zugdidi with the parliamentary elections, and yeah, that didn't go smoothly, but fraud would be a big word (I mean, the chair of the poling station I was at, did try to pull it of, the fraud I mean, but fortunately the local obervers were very fierce and saw every, clumsy, attempt on time - which was sort of the overall conclusion of all observers in that region: clumsy onorganised fraud). But ofcourse I was not at the central counting in tbilisi, so that could have been extremely frauduleus. If so, then I think it will be best to have re-elections either. (leaving OSCE reports besides)On the other hand I think, eventhough I am not a fan of Misha's (corrupt) policies, we should not underestimate the fan's he still has...

Nino
Mostly he cheated at the presidential ellections. I can give you few examples. I. First of all I can tell you that whole governmental sector (including MoE) was involved in the pre-ellection company which is severe violation of the georgian legislatoin.II. In Marneuli and other remoted districts the results of participation was 100% . Everyone knows that in those regions lots of people work in Armenia or Azerbaijan. And even in theory it is not possible for 100% to participate.III. There was enormpus pressure on the people. In my neighborhood (saburtalo) national party representatives were threatenning people "If you don't vote for Misha, we will spoil your business etc" or "If you vote for Misha, we will release your prisoners...". And still, Misha lost in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi and many other cities.It's awkard to talk about Misha's funs. Most of them simply have their own interests...

Nino
Dear Inge, few years ago I was standing in Rustaveli actively participating in the "Rose Revolution" hoping that we would create the real democratic country with strong civil society, independent Court, independent media and strategicly thinking and motivated government but unfortunatelly I was deeply wrong..... :(((Sorry and thanks for your sympathy and love for Georgia... <

Inge
that is ugly indeed, I read some reports of the Human Rights ngo I was an intern, so I already heard some violations during presidential elections
guess you're no longer working for the gov then, huh?
To be honest, do you really believe/hope the opposition will be better then misha? For sure I think he is corrupt and should go, but who of the opposition is fit for the job? The only sane english seaking person i met was usupashvili and i'm afraid he wont get any votes.As for Burjanadze, she's known to come from a corrupt family and although i did like her when she was speaker of parliament (the way she treated nov 7, very calm and reasonable) i am not sure how she will handle the pressure.And about alasania, he just seems to me like a populist, like misha used to be, how can there be change? It is so sad, you know how much i care about georgia and want it to have a democracy, truly working. Just wonder when and how. (with the western media being pro-misha etc)

Nino
I am still working for the government and I know very well the problems existing there. I also know the lack of the desire for solving them.Yes I know how you care for georgia and I appreciate that a lot...:))

Inge
wow! That is remarkable i think, but very good! Are there more people like you? Hope there are! :)

Khinkali

so i decided to make some khinkali, because I was craving for it, you can't imagine. But as you might understand, I was a bit afraid, since it was the first time I made it totally on my own, without supervision of the mothers of georgia.
To be honest, I think I didn't do such a bad job:

kiev, here i come

And yes, I finally made a decision: I have postponed my master in sweden with one year to study russian in kiev. There are many reasons to give, the one I tell my parents is that if I don't do it now, I will never, my collegues I tell the same, but in my hart: I just need to flee away from the nothern western mentality (though I really do want to learn russian). And why kiev? I've heard it is almost as beautiful and almost the same hospitality as in the Caucasus ;).
Living in georgia one year, working there for an environmetnal ngo, was the best decision I could have made. I fell in love with the caucasus. I mean, ofcourse I knew I already enjoyed traveling in eastern europe and I have some good friends there, but living somewhere is just a total different experience. I especially love the Caucasus, traveling around there is always a good idea, and my lovely Georgian friends: no worries, before I go to Kiev one year I'll be spending my 'holidays (2 months....) in Georgia! So I am expecting some great supra's and craziness!!!
Hopefully Kiev is close to Georgia (caucasus) in its mentality. I have no idea, I've never been to Ukrain, so I am sort of nervous. But on the other hand, I love adventures!
Kiev, here I come!

The follow-up

Back in the train thinking about the strange day I experienced today. It started out quite great: the sun was shining, I love traveling by train in general, I had a tasty sandwich and hot coffee as breakfast, I was listening to some new music on my i-pod (WBA, prodigy and royksopp) and I was finishing Pnin (Nabokov) with as back-up the ‘boekenweek-geschenk’ (a small story which is written every year by a famous Dutch writer on a certain theme) which allowed me to travel for free till the border (some sort of way to promote reading and traveling… I think).
As I mention above, I love traveling by train. I enjoy the change in landscape, the different people you meet, the nice pace. And, honestly, the track from Venlo (NL) to Düsseldorf is quite a nice trip, worth taking! Slowly the landscape changes into a greener and slightly hilly surrounding, the houses change features, the roads look different, the road signs, everything. (Funny remark: the first thing I saw when we crossed the border was a guy in a field with his pants down… don’t ask me why.) Suddenly people speak German, and you feel like you are in totally another country (something I also experience when going to Belgium) and I love that experience. I wonder why people so close from each other suddenly speak different, dress different, even behave different. Sometimes you have this sudden feeling of complete happiness, that’s what I experienced this morning.
Arriving in Düsseldorf, I must admit I was a bit stressed: I had been trying calling the two friends who I was supposed to meet (one even said he would travel with me by train from some small place near Düsseldorf), however, I wasn’t able to reach them before arriving in Düsseldorf. But as I said in my previous post, I am not that easy to be thrown off guard and had been contemplating on nice things to do in the city until I would be able to meet them.
One of my friends is in Wuppertal for a conference, while she is currently living in Tbilisi. I thought it was so great she came to Germany (and Düsseldorf: how close!) that I decided I wanted to meet her. One week ahead we already discussed this meeting and I was confident it would all work out. Since another friend of mine, who I also have met in Tbilisi, lives near Düsseldorf, I decided also to let him know about my plans, so there would be an opportunity to meet him too, which he agreed upon.
Unfortunately I wasn’t been able to reach them when arriving in Düsseldorf. I decided to go to the nearest café with wi-fi to check if I had received an email and to plan what I could be doing in the wonderful city of Düsseldorf, also known as the largest beer garden in the world. It started of quite weird as I saw myself lost in the Japanese (!) part of town. Although it was for sure quite interesting, I was also kind of curious about the real German part of Düsseldorf.
I found on googlemaps some musea and the Japanese speaking German (I am serious: He was German and he spook fluent Japanese to his customers!) might have been a bit odd, but he was really nice and showed me on the map some more nice sightseeing’s.
I decided to start of with the Goethe Museum, which was, unfortunately, rather boring. The lady at the counter wasn’t that nice, and about the content… people who have been at the Stalin museum in Gori, might understand what I mean.
The following part of my ‘adventure’ in Düsseldorf consisted of a nice walk through the park. Just like I love traveling by train, that is also how I love going to a park: I am easily pleased if walking through a park (nice tip for the ones who find themselves one day hosting me in their home-town: take me to a park and I am happy). The walk ended at the river Rhine. While I seated down on one of the benches and enjoyed the incredible view over the water, I saw I had received an unpleasant message on my phone. My German friend had to cancel our meeting, he didn’t feel well and wanted to stay home. Although on one hand I found it unreasonable to be mad on someone who got sick (it’s not something you can do about it) on the other hand it kind of pissed me of, mainly because I figured that if I would have troubles contacting one, I would still have another friend to meet. Now I only had my Tbilisi friend, who was still unreachable. But I hate people who complain, and I don’t like negativity in general, so I decided to put my negative mood aside and enjoy anyway.
Walking in old town, however, didn’t do too much well. Although it is a nice town, it is really German, for a Dutch person just way to kitsch. Though I liked the small streets with pink houses in Riga and I did enjoy the authenticity in Strasbourg, I just couldn’t really enjoy Düsseldorf. And, again admitting, mainly because I had imagined this day to be a totally different one.
I must tell you, I have been missing the Georgian way of living a lot: the chaos, the craziness, the friendly people (read: the supra-napping, the phsycadelic dance parties, gaumarjos). Here in the Netherlands it is not only really structured, but there is also such a negative (maybe even spoiled) tendency. I kind of hoped meeting my friends, though not Georgian but experiencing crazy Georgian things with, would allow that crazy happiness to show itself to me again. I even smuggled some pod over the border (I mean, that is really crazy for me, I am normally way to brave to even buy it! Though it is legal in Holland….). I asked my Tbilisi friend to bring some good-old chacha (Georgian vodka) and I imagined myself drinking beers with them, smoking weed and doing crazy stuff all day. Having that in the back of your mind while walking through Sunday-Düsseldorf all alone, is just sort of a disappointment, as you might understand.
However, when I went back to the Netherlands by train, I realized I did have a really nice day overall. I had the chance to do something totally different then working and studying all the time, I enjoyed the sun, I was abroad being a tourist. I had no worries whatsoever related to work/studies. There were no negative Dutch around me to complain about everything and I did what I love most: traveling/reading/exploring. So to come to somewhat of a conclusion: Düsseldorf isn’t that bad after all and I had a nice day ;).

Dusseldorfs deviating adventures

So, here I am: dusseldorf... I must say I am not a fan of german cities in general (though I love Berlin), but it is always nice to explore the world and since Dusseldorf is so close I decided to go overhere (admitting, one of my good tbilisi-friends Dion was supposed to be here).
Totally unprepared I entered the Dusseldorf via the main train station and I walked out without a clou where to go. I was supposed to meet two friends here today, so I thought not to worry. Unfortunately I haven't been able to reach any of both so far.
Even being more unlucky: the tourist inforation shop is closed on sunday (can you believe that???). Fortunate I am an adventurous person and not quickly stressed in these kind of situations and therefore just started walking from the trainstation looking for a nice cafe with WiFi.... yup: how naive one can be!
But as you can see, I found one finally,in some sort of chinese neighbourhood (even the germans speak some chinese here, which i find quite interesting....), must say btw i am not totally sure if it is chinese, or japanese, or taiwanese or whatever, I am just not able to read the signs and the people look asian and since China is the largest country in that neighbourhood, it's the best guess i can do for now. I will look it up on the internet: trying to make a nice plan for today, go to some sightseeing places etc.
If anybody in the neighbourhood is up for a drink: I am in for it. I also smuggled some illegal dutch product over for my friend, but since she is nowhere to be found, come and join me ;).

UPDATE 14:29 - Appearantly it is not chinese but Japanese! How interesting and unusual!

Basilisk

Basilisk: suggesting a legendary reptile with fatal breath and glance : baleful, spellbinding

In Hellenic and Roman legend, a basilisk (also called a cockatrice) was a serpent-like creature capable of destroying other creatures by way of its deadly stare. The modern basilisk is a lizard that belongs to the family Iguanidae and supposedly resembles this fabled monster; it has a large, inflatable crest atop its head and is sometimes called a “Jesus Christ lizard” for its ability to run quickly across the surface of water. The use of “basilisk” as an adjective occurs most frequently in phrases such as “basilisk stare”; recalling the notorious gaze of the legendary basilisk, it describes the deep and piercing look of someone who is frightening or seductive.

Krasnoe, zelenoe...

Red and blue and mauve and green,
Jade and quartz and tourmaline,
Anything to keep you away from other men;
Shirts and skirts and crinolines,
Silken robes and denim jeans,
But you just gave me vodka, and some cognac now and then.

Even though I wasn't rich,
I tried to scratch your every itch,
Many times I asked, "Is this enough for you, my love?"
Your usual response to which --
You lying, scheming, thieving bitch --
Was just to give me vodka and yell, "No, it's not enough!"

The money came perpetually,
It fell on you torrentially,
Banknote after banknote, emeralds and gold;
I played it safe, essentially,
But still got caught, eventually --
Now, for a quarter-century, my life's been put on hold.

Know that I intensely loathe
You and all your stupid clothes,
You're the only reason why I'm wearing white and black;
Screw you and your sacred oath,
Screw you and your mother, both!
Live the way you want to -- I am never coming back!

--
Красное, зеленое, желтое, лиловое,
Самое красивое - на твои бока,
А если что дешевое - то новое, фартовое,-
А ты мне только водку, ну и реже - коньяка.

Бабу ненасытную, стерву неприкрытую
Сколько раз я спрашивал: "Хватит ли, мой свет?"
А ты всегда испитая, здоровая, небитая -
Давала мене водку и кричала: "Еще нет".

На тебя, отраву, деньги словно с неба сыпались -
Крупными купюрами, займом золотым,-
Но однажды всыпались, и сколько мы не рыпались,-
Все прошло, исчезло, словно с яблонь белый дым.

А бог с тобой, с проклятою, с твоею верной клятвою
О том, что будешь ждать меня ты долгие года,-
А ну тебя, патлатую, тебя саму и мать твою!
Живи себе, как хочешь - я уехал навсегда!


1961

Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky (Russian: Владимир Семёнович Высоцкий) (January 25, 1938 – July 25, 1980)