DEC. 29 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – David Usupashvili, speaker of Georgia’s parliament, has suggested that the national legislature may move back to Tbilisi as early as spring 2013, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Since October 2012, Georgia’s parliament has been based in a new building in Kutaisi, 230km from Tbilisi.
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(News report from Issue No. 119, published on Jan. 11 2013)
DEC. 17 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s state oil fund, SOFAZ, bought a $285m building in central London, its first significant purchase for its new international property portfolio, media reported. Azerbaijan’s wealth fund is worth an estimated $33b.
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(News report from Issue No. 118, published on Dec. 28 2012)
DEC. 20 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia’s energy monopoly, Gazprom, bought Kyrgyzstan’s national gas company for $1 in what appeared at a first glance to be a simple bargain buy.
Strategically, though, Gazprom’s buyout of Kyrgyzgaz is far more than just a drive to increase its customer base. The buyout has also strengthened the Kremlin’s leverage over Kyrgyzstan where Russia is battling with the US and China for influence.
Russia and the US have airbases in Kyrgyzstan while China has won favour by funding infrastructure projects. Influence over Kyrgyzstan is considered key to influence over Central Asia.
Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest countries in the former Soviet Union, relying on remittances and a handful of mines to prop up its economy. Its, mainly Soviet-built, infrastructure is crumbling, including the gas system.
Thousands of Bishkek residents have had to shiver through this winter after neighbouring Kazakhstan cut gas supplies over Kyrgyzstan’s unpaid debt. This is dangerous for Kyrgyzstan’s leaders as energy shortages tend to bring people out on to the streets and even trigger revolutions. They needed a solution and turned to Moscow.
In return, Russia’s control over Kyrgyz gas potentially gives it enormous power.
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(News report from Issue No. 118, published on Dec. 28 2012)
NOV. 29 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – At her first meeting with her new Georgian counterpart, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly criticised Georgia’s new government for arresting several officials linked closely to the previous government. The previous government has described the arrests as a witch-hunt against them.
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(News report from Issue No. 115, published on Nov. 30 2012)
NOV. 16 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Georgia arrested more senior officials, mainly linked to the opposition, throughout the week in an operation some have described as a witch-hunt by the new government. Highlighting the alarm felt by Georgia’s foreign allies, the US publicly asked the authorities to stop the arrests.
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(News report from Issue No. 114, published on Nov. 23 2012)
NOV. 20 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – After five years in exile, Georgia’s former defence minister Irakli Okruashvili returned to Tbilisi to face accusations of bribe-taking and forming an illegal armed group. Mr Okruashvili had been an ally of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili before becoming an opposition leader in 2007 and then fleeing.
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(News report from Issue No. 114, published on Nov. 23 2012)
Nov. 15 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Georgia arrested nine more interior ministry officials linked closely with the previous United National Movement party (UNM) government for abuse of power. Senior NATO and EU officials have expressed their concern at the arrests which UNM leaders likened to a witch hunt.
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(News report from Issue No. 113, published on Nov. 16 2012)
NOV. 9 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Politics in Georgia often carries a dramatic flavour and the arrest of Bacho Akhalaia, a former defence minister; Brigadier General Giorgi Kalandadze, the head of Georgia’s military; and Zurab Shamatava, a senior commander fits this mould perfectly.
Police arrested them allegedly for physically abusing six soldiers in Oct. 2011. The soldiers were sacked later that year for attempted mutiny.
Allies of Mr Akhalaia, who served as defence minister from Sept. 2009 to July 2012 before becoming the interior minister for a few months, were furious. They accused the new government of starting a witch-hunt against members of the previous administration.
Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, whose United National Movement party (UNM) lost a parliamentary election last month to a coalition lead by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, said the arrests had been politically motivated. The UNM’s MPs walked out of parliament.
Mr Ivanishvili is now Georgia’s PM but Mr Saakashvili remains the president until an election in about a year’s time. The arrests and the reaction to these arrests show the strain this uneasy partnership is already under.
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(News report from Issue No. 112, published on Nov. 9 2012)
OCT. 24 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Highlighting Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s unlimited power, a government website reported that Turkmenistan’s Council of Elders had elected Hally Nazarov, a previously unknown farmer, to be his vice-president. Mr Berdymukhamedov chairs the Council of Elders, which rubber-stamps his decisions.
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(News report from Issue No. 110, published on Oct. 26 2012)
OCT. 24 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The day before parliament rubber-stamped his first government, Georgia’s new PM, Bidzina Ivanishvili said he only wanted to hold the job for 18 months. Mr Ivanishvili’s announcement is consistent with previous statements that he didn’t want a political career but it still raises the prospect of further instability.
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(News report from Issue No. 110, published on Oct. 26 2012)