OC Insider

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The OSCE’s tone-deaf visit to Azerbaijan

•2 min read

Last week, Elina Valtonen, the OSCE Chair-in-office and Finnish Foreign Minister, attended a demonstration in central Tbilisi as a show of support for the long-running protest movement against the Georgian Dream government’s anti-Western trajectory. While not the first EU diplomat to have attended a protest in Tbilisi, her attendance drove the government to say that it had cancelled her meeting with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze — or so it seemed. Valtonen quickly hit back, saying that she

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As Azerbaijan and Russia apparently make up, have we learned anything?

by Nate Ostiller

•2 min read

After almost a year of plummeting relations, Azerbaijan and Russia seem like they have ended their very public beef. At a meeting in Dushanbe earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised, on camera, to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for the deadly Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane crash in December 2024 — the incident that had set off the chain of escalating tit-for-tat actions between Moscow and Baku. In a delicately-worded admission of guilt, Putin acknowledged that the

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Georgia’s 4 October is over — but is it really?

by Mikheil Gvadzabia

•3 min read

My previous OC Insider was titled ‘Georgia’s uncertain 4 October’. That date has now passed, yet the ambiguity has not faded — neither the ambiguity tied to the day itself, nor, even more so, the ambiguity that has haunted the future of the Georgian state since long before 4 October. For those who haven’t been closely following events, here’s a brief recap: on 4 October, Georgia held municipal elections that were boycotted by much of the opposition, including the two largest opposition groups.

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Awaiting Georgia’s uncertain 4 October

by Mikheil Gvadzabia

•2 min read

On 4 October, two remarkable events are set to unfold in Georgia — the municipal elections and an anti-government demonstration, branded by its initiators as a ‘peaceful revolution’ and a ‘peaceful overthrow’ of Georgian Dream’s rule. I feel uncertain about what exactly to expect from that day, and based on past experiences, I’m not even trying to form any specific expectations. The elections issue has further fractured Georgia’s already fragmented opposition: two major opposition groups and s

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Azerbaijan’s toxic pro-government media cannot coexist with real peace

by Nate Ostiller

•2 min read

The Azerbaijani government’s Media Development Agency released a statement on Tuesday decrying the spread of fake news about the country. The statement cited recent false stories that had gone viral — that Azerbaijan would withdraw from the Eurovision song contest if Israel is banned and that Azerbaijan has been supplying Ukraine with weapons via Sudan. The agency called the stories ‘disinformation’ and called on ‘the international community, media resources, journalists, and public activists [

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For Georgia’s courts, dissent is more dangerous than violence

by Mikheil Gvadzabia

•4 min read

On Wednesday, a Tbilisi court again left teacher and activist Nino Datashvili in pre-trial detention. Criminally charged in June for resisting court bailiffs while supporting detained protesters, she faces up to seven years in prison and remains in custody despite deteriorated spinal condition. That same day, in the same court, the trial of arm wrestler Khatia Vibliani was held. Just days earlier, she had beaten a 14-year-old boy in the street. If convicted, Vibliani could face a maximum of two

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The US dithers while Georgia’s democracy continues to collapse

by Nate Ostiller

•3 min read

The US Helsinki Commission held a hearing yesterday on ‘Georgia’s Anti-American Turn’, which focused on ‘the global consequences of Georgia’s slide into authoritarianism’. Former President Salome Zourabichvili and former Defence Minister Tinatin Khidasheli testified at the hearing, which also included debates on ‘US policy options, such as the passage of the bipartisan MEGOBARI Act, to assist the people of Georgia as they seek to maintain their independence and longstanding, mutually beneficial