Georgian Prime Minister Resigns

it says here, on health grounds, after 3 months in the job. He seems to have a kidney condition which requires intensive treatment. Poor soul.

He was Saakashvili's fourth prime minister; the previous one had lasted for about 9 months.

Saakashvili is under pressure from the opposition to resign, over the war last August. Finally it is becoming clear to the Georgian population what happened there. But will he resign? Will he heck!

Air Baltic laying off staff

Here it says that Air Baltic is now laying off 112 staff in Vilnius. That's scary, very very scary.

You would have thought that with one major competitor out of the way (flyLAL), they would have had more business.  In fact I've recently noticed that they cut the direct flight to Berlin; now I have to fly via Riga. To fly to Cologne next month I need to do a three-hop trip, changing airline in the middle, whereas before they had nice links via the SAS system.

If they were to go out of business, too, then we we would be almost cut off here, and totally dependent on western airlines.

Corrections - oops

1) Seems the Tbilisi premier did not go to hospital because he was punched on the nose by the President, but because he has a kidney condition. Went to Germany, then back to Tbilisi into hospital, now he's going back to Germany to check up on the Tbilisi treatment. And he's only 35!  I bet he wishes he were still ambassador to Turkey where the healthcare is probably better.

2) Mr Kubilius, Lithuanian premier, did not resign over the riots and his handling of the economic crisis. Bizarre. I am sure I read a resignation speech in the paper - was it a spoof?  Someone said he'll never resign, he's 'always right'.

3) It seems that Lithuanian airways, or flyLAL, was not sold after all to the Swiss investors; the sale fell through at the last moment, and then the creditors pulled the plug. Hence the closure.

Riots and change in Vilnius

Not only were there riots in Vilnius yesterday - not so that I would have noticed, living only 10 minutes from the parliament, but now also Lithuanian airlines, flyLAL has been grounded at the request of its creditors.

The New York Times reports that tear gas and rubber bullets were used - this seems to be right enough; here's
a video, from the Lietuvos Rytas website, of the events and it shows a chap with a rubber bullet in his
leg, as well as the teargas being used. The rioters were younger ones;
as I had mentioned before, most of the demonstrators were older people
- but there is also a flash of an old lady being manhandled. There was certainly no sign of people running around the streets in panic or anything else near where I live, so it must have been very confined.  A psychotherapist I know has her offices right next to the parliament; that must have made for some happy sessions.

It seems to have led to the resignation of the prime minister, Mr Kubilius, if I understand this article right.  He tells us, now, after rushing through a stringent economic emergency package hated by everyone, that he is not an economic expert (he was in office for about 3 months)....I never had that high an opinion of him, though I know people who do. Perhaps some other country governments, using tear gas and rubber bullets against their own people, could take a leaf out of his book.

Meantime, the courts have grounded Lithuanian airlines, or flyLAL. It has huge debts; there had already been danger of it not being allowed to fly to Riga over non-payment of debts (debt has since been paid); in September or so it offered itself to the state to be nationalised, at the cost of 1 Litas (about 30 Eurocents), at the beginning of the year there was a danger that it might not be allowed to use Vilnius airport over non-payment of other debts, but this was sorted, somehow, then it was sold to a Swiss company, and now, in the middle of January, it's been grounded at the request of its creditors.

At the same time I am not totally convinced about airbaltic's performance; they did sort our my flight very nicely last November, when heavy snow caused problems, but I see they no longer have a direct flight from Vilnius to Berlin, and I'm not sure how well is the partnership with SAS, who are supposed to own it (I thought). Travelling to Cologne next month will mean quite a complicated three-hop journey for me.

Not so dead Gedimino Prospektas

Today, about minutes after I whinged about it, the street was not dead. Major demonstration about the economic crisis. Seemed a bit disorganised, though - but I think I have now worked out what happened.

When I went to buy an opera ticket, people were streaming down towards the parliament. I thought it was over. But some people were also walking towards the (former) municipality square where the rally was to be held. I suspect that the first lot was heading to join the demo at the start (the parliament). But still, there was not exactly a surging front row, and there seemed to be no banner or no-one getting people to do choral shouting.

Most of the demonstrators were over 40, it seemed. Not many young men or women in business suits. I suppose it's the slightly older group that is likely to be hit most by the recession.

The Blue Sky

This is a book by Galsang Tschinag, an author from Mongolia who writes in German....as one does....My mother had mentioned him.

It's a wonderful book, an autobiographical account of his early childhood in the steppes of Mongolia, living in a yurta with his parents, his brother and sister, his adopted grandmother (who appears to have wandered into the family one day and stayed with them), and his much-loved dog, Arsylang. 

It seems to be a very spiritual life, with gods represented by rivers and mountains, eg mother-river Ak-Hem. The realities of life are beautifully described; the day-to-day life, the different work of the different seasons, the challenges they meet - one winter is very cold indeed, much livestock is lost and they sing to the sheep mothers songs about the beauty of their lambs so they will keep providing milk for them. As time goes on the older children go to boarding school in the city, but young Galsan, even though he is not yet at school, is already in charge of his own flock of sheep. Then other things happen, too.

Looking at it psychoanalytically (as one does when one is studying it), the little boy certainly starts out life with a delightful sense of omnipotence, but reality creeps in, rather harshly, at the end.

It really is a wonderful, wonderful book - I cannot wait to read more of his (this is part of an autobiographical trilogy; I suspect the subsequent books will not be quite as idyllic).  

Fucking Berlin!

No, he hastens to add, 'tis not his opinion of Berlin!

It's the title of a book by Sonia Rossi, an Italian who paid for her studies by selling her body, going from video sex to the real thing. This seems to be quite common; I remember reading a story about Edinburgh students doing much the same thing. It seems that in this case there was never a pimp, and that in Berlin there seem to be brothels (regulated?) where the girls work (apart from those who loiter on street corners, I suppose, if they do that in Berlin).

Basically what happened was that shortly after arrival in Berlin she met a Polish guy (who himself at times had worked as a rent boy). He moved in the next day, a few years later they married..... but most of the time he did very little. At first because he was not legal and could/should not work, but it seems to have been rather a way of life for him. Everyone told her to get rid of him, but somehow she could not bring herself to do that.

And no, he did force her to do this; in fact, for a long time he did not know about it, and was none to pleased to find out. And yet he did not object to her money supporting his lifestyle.

It's very interesting, hearing about the foibles of Berlin men, and those from other cities (she occasionally 'guests' in brothels in other parts of Germany where they are paid more). She describes the arrival of one guy on a bicycle, in shorts and sandals, with a babyseat on the bike, and asks him if he is from Prenzlauer Berg. Whereupon he blushes to the roots of his hair. (Nice guys from PB Don't Do This Sort of Thing.)

Luckily it all comes to a happy end. It was a bit difficult reading a book with the loud title 'Fucking Berlin' in my nun-run holiday spa in Austria....It's a great read, though perhaps not for the faint-hearted or sensitive folk of this world.

Hmmm

Seems the Georgian prime minister has returned from Germany following his medical examination, presumably healthy. Says the President of Georgia:

'Your healthy condition caused huge nervousness in our neighbor Russia. I think now Russia will get calm and embark on dealing more global issues of its inner politics’.

Yes, right. I am sure the Georgian prime minister's brief absence caused endless sleepless nights in Russia.

Dead Gedimino Prospektas

This article comments on the deadness of Gedimino prospektas in Vilnius. And quite right they are, too. This part of Vilnius is the deadest main street of any capital city I have ever been to. Quiet in the evenings, quiet on weekends - I don't know what is the matter with Vilnius in this respect. No-one strolls of an evening, whether it's summer or winter. I don't think it has anything to do with the presence or absence of young people, as the article suggests....it may be that people find shopping centres, of which there are now many in Vilnius, more congenial and traffic free, particularly with children (this does not apply to the Gedimino 9 shopping centre which has nothing for children). There are few restaurants, only coffee shops, and nothing much happens. It's a shame....

A worthy President!

Article quoted verbatim from here:

'Georgian Prime Minister Grigol Mgaloblishvili has returned to Georgia
from Germany, where he underwent a medical examination, the Georgian
governmental press service reported on Sunday.

It has been
reported that Mgaloblishvili is to resign over an incident a few days
before the New Year with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Saakashvili threw a TV remote control at Mgaloblishvili and punched him
in the face after a dispute.

These reports were not officially
refuted, which is likely to have nurtured various rumors in the media,
local observers claim.'

The Prime Minister was of course only recently appointed, and had previously been the ambassador to Turkey.

Questions to be asked:

1) What so enraged the President?

2) Is the President under stress?

3) Is the Georgian health system (even the private one) unable to cope with a punch on the nose?

Remember how Georgia wants to join Nato and the EU....