Both Sides of the Coin

So I have been showing a lot of the great things about Georgia, its beautiful mountains and rivers, and the amazing wine region. This weekend in Batumi was no different, the city sits on the Black Sea coast and its tourism and nightlife are booming. There are well kept gardens, boardwalks, and bike paths for the travelers from Turkey, Russia, and across Georgia. I was a little nervous our bus wasn't going to make it over the mountains...but it did! The beach on the Black Sea isn't the normal beach us Americans think of, its a pebble and stone beach so pretty uncomfortable to walk on, but the water was amazing!

The reason why we were in Batumi was for the Rumsfeld Foundation's Central Asian students reunion. The foundation brings students from Central Asian countries to the US to study for six months. We were able to listen to students from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia discuss their regions energy security, regional cooperation, and the every present Russian influence. It was interesting to hear the perspectives from people from the Central Asian countries because we had only heard from Georgians up to this point.  

What many people might not know about Georgia, is that it is still an occupied country. Two regions of the country, Abkhazia and South Ossetia declared independence with the help of Russian troops, and now both areas are secured by Russian peacekeeping forces. The borders are controlled, there is no movement of people between these lines, and if a cow crosses the border and a farmer goes to get it he can be detained for several days. These conflicts have disrupted the lives of many here, sending Ossetians who lived in Georgia back to South Ossetia, Georgians in Abkhazia back to Georgia and vice versa. Georgians from these regions now live in temporary internally displaced persons housing which you can see below. These communities are isolated and the civilians are pawns in a game of power and politics. Many people think Russia used the excuse of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to keep Georgia from becoming a member of NATO and integrating westward. Many IDP's cannot get permanent housing or integration now because if the Georgian government permanently settles them, it is as if they are declaring their territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as lost. 

One of the main things I see every day is that Georgia is a country in transition. I would be doing this country a disservice if I did not show the bad with the good I see. The remnants of the Soviet Union, the buildings time and towns have forgotten, the history in this part of the world that you can still see. Modernity and Tradition are starting to come together, sometimes co-existing and other times clashing. Georgia is working hard to integrate with Europe and the Western world to balance itself against a strong Russia in the North, the trick is to do it without forgetting the past. 

In Baku, Azerbaijan this week and then back to work in Tbilisi!