Alasania Condemns Government’s ‘Robbery Attack’ on Bank Cash Van

Civil.ge

The seizure of cash belonging to billionaire-turned-politician Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Cartu Bank by the police was “a robbery attack”, which shows that the authorities are “scared” of a strong political opponent, Irakli Alasania, leader of opposition Our Georgia-Free Democrats party, said.

“The fact that the authorities are scared was demonstrated in today’s robbery attack on Cartu Bank’s cash van,” Alasania said.

Late on Tuesday afternoon Cartu Bank’s cash-in-transit vehicle was stopped by the police, which arrested several bank employees accompanying the vehicle and seized the cash. The Interior Ministry said in a brief statement that several individuals with “especially large amount of cash” were arrested in connection to money laundering. No other details were provided.

“It was a move by scared, desperate authorities; it was a demonstration of extremism by the authorities,” Alasania told Georgian Public Broadcaster late on Tuesday night. 

Saakashvili regime launches “open, aggressive and criminal attack” against political nemesis

Police seized a “large amount” of cash belonging to billionaire-turned-politician Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Tbilisi-based Cartu Bank, earlier today.

Ivanishvili’s press office said in a statement that at about 5pm local time Cartu Bank’s cash-in-transit vehicle was stopped by police while it was transporting a “large amount” of money from Bank of Georgia’s headquarters close to Freedom Square, seized the vehicle, money and arrested six employees of the Cartu Bank accompanying the vehicle, including four female cashiers.

Before this statement was released, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) posted on its website a brief statement saying that several individuals with “especially large amount of cash” were arrested in connection to money laundering.

The statement did not provide any other details.

Ivanishvili’s press office said in the statement that this “coercive measure” was “an attack on Cartu Bank” and personally on Ivanishvili.

“The Georgian authorities have launched open, aggressive and criminal attack against Bidzina Ivanishvili,” the statement reads. “We demand an immediate release of illegally arrested persons and return of seized property belonging to the Cartu Bank.”

Civil.ge

The “ultimate will” of the Georgian people

So, Georgia’s local English language snooze-paper, the Messenger, is helping to push the line that NATO membership is the “ultimate will” of the Georgian people:

“the Georgian people are in favour of entry into NATO. Recent NDI polling repeatedly confirmed this position. Of those questioned in the polls, 74% support the idea.”

Well, anyone who takes the time to actually look at the poll results will quickly tell you that, far from being their “ultimate will”, NATO membership is WAYYY down the list of the most important national issues to the Georgian people. Most Georgians are MUCH more concerned about jobs, rising prices, poverty, affordable healthcare, falling agricultural production, transportation costs, and pensions, than they ever will be about NATO membership.

As an organization which has a lot of experience trying to decipher, edit, and generally make such polls palatable to the people who commission them we neither agree, somewhat agree, neither agree nor disagree, or somewhat disagree with them – we HATE and DISTRUST them, and you should too. Any poll which is paid for by such a suspect organization as NDI is probably loaded in favor of the Ruling Party line.

Why is joining a club which is responsible for launching devastating unwarranted attacks on countries so important? Well, it certainly isn’t so very important to the 41% of Georgians who are desperate for jobs and living in poverty, or to the 41% majority of Georgians who say that Georgia IS NOT a democracy now, or to those Georgians traumatized by the sight of someone getting chased and shot dead in the city center during rush hour, or to the 49% of Georgians who, according to this very same poll, actually DISAPPROVE of Georgia’s current policy towards Russia, or to those (same poll again folks) who say that NATO membership is the one thing which politicians talk TOO MUCH about and who argue instead that politicians talk TOO LITTLE about the aforementioned things which the NDI poll says the Georgian people are most concerned about.

We can only conclude that far from being the “ultimate will” of the Georgian people NATO membership is anything but. The government may want it to further extend the stick with which they poke the bear, but to say that they only want it because that’s what the Georgian people want, above all else, is an outright lie.

What Georgians need most are the kind of things which can only come in a country which is seen by the outside world as a good place to do business. Despite rumors to the contrary Georgia is increasingly seen as a risky place to do business, and has been ever since FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) peaked in 2005. Today’s FDI figures appear to increasingly consist of investments made by mysterious companies which have been set up in offshore tax-havens a few days or weeks before auctions for sale or control of state assets, who bid against equally mysterious companies – with legitimate businessmen complaining that they can’t get sufficient information from the tender office in order for them to submit a bid.

The most recent case in point being the sale of a 30 year mining licence to a company which was registered in Georgia just a few weeks before the auction took place, and where it was stated that this company was a subsidiary of another company which, itself, was only registered (in Cyprus) a few weeks earlier, paying over three times the 30 million GEL asking price, a bid which, according to our informed sources, was about twice what the licence was probably really worth. Where the money comes from and where it goes we may never know, but the end result is that yet another of Georgia’s natural resources has passed into the hands of person or persons unknown.

We think that the “ultimate will” of the Georgian people is to be respected, trusted, and rewarded, as most ordinary Georgians deserve to be. Unfortunately the current regime, who probably ARE in touch with what the people really want, simply don’t care. Instead of spending money doing the right thing they spend millions on lobby groups in the States to help keep the wool pulled over the eyes of the American People. 

RD

Occupy… Zugdidi?

Rustavi2 : Several hundred residents of the city of Zugdidi, Western Georgia, rallied outside the Lazika Bank there today, demanding the punishment of bank officers who embezzled bank funds in their names.

Reportedly, several officers of the bank issued bank loans in the names of about 400 residents of the city, including pensioners and disabled persons, by tricking them into signing some documents, based upon which they issued loans and embezzled the money.

The cheated residents of the city say the bank has begun to seize and sell their property by auction following the swindle.

One credit officer of the bank and his accomplice have already been arrested by the police.

Natalie Schultz, PhD in medical sciences with a “big heart”, says “stress will kill you!”

Today Jordan H. Evans of Collaborative Enterprises (CE) talks to Natalie Schultz, PhD, an acclaimed Ukrainian scientist specializing in the field of child and adult cardiology. This field of research is crucial to Ukraine and other former Soviet Union countries, which have the highest rates of heart disease in the world. An alarming number of children are now suffering heart disease. Untreated, and often undetected, their irreversible heart diseases progress to an acute form, greatly reducing their life expectancy and the quality of those young lives.

Natalie’s research has a considerable number of applications, especially in highly developed countries, where stress continues to be one of the main causes of heart disease and premature death, resulting in ever-increasing health care costs. Much of her work deals with ways to reduce stress and maintain a healthy lifestyle; it is very practical, and considered essential in preventing and treating coronary failure and heart disease.

Dr. Shultz’s expertise is sought out by distinguished health care and research organizations. Specifically, the US-based Gift of Life International (GOLI) program needs the high-end expertise of scientists of her standing in order to bring children (from all over the world) with congenital heart defects (CHFs) to the United States for cardiac surgery, an activity made possible by the generous funding provided by corporate and private donors. Through the efforts of heart care specialists such as Dr. Shultz and many others GOLI has now been able extend this service to every corner of the world.

Jordan Evans: We hear people saying that stress will kill you, is this true?

Dr. Shultz: Research clearly shows that there is a real link between the heart, the emotions and stress. Since 1995 researchers have focused on how emotional stress can even “mimic” the symptoms of a heart attack. One article in the New England Journal of Medicine described how stress hormones might temporarily overwhelm heart cells. Nicknamed the ‘Broken Heart Syndrome’, the process is basically a form of ‘adrenalin poisoning’. One must always keep in mind that the heart is where the body, mind, emotions and soul all come together and converge. Heart and heart-related diseases have turned into an epidemic. The younger generation is suffering them more than ever before. Heart diseases reflect disorders in practically every biological system of our body, and even perhaps larger social and economic problems.

Jordan Evans: What about diet, lifestyle and keeping the heart healthy?

Dr. Shultz: Many of us don’t like to eat a lot of vegetables – almost all our parents struggled with us over this – but diet is important for a healthy heart. It is also about keeping a healthy mind, and there are certain things we can all do like live a balanced life, try not to stress ourselves too much, etc. Some people will try lots of things, even yoga and tai chi. Much can be found in Chinese philosophy about cultivating the mind and the heart, letting negative things go, proper breathing, diet, etc.

A healthy heart is all about keeping the mind relaxed and reducing the complications of life. However, the way one goes about that does not really matter: some go fishing, others enjoy being close to family and friends – whatever it takes to have a sense of well-being and know that you are leading a productive life.

Jordan Evans: What about the ‘fetal origins’ hypothesis of heart disease; I understand you work closely on this problem?

Dr. Shultz: Yes, that too is an issue. Aside from the widely known links between lifestyle and heart disease some authors have more recently developed theories about the impact of poor nutrition in the womb on adult cardio-vascular health (Barker, 1995). The research shows that there is a relationship between birth rates and higher rates of coronary heart disease. Much is involved in this issue, even social class, but the research carried out in England and elsewhere shows some definite links between “fetal undernutrition” and cardiovascular disease later in life. There is much room for research into how coronary heart disease is associated with specific patterns of disproportionate fetal growth which result from fetal undernutrition in middle to late pregnancy.

Jordan Evans: What about self-inflicted heart disease, resulting from smoking, over eating and obesity?

Dr. Shultz: There are many risk factors, including these, and some people are more prone to them than others. Again I connect the development of cardiovascular disease to a bundle of risk factors, starting with high blood pressure. Diet and lifestyle are everything – as everything is so interrelated. Some of us are not blessed with a family history which is heart friendly. What you eat determines much, and clogging of arteries is a product of overeating and not exercising. To be technical, this is called atherosclerosis, which can lead to a coronary bypass at times. As for smoking, it is even more dangerous for your heart than for your lungs; lots of people may be surprised to hear this, and many would not like to hear it, such as those in the tobacco industry. People should not be fooled into thinking that filters or low tar cigarettes will reduce health risks, as you will end up smoking more because of them to make up the difference in nicotine intake –the risks are the same, perhaps even greater.

As for eating too much, obesity – there is much truth in the saying that you can eat yourself to death, and extra weight is hard on the heart. In Ukraine and the US people are just eating themselves to death; everything comes in large sizes with too many toppings. People are not eating for nourishment but as a way of spending their time – a form of entertainment.

Jordan Evans: Are certain foods or diets better than others for reducing the risk of heart disease?

Dr. Shultz: An Eastern or Mediterranean diet is about the best but is not to most people’s fancy. I remember reading an article about a “heart-healthy” diet plan which put lots of emphasis on fruit, vegetables, fish and whole grains and cutting back on fats. It has also been demonstrated that this diet not only keeps your heart but your mind healthy – those who follow it are even less likely to suffer from Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. All heart specialists I know recommend this diet, along with a healthy lifestyle, as the best medicine the doctor could order.

Jordan Evans: Are there different risks for men and women when it comes to heart attacks?

Dr. Shultz: Not really, as women are taking on greater responsibilities and adopting some of the bad habits of their male counterparts, and consequently dying more and more from heart attacks. However, one of the symptoms of the onset of heart disease in women is that the pain is not typical: they do not get the pain in the chest and down the left arm that men do, and many doctors never see the tell tale signs of heart problems in women. Half of heart attacks in women go unnoticed, and often they are dead before they even realize that they are experiencing a heart attack. Women over 45 are especially at risk, more so than men. Nearly one third of women will experience a heart attack in their lives, and for men the figure is half (50 per cent). The likelihood of a woman having a heart attack is about three times higher than their contracting breast cancer. However, they are more fearful of this disease than a heart condition.

Jordan Evans: What are the signs of an approaching heart attack in women and is the treatment of it any different?

Dr. Shultz: A woman may feel dizzy, disorientated, short of breath, uncomfortable. They don’t, however, have the same acute crushing chest pain a man often experiences. Women can have attacks that are atypically different from their male counterparts. The MD doesn’t even suspect a heart attack or history of heart disease. There is also a sort of bias amongst physicians against the idea of women having heart attacks: they tend to think of them as something from their imagination. Doctors used to say that women with low blood pressure fainted a lot, as if it were a ploy to get attention. However when women go through menopause their risk of having a cardiovascular event is greatly increased, and they go from being susceptible to the milder ailments of getting older to full blown heart attacks and sudden death.

Jordan Evans: What can we do to reduce the risks, other than take the steps you have already mentioned?

Dr. Shultz: A thorough heart evaluation should form part of everybody’s yearly preventative medical examination. Keeping a positive attitude, even maintaining thoughts of love; this emotion can impact your heart, electrolyte balance and brain function. These are all connected. Those living in Japan and France have lower heart disease risk, and this phenomenon is not only diet related. It has much to do with family and emotional support systems, especially in times of need when people have to pull together. Those who lack love in their lives, or religion (or rather spirituality) and don’t interact with others run a higher risk of developing heart problems. It is a matter of values, and living productive lives, not only for one’s own benefit but that of the community in which people live.
Yes, science and new discoveries have their place, but still the best medicine is prevention, which comes from compassion for others, community service and helping the world become a better place for all. This may sound somewhat ‘woolly’, especially as I am a scientist and my primary job is to gather and investigate the facts. However, my life-long experience and my own community service abundantly demonstrate that we are all connected through a goodness which lies beyond our ordinary mechanistic doings. Benevolent efforts, forgiveness, goodwill and helping others are initiatives which are not less, and maybe more, important than any ‘flat’ medical intervention. There is a reason that these kind of spiritual efforts are called ‘wholehearted’. If we collect resentments and refuse to forgive or help others we suffer emotional disorders. We literally ‘collect’ toxic feelings like anger, rage or vindictiveness in our souls and hearts and poison the very things which keep our ‘heartbeat’ intact.
Ancient cultures and traditions knew way more than us about keeping the balances of our biological and emotional systems and having a spiritual foundation for life. Traditional medicine often disregards many of the power paradoxes we experience. For example, under high stress (let’s say their child is in immediate danger) a mother can all of a sudden exert extraordinary power in order to protect her child. Our biological organisms can pull off extraordinary feats under certain stress conditions. In turn, however, constant and detrimental stress over the long term negatively impact on the heart and reduce life expectancy.

Jordan Evans: How exactly does this happen, and what can we do to prevent it?

Dr. Shultz: There is a lot written and talked about diet, fitness etc. We don’t want to be banal and trivial, or repeat what is almost common knowledge, but we would like to gain some deeper insight into their importance from all possible sources, including the wisdom of ancient spiritual values, meditative/contemplative traditions, cutting-edge scientific discoveries in microbiology, high-tech equipment, biomedical advances, including those in preventive and evidence-based medicine, and so on.

As you can see, staying healthy and maintaining heart integrity is a multifaceted endeavor, which involves both disease prevention and treatment. In short – keeping a healthy heart is finding a balance in the hierarchy of needs describes by Abraham Maslow, an immigrant psychologist working in the US, who came up with this concept back in the 1950s. Maslow put self-actualization at the top of this hierarchy and also demonstrated how love and belongingness are just as essential as physical needs.

As I said before, the focus of my research and practice is: stress will kill you. Negative emotions, fueled by all types of fears, are being kept in our body and literally destroying us. Therefore, releasing these fears through various spiritual engagements must accompany all other traditionally performed treatments. I have witnessed over and over again how a combination of spirituality and science performs miracles in people’s lives. I hold myself a wholehearted advocate of concurrent psychospiritual and holistic support to ensure the highest possible prevention, treatment and rehabilitation outcomes for any of the large family of cardiovascular diseases.

The best way to stay healthy is to fulfill what was described by Maslow as “the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming” … then, and only then, can we make the most of our potential and achieve knowledge, peace, health and self-fulfillment.

<a href="http://www.collents.eu/ceblog/index.php/profile-jordanevans/" title="Go to http://www.collents.eu/ceblog/index.php/profile-jordanevans/” class=”externlink”> Jordan Evans is a German/Political Science Student, Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky who spent the Summer of 2010 in Georgia conducting research into tourism and the business climate for Collaborative Enterprises and also spent some time as an intern with Human Rights Centre.

The good oligarch

He made his fortune in Russia and then returned to live in his home village. He is rarely seen but his generosity is boundless. Who is the secret Georgian billionaire?

This article by Wendell Steavenson provides a good background to the man at the centre of attention in Georgia right now, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.

While we cautiously welcome any signs of hope for change in Georgia we can’t help wondering how Mr Ivanishvili himself feels at this moment – having seemingly made extended efforts over many years to keep himself out of the limelight, only to plunge himself right in the middle of it within the space of a few short days.

We’d like to send our ace reported to find out (really… we would!).

The Economist – Tbilisi’s Count of Monte Cristo

This article in the Economist, as one poster has already commented, does indeed sound like it’s been churned out of Mikhail Saakashvili’s well-oiled propaganda machine.

Perhaps the author would like to comment on the number of people who are jockeying for position at Mr Ivanishvili’s table – prominent people – even the likes of Kakha Kaladze have gone public with their thoughts on the matter. There is a sense of optimism in Georgia about this and, judging by the number of people who are so readily smashing their chains and running away from Saakashvili’s chain gang, it seems that Mr Ivanishvili has a much better chance of succeeding than any of the previous contenders – Badri Patarkatsishvili included.

But he needs to be wary – look what happened to Badri. I’d guess he’s a little worried about taking on Vano Merabishvili more than Misha. In a perfect world I think Ivanishvili would rather Vano just “retired”, but he’s the one with the real power in the country – a very dangerous opponent.

I think the author should also take note of the deafening silence coming from the Americans, and from Misha himself, who must be chewing his way through ties at a rate of knots right now. My guess is, judging by the large splash this is being given on Civil.ge, and also quite weighty comments coming from Reuters now, following their exclusive interview with the man), is that the US would much rather have someone like Ivanishvili in charge than Saakashvili.

I think most people in Georgia cautiously welcome this effort to wrestle Georgia from Saakashvili’s iron grip. Those who were there know of the media censorship and propaganda which went on in Georgia during the war, and censorship has reared its ugly head once again with the banning of Ivanishvili’s son’s song “Georgian Dream” from the three main (state-controlled) broadcasters, and no wonder:

Billionaire enters the Georgian political arena

In a lengthy written statement released today billionaire philanthropist Bidzina Ivanishvili explained reasons behind his decision to go into politics, outlined key points of his agenda, saying that wants “to win absolute majority” in the 2012 parliamentary elections.

President Saakashvili’s total monopoly on power and constitutional amendments, which clearly reveal Saakashvili’s intention to maintain power and stay in leadership beyond any constitutional term, prompted my decision to establish a political party and to run in the 2012 parliamentary elections,” Ivanishvili said in the statement.

Ivanishvili has picked Irakli Tripolski as his spokesman.

Tripolski, who has become the first person to be publicly named as member of tycoon’s planned political team, was a director of a now closed television station owned by Ivanishvili, who plans to release a detailed statement on his political plans on October.

Channel 9, which was launched in 1999, was unexpectedly closed down in April, 2004 without providing reasons; at that time the closure of the TV station triggered speculation that the move was a result of the authorities’ efforts to consolidate grip over broadcast media in the country, which allegedly prompted Ivanishvili to shut down his TV station.

In early 2009 there was an attempt by the Channel 9 to resume broadcasting and Tripolski said at the time that if resumed the channel would have aired only entertainment programming; the Georgian National Communications Commission, however, revoked the station’s broadcasting licence on the grounds that it was not on air for years.

Tripolski, who has produced and directed several documentary films, became a chairman of the Georgian Public Broadcaster’s board of trustees in February, 2008 after an agreement between the authorities and opposition parties; he, however, quit the post three months later citing the public broadcaster’s “biased reporting” in favour of the authorities.

The announcement of Ivanishvili to go into politics came as a surprise for many politicians and commentators.

The billionaire is well-known in Georgia for his generous charitable activity, but is still virtually unknown to the public.

The first time Ivanishvili, who describes himself as an “apolitical” person, gave a glimpse into his opinion about the Georgian political landscape came in May, 2011 when he showed his critical stance towards the authorities in a written statement released by Cartu Group, an organization running his charitable activities and Cartu Bank.

Sources:

Georgian Billionaire on Politics

Billionaire Outlines Political Goals

Billionaire, Gearing Up for Politics, Picks Up Spokesman

Driver juggles laptop, cup and quiz

Yahoo! - A motorist in the UK was caught driving while using a laptop, writing down the answers to a quiz on the radio and drinking coffee all at the same time, police said.

The behaviour was observed during a crackdown on distracted drivers by Hampshire police, with other offences including a man eating a pear with a knife while driving and motorists using mobile phones.

The force hired an unmarked HGV cab for the initiative in order to get a good viewpoint from which they could observe and video offenders.

As well as the Scania lorry cab, police used two marked cars and a marked motorcycle for the crackdown, called Operation Tramline.

Sergeant Paul Diamond said: “This should send a very loud message out to motorists. If you are caught using your mobile phone whilst driving you will face a £60 fine and three points on your licence.

“Should you crash whilst driving distracted or on your phone, causing death by careless driving is punishable by 14 years in prison and we will seek to robustly prosecute anyone committing these offences.

They should come to Georgia where they will feel less-oppressed as Georgian motorists appear to be allowed to do whatever they like behind the wheel!

New start-up digs deep to win auction for Georgian Mining Licence

“Caucasian Mining Group” has won the auction for the 30-year mining licence which allows them to mine for gold, barite, copper, and “polymetallic” ore deposits in Bolnisi, Marneuli, Dmanisi, Tsalka and Tetritskaro municipalities. The starting price was GEL 30 million and the only competitor was “Anglo-Georgian Mining Company”.

“Caucasian Mining Group” was registered in Georgia very recently, on August 30, 2011, and is a subsidiary of a Cyprus-registered company called Pamtilon Holdings Limited which, itself, was only registered on June 6, 2011.

This new start-up’s winning bid was GEL 93.5 million which, according to Civil.ge, has to be paid within two months. No other information about this company is available on the Republic of Cyprus Department of Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver website.

No information whatsoever appears to be readily-available about “Anglo-Georgian Mining Company”.

The auction was held on Monday at the office of the “Agency of Natural Resources”.

Source: Georgian Ministry of Energy & Natural Resources Website