OC Insider

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Under the red flag with a new design

•2 min read

On 22 April, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was met on Tiananmen Square by Chinese President Xi Jinping as Aliyev’s favourite song — ‘Homeland!’ (‘Ey Vətən!’) — played in the background. It was a message to the world that Xi was growing his club of authoritarian leaders. In their one-on-one meeting Xi stressed that China supports Azerbaijan in safeguarding its national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and in continuing to follow a development path that suits its national

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Chechnya reverts back to the Middle Ages

by Elizaveta Chukharova

•2 min read

If you’ve been reading OC Media, you’ve probably noticed the horrifying events that have been unfolding in Chechnya over the past week. What’s happening there amounts to public executions — in a supposedly civilised country allegedly governed by the rule of law. It all began when a teenager attacked police officers with a knife in Achkoi-Martan, western Chechnya. As it later emerged, the motive was personal resentment. Witnesses say that the day before the attack, the boy — who lived in Moscow

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For Georgian Dream, murderous Soviet soldiers and anti-government protesters are the same

by Mikheil Gvadzabia

•3 min read

In a reality where the Georgian government has launched a full-scale assault — both rhetorically and in action — against its critics, even the most vicious and degrading statements from ruling party politicians or their affiliated media no longer come as a shock. These days, we’re bombarded daily with lengthy statements and pro-government TV reports, pushing the narrative that a bunch of ‘radical’ and ‘rootless’ individuals — allegedly controlled by the ‘deep state’ or the ‘global war party’ —

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After insulting journalists, Armenia’s ruling party refuses to apologise

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•2 min read

In Armenia’s highly polarised media landscape, which features only a handful of independent media outlets, it is challenging to convey to the public what real journalism is and should be. Indeed, there are frequent cases whereby journalists exceed the professional standards, making their work more akin to activism, or turning their writing into tools in the hands of their owners, funders, or other affiliated figures to publish propaganda or leak materials. However, journalists are not alone in

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How Georgian Dream is legitimising its power through social media ads

by Tamar Shvelidze

•4 min read

Hello there! My name is Tamara, and I’m usually the one managing OC Media’s social media accounts. In my free time, I also track social and political ads on Meta platforms. And after spending enough time checking what ads are running in Georgia, it has become worryingly obvious how cheap, easy, and effective propaganda is these days. PosTV, the biggest political and social ad spender in the Georgian media, is a pro-government channel with a strong anti-woke stance. In the past 90 days alone, Po

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Decolonising the North Caucasus, one language at a time

by Dominik K Cagara

•2 min read

Хьоме дешархо (Dear Reader), Much has already been said about the likely closure of RFE/RL and the consequences it will have for the region. However, there is one crucial aspect that I believe deserves more attention: RFE/RL’s decolonial impact. I have been passionate about the languages of the Caucasus for years, and happen to have been studying Chechen since 2009. Chechen is a complex language and it isn’t similar to any other language that I know. Each noun belongs to one of six genders, w

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What freedom of speech means in the North Caucasus

by Elizaveta Chukharova

•2 min read

Dear reader, You have the opportunity to read this newsletter, as well as the freedom to read any news in Telegram or use it to communicate with friends. But in the North Caucasus, the use of the social media messenger Telegram is already a luxury. Since November, residents of Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Daghestan have reported problems accessing the messaging app. The authorities, without blinking an eye, replied that any issues were the work of ‘foreign agents’, accusing such ‘agents’ of makin