Georgia, Georgia

Back in November, I wrote about the crackdown on protesters in Tbilisi. I had been there a year earlier, and pretty much fell in love with that City. I am now beside myself watching the destruction of parts of that country.

I plan to write a new post on Georgia, but in the meantime, I will link to my old posts written about Georgia, one about the events in November, and one of photos.

Anyway, it's all very confusing and not the least bit unsettling.

My friend, Nino, in Tbilisi, remains optimistic. This is from an email this morning:

unfortunately I have no idea what can stop insane
russian government.but i'm still think positive.
and people around really feel themselves as if we
were winners! they say no matter what will happen
 _ we already won.
cuz you know
people are very unified and very patriotic
and even opposition, which few months
ago almost made a revolution in country,
now say they will support Saakashvili
in everything this days .
every nights and during the days
there are peaceful
demonstrations in the streets of Tbilisi...
mostly around the embassy of
russia... they showed on Tv that one georgian
guy wanted to throw an egg to the
building of the embassy but other people stopped him.
cuz our possition is that
the only aggressor here is the russia.
we are just protecting ourselves in our
country.

we are not a big nation Ellen,
we have such a small country, we are not
interested  in wars and killing people.

hmmmm, you may think that i'm crazy
but even in this situation i still think
everything will be fine :)

I will post some more photos of Georgia from a calmer time soon. In the meantime,
my thoughts are with Nino and all those others in Georgia who showed me such
amazing hospitality and warmth.

Always on my, my, my, my, my, my, my mind!

Ok, this has nothing to do with Three Stone Steps, or silk scarves, or eco-chic, or Phnom Penh, or recycled anything. This is more along the lines with the protests, crackdown (cue: song from London Calling, Working for the Clamp Down) in Georgia. Georgia, and Tbilisi was a place I found lovely and lovable. Elegant and crumbling. Great, hospitable people who would do anything for you. Few, if any, other travelers. A wonderful city in a wonder country. So, it is with tears in my eyes, literally, that I've been scouring the web for stories coming out of that country about the protests and the ensuing crushing of the peaceful protests. I wrote a friend in Tbilisi this morning, and asked her how she was holding up. With typical Georgian elan, she was just sort of resigned to this sort of stuff happening, but what really bothered where was the press blackout. Here's what she wrote:

what is really upseting me is that
they closed 2 telecompanies..
one of them was
really tough with government but people loved
that channel as they were most
objective! so the soldiers with guns
and masks on their faces entered that
telecompany and just ordered them to stop broadcasting
 _ I was watching it while
that was going on! they put those
journalists on the floor (as they tell it
after) and took their mobile phones
and only after some time let them out from
the building.
and also, yesterday i had cnn and euronew
 _ and today i had no this channels
anymore!
so we are in information vacuum!
and pardon me but that sucks!
right now i'm home _ schools are closed for minimum till monday.. and i'm really
gald i still have internet!

But, I'm trying to remember the Tbilisi and country that enchanted me when I was there a
little over a year ago.   To that end, please enjoy the following photos, and if I can figure out what can
be done from the outside world, well, I'll post that, too.

[Ok.  For some unknown reason, I can't figure out how to post more of my lovely photos from lovely Georgia, but
in the words of another Beatles song, we will work it out!]