FEAST OR FAMINE

In one day, on August 21, Lagodekhi (a city in eastern Georgia in the Kakheti region) received rainfall 2.5 times the average monthly precipitation for August. Farmlands, mostly vegetable gardens were damaged by the heavy rains. The overflows also damaged bridges, village roads, and residences. One family lost 8,000 pepper plants. Nearly 900 hectares of maize, 300 hectares of vegetable crops, and 100 hectares of melons were swamped by the floods. Water also carried away 50 bee hives. Kakheti is a famous wine region in Georgia, and fortunately September’s vintage will not be affected. Nearly 5,900 tons of grape hybrid harvest is expected this year – up from last year’s 4,335 tons of hybrid grapes.

Guy de Fontgalland, international investment banker and President of the Eurasia Management House in Tbilisi, Georgia, raises the issue of collateral damage to some 80% of the world’s population if the globalization trend continues to enable “free foxes to roam amongst free chickens” – i.e. where some 5% of the world owns 95% of the wealth. Fontgalland states that while globalization has supported manufacturing and trade across nations; transferred production technologies to less developed countries; and helped more nations to establish enterprises in other countries it took a “wrong turn” along the way. He claims globalization helped “totalitarian regimes in the developing world to amass billions of dollars of ill-gotten wealth, spread their power-base across businesses, and armed forces, and snuff out the essential economic freedom globalization intended to bring to millions across the world.” In other words, globalization has led to a log-sided wealth accumulation process am...

The number of tourists visiting the Georgian wine district of Kakheti, known as “The Motherland of Wine,” increased 24 times in 2011, compared with the same period last year. Archaeological sites have discovered wine presses and cellars, with clay, bronze, silver and gold wine glasses among the monasteries and churches in the region, which are now tourist attractions. Almost every family has its own home-made wine. Kakh wines come from various areas within the region, such as Kvareli, Manavi, Tsinandali, and Mukuzani, mainly growing Rkatsiteli and Saparavi grapes. Kvareli, the main administrative city centre of the Kakheti region, is famous for its Wine Tunnel. Five kilometres east of Kvareli (or a 40 minute walk) turn right at Vina Gruzie. The second entrance is the main entry into the tunnel or cave. The legendary tunnel is a chilled (to about 14C) wine storage space of 7.5 kilometers long, in the mountain-side, with 13 paths and a small ethnological museum. In each path ...

Not only is Georgia abuzz over the opening of the renovated National Museum, but the latest discoveries in Dmanisi which may change scientists’ theories on the transitional nature of human evolution are creating a great deal of excitement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of the United States of America published a paper on June 6 purporting to present new archaeological and geological evidence that may shift the date and geography of the beginning of human evolution. The oldest hominid may be from Eurasia (and the Southern Caucasus region in particular), not Africa, and may be an ancestor of all earlier Homo erectus. The bones unearthed in Dmanisi are similar to the oldest forms of Homo erectus, not as one would expect, an ancestor of Homo sapiens. The previous theory of human evolution is that hominids in the form of Homo erectus emerged from Africa and migrated to Eurasia, where they then migrated back to Africa where they evolved as Homo sapiens. But if...

The Goodwill supermarket in Tbilisi is the first outlet to introduce online grocery shopping deliveries in Georgia. Launched last month, in July 2011, sales have already exceeded expectations, despite it being the summer vacation period when Georgians typically leave the country. Already Goodwill has more than 500 daily website users. Currently shoppers can purchase, for delivery, over 1,500 grocery products. This is expected to rise to 5,000 by the end of the year. The leading purchases at present, in the first month of sales, are meat and dairy products, and natural juices. The delivery service is particularly popular with people living in the outlying city districts who find distance an issue in getting to one of Goodwill’s two stores. The reasons for the popularity in the delivery service include: convenience; can purchase any time; it avoids crowds and queues; and it saves time and money. It is also popular with country-wide and international shoppers for traditional...

The Georgian National Museum (GNM), located near Freedom Square (Tavisuplebis Moedani) on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi, was established on December 30, 2004, by a Presidential decree. Its origins, however, date back to the founding of the Museum of the Caucasian Department of the Russian Royal Geographic Society in 1852. The GNM is actually a network of museums and art galleries from around the country, such as the Museum of Fine Art; the Open Air Museum of Ethnography, regional history museums, the National Gallery, and the Museum of the Soviet Occupation 1921-1991. The establishment of the Georgian National Museum is considered to be the beginning of structural, institutional, and legal reforms in the field of cultural heritage. The reform envisages introducing modern management schemes and establishing a homogeneous administration system. This initiative aims at elaborating a coherent museum policy, improving the safety conditions for preserved collections, strengthening the ...

Kashmiri authors face a personal dilemma as organizers of the first literary festival to be inaugurated in September in the disputed Indian state of Kashmir face political controversy. Organisers face criticism that the 'apolitical' event designed to create "an open and democratic space for poetry, readings and dialogue" is an exercise in propaganda. Leading cultural figures in the Muslim-majority territory are concerned that the event is propaganda and several international Kashmiri writers have made clear they do not want to take part. One is London-based Mirza Waheed, whose first novel, The Collaborator, was published to critical acclaim earlier this year. "The organisers have said the event will be apolitical. So what would I do if I was there? What would I read? Every page I have written is political," he told the UK Guardian. Another high-profile author who will not be attending is Basharat Peer, author of the much praised Curfewed Nigh...

Mozart’s Journey to Prague (1856 and reprinted in 1997 by Penguin Books) is a briefly written novella of 91 pages. German composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, living in Austria, is on his way from his home in Vienna to Prague with his wife Constanze in September 1787. At the age of 31, he is about to stage the first production of “Don Giovanni.” In Vienna audiences thought his production of “Il Seraglio” was delightful; “Cosa rara” was charming; and “The Marriage of Figaro” was an unexpected and lamentable failure. But the people of Prague loved Figaro. He returned their praise with a composition written specifically for Prague. On the way to Prague in a horse-drawn carriage he stopped not far from Schrems in the Moravian mountains of Austria, 30 hours driving from Vienna. During the respite, he takes a walk by himself and plucks an orange from a tree. He is caught in the act by the estate’s gardener. Mozart admits his guilt and pens a note to the lady of the house, who subsequ...

In the first six months of 2011, a record number of tourists (1.4 million) have visited Georgia which is a 45% increase for the same period last year. Russian tourists were ranked the fourth most frequent visitors to Georgia during the first six months of the year: an increase of 50% for the same period last year. The greatest increases were tourists from Kazakhstan (251% more than last year) and Iran (156% more than last year). The rankings of the most visitors to Georgia (by nationality) include: (1) Turkey; (2) Azerbaijan; (3) Armenia; (4) Russia; (5) Ukraine; (6) Iran; (7) United States of America; (8) Kazakhstan; (9) Israel; and (10) Germany. Tbilisi (the capital) and Batumi (the seaside resort on the Black Sea) are the most popular tourist destinations in Georgia, especially in the summertime. Batumi is popular for its festivals, concerts, and high proportion of international guests, as well as its beaches. While Russians are visiting Georgia, Georgians are going to T...

Corals, like canaries in coalmines, are early predictors of stress, climatic changes and the presence of chemicals within their environment. Like an army of silent sentinals, corals may prove to be more than reef architects - they may be saviours of the world's most biologically diverse area of marine life, the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Queensland, extends over 2,000 kilometres in a broken coral chain of reefs and cays from Fraser Island in the south to Cape York in the north. Billions of marine and coastal creatures live on and around the reef's protective islands and lagoons. The different corals that form the chain of reefs provide shelter for more fish species than any other marine habitat. Coalmines, the major source of coal as fuel during the 1800s, contributed to the environmental, economic and social evolution of humans. However, carbon monoxide, a colourless, odourless gas formed in the mines when carbon oxidised in a l...