A Day In The Life Of Russia’s Collective Unconscious
February 4, 2009
There are some surprising — I’d even say, clinical — changes happening in the Russian collective unconscious and in foreign policy, which is directed largely at shaping that collective unconscious.
Take a look at the news reports from just one day, February 3. The day started with two articles. One in “Nezavisimaya gazeta” was written in such a way that it caused a sensation: U.S. State Department official Matthew Bryza was portrayed as threatening Moscow with the prospect that the United States would establish military bases in Georgia in retaliation for planned Russian military installations in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. And “Kommersant,” citing unnamed sources, reported that during talks later that day between Kyrgyzstan’s president and his Russian counterpart it would be announced that Bishkek would demand the closure of the U.S. base at Manas. Read more
Medvedev: ‘We Want Independent, Democratic Georgia’
February 4, 2009
Russia has always remained and will remain “committed to centuries-old tradition of good neighborly and friendly relations with its close Georgian people,” Russia’s President, Dmitry Medvedev, told the Georgian community living in Russia.
In his written address to the congress of Georgians, held in Moscow on February 3, Medvedev said: “We sincerely want to see stable, independent and genuinely democratic Georgian state; the state, which lives in peace and security, which has friendly relations with other states.”
“Your meeting has special importance in the light of the fact that Russian-Georgian inter-state relations are going through serious test today,” the address posted on the Kremlin’s website reads. “I hope your forum will significantly contribute to formation of positive atmosphere in the Russian-Georgian relationships.”
“Close cultural and humanitarian relations are integral part of our joint history. Direct people-to-people contacts and relations between civil society organizations play important role in strengthening mutual understanding and confidence.”
The congress was organized by head of the Union of Georgians in Russia, Mikheil Khubutia. The Georgian television stations which covered the event extensively, reported the congress was held with the Kremlin’s blessing. Khubutia, who says that President Medvedev is his friend, told journalists on February 4 that while Russia can live without Georgia, it will be difficult for the latter to live without Russia.
Khubutia said in a recent interview with the Georgian television that he had invited some of the officials from the Georgian government, including Iulon Gagoshidze, the state minister for diaspora issues; the latter declined to participate. Nestan Kirtadze of the opposition Labor Party participated in the event.
In December the Russian daily, Kommersant, reported that President Saakashvili had an attempt to establish contacts with the Russian authorities through intermediaries and met with Khubutia in Munich in November for that purpose. There has been no official confirmation of the report from the Georgian authorities.
In his address, President Medvedev also said that “close relations” between the Russian and Georgian Orthodox Churches were of special importance.
A delegation of the Georgian Orthodox Church was in Moscow participating in the enthronement ceremony of Russia’s new Patriarch Kirill this week. Ilia II, the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, was not able to attend the enthronement of Russia’s new Patriarch, because of the health condition. Ilia II left for Germany on February 4 for medical examination, the Georgian patriarchate said.
Patriarch Kirill told the Georgian delegation that relations between the two Churches should not depend on political developments between the two countries.
“Orthodox unity is not simple words,” the Russian Patriarch said. “We can help our nations by joint efforts.”
“We hope and his [Russian Patriarch’s] words confirm it that the Russian Church will still continue to support the unity of the Georgian Church and we hope that he will help us to achieve actual and not fictitious restoration of functioning of the Georgian church there [in breakaway regions], that will promote the unification of our country,” Metropolitan Gerasim of the Georgian Orthodox Church, who was in the delegation, told journalists after the meeting.
Issues related with the canonical jurisdiction of Abkhazia and South Ossetia – breakaway regions, which Russia has recognized – are yet to be resolved.
Before becoming the Patriarch, Metropolitan Kirill, who chaired foreign relations department of the Moscow Patriarchate, said in November, 2008 that canonical jurisdiction limbo in which these two regions remained was “the most painful and the most difficult issue, which may not be resolved today or tomorrow.”
He told Russia’s Vesti news channel in November that the Georgian church in fact was not able “to take spiritual care” of parish in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, because of the political situation. Metropolitan Kirill said “some kind of temporary, transition solution” should be found to this problem.
www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=20372
Source: Civil.Ge, February 2009
EU’s War Inquiry Mission Visits Moscow
February 4, 2009
EU-sponsored inquiry mission into the August war led by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini visits Moscow.
On February 4, the mission met with a group of Russian lawmakers.
“I think that the mood is very constructive; there are no foregone conclusions; there was readiness to accept the Russian side’s arguments,” MP Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the Russian State Duma’s foreign affairs committee, said after the meeting. “I think that our position has been heard and what is the most important, it seemed to me that the mission will not only focus on fact-finding, but also on setting out recommendations.”
“Today it is important to gather the facts and documentary evidence,” MP Sergei Markov said after the meeting. “Of course, Russia is cooperating [with the mission], we are holding meetings… I think that Ossetians and Abkhazians will also cooperate with them upon our request.”
www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=20376
Source: Civil.Ge, February 2009
Opposition Lays Out Electoral System Reform Priorities
February 4, 2009
Amendments to the election code, laid out by the two-party alliance, were met mainly positively other opposition parities in and outside the parliament. And the ruling party lawmakers said they were ready to engage in dialogue with the opposition on the matter.
Distribution of Parliamentary Seats
One of the key aspects of the proposal is to change the current system of electing the legislative body, wherein half of the lawmakers in the 150-seat parliament are elected through the majoritarian system in 75 single-mandate constituencies and another half – through the party-list, proportional system.
The New Rights and Republicans have instead offered to elect 100 lawmakers through the proportional, party-list system and remaining 50 – through so called “regional proportional system”
Electing majoritarian MPs through ‘regional proportional lists’ allows parties or election blocs to nominate several candidates in each constituency (the number of seats available would depend on the size of the constituency). Seats in the parliament, under this system, would be allocated proportionally, based on the votes received by parties in a particular constituency. The proposal also envisages leaving five majoritarian seats allocated for Abkhazia (three seats) and for South Ossetia (two seats) vacant before the restoration of the territorial integrity. This proposal was pushed by the opposition before the May 21, 2008 parliamentary elections, but at that time it was rejected by the ruling National Movement party.
New Arbitration System
The proposal offers setting up of a nine-member arbitration board, which will deal with the election complaints filed by the parties.
The board, according to the proposal, should be composed by “highly respected and trusted” individuals, including from the international organizations.
Such board, if established, will deprive the Central Election Commission (CEC) authority to address the electoral complaints.
According to the proposal the decision of the board should be final, which can not be appealed to the common courts. Only the decision related with the final vote tally can be appealed to the Constitutional Court, according to the document.
Election Administrations
The New Rights and Republicans have also offered to compose the election administrations of all three levels – precinct election commissions, district election commissions and central election commission – by representatives of the political parties based on “a parity principle.”
The proposal, however, does not specify an exact mechanism of composition.
Other Technical Aspects
The proposal envisages installing CCTV cameras at all the polling stations and full and unrestricted access to video recordings.
According to the current rule political parties or election observers can only request access to 15-minute portion of the video recordings.
The New Rights and Republicans have also offered to change the current identity cards with magnetic stripe cards to prevent multiple voting through faked IDs.
The opposition parties have been alleging prior to the May 21, 2008 parliamentary elections and on election day that fake IDs had been issued by the authorities to allow multiple voting. The opposition also claimed that after checking the voter list provided by the CEC, it found cases where more than a dozen and in some cases up to 80 voters were registered in one and the same apartment. International observation mission under the OSCE aegis said in its report that it could “substantiate some of these cases.”
The proposal has been sent to other political parties, including to the ruling party and international organizations.
“It means that we are ready to launch a dialogue with everyone” on the matter, including with the ruling party, Davit Berdzenishvili of the Republican Party said at a press conference on February 4.
Mamuka Katsitadze of the New Rights party said that adoption of new election rules was essential for holding early presidential and parliamentary elections.
MP from the ruling party, Akaki Minashvili, said on February 4, that the ruling party was open for a dialogue on the matter. He, however, also said that the next elections were only scheduled for 2010 – local self-governance elections, ruling out holding of early polls this year.
In mid-December, Davit Bakradze, the Parliamentary Chairman, announced about the plans to set up an all-inclusive special group to work on the amendments into the election code. The group has not been established yet.
www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=20377
Source: Civil.Ge, February 2009
Talk with Government – Saakashvili Tells Moscow
February 4, 2009
Russia should talk with the Georgia’s leadership, if it is really willing to have a dialogue with the Georgian people, President Saakashvili said on February 4.
Saakashvili’s remarks were made in response to his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev’s statement that Moscow has always remained and will remain “committed to centuries-old tradition of good neighborly and friendly relations with its close Georgian people.”
Medvedev also said in his written address to the congress of Georgians living in Russia: “We sincerely want to see stable, independent and genuinely democratic Georgian state; the state, which lives in peace and security, which has friendly relations with other states.”
The Russian leadership has said previously that they would not negotiate directly with the Georgian President and Medvedev even said in September: “President Saakashvili no longer exists in our eyes; he is a political corpse.”
“I want to tell the Russian government and the President: if they want to talk with the Georgian people, they should talk with the government, elected by Georgia and we can talk on any issue after Russia de-occupies the Georgian territories and after it retreats from the occupied territories,” he said.
Saakashvili spoke mockingly about the congress of Georgian community in Russia held on February 3, calling it “so called gathering of Georgians, organized by the Kremlin.”
“They [Russia] say that there are million Georgians living in Russia – although there are not as many – and in a 310-seat hall they could hardly gather 191 participants from all over Russia,” Saakashvili said. “They could not even fill the smallest hall in Moscow and the Russian President changed his decision last minute and did not go to the event”
“I want to thank all the Georgian citizens of all ethnicity who went from Georgia and are now in Russia; they acted in dignity… Just imagine, they [the Russian authorities] have in fact failed to find anyone – although there have been rare exceptions – who would have confronted own country [Georgia] and this amounts to civil heroism in today’s Russia,” he added.
The congress was organized by Mikheil Khubutia, head of the Union of Georgians in Russia. Khubutia, who says that President Medvedev is his friend, told journalists on February 4 that while Russia can live without Georgia, it will be difficult for the latter to live without Russia.
Khubutia said in a recent interview with the Georgian television that he had invited some of the officials from the Georgian government, including Iulon Gagoshidze, the state minister for diaspora issues; the latter declined to participate. Nestan Kirtadze of the opposition Labor Party participated in the event.
In December the Russian daily, Kommersant, reported that President Saakashvili had an attempt to establish contacts with the Russian authorities through intermediaries and met with Khubutia in Munich in November for that purpose. There has been no official confirmation of the report from the Georgian authorities.
www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=20373
Source: Civil.Ge, February 2008