Imprisoned...
But calm, down. I am not in a jail. I am imprisoned in my own country.
To travel to Europe for instance, is almost impossible. Only exception is the UK but all others built barriers to Georgians, no matter who they are, for what reason they try to travel European countries, to receive visas is as complicated as to travel to the moon.
Let's take a case with Belgium - very nice country. If you're Georgian forget about invitations, officials or inofficials, forget about your friends or business partners. Or you have a choice to fly to Moscow and try to apply there. Of course you don't or can't do this. Or if you have any business, conference, speech, etc, in Austria - go to Kiev - this is truly much better - you don't need visa for Ukraine and there are even direct flights to Kiev, almost everyday. So you can go and apply there. Yes, it can be costly but who cares about additional 600 dollars - you can see Vienna then , good deal, indeed.
But, please don't think these are evil capitalistic nations who imposed so strong barriers for Georgians. Romania, which is of the same age of democracy, market, civilization, culture. But now they are the members of the union... oh, sorry the European (not Soviet) Union . What is the first benefit from the EU? Strong bureaucracy, of course. Now they are returnng to the old and not forgotten things, or to say shortly: you want to go to Romania? You need two letters of invitation: inofficial, from the organizers of the conference, or business partners, and what is most important, official - from the Imigration service of Romania. If you are lucky you can have both of them in 2 weeks, then you need to apply in the consulate in Georgia (God Bless, not in Moscow!), and after a week you can know if you are really lucky.
Yes, it is true many Georgians try to escape from Georgia - it is understandable, good jobs are not appearing and you need to survive. But this is not good argument for the embassies and coonsulates. Frenchs are afraid for instance that if they give you more days to stay in France than it is written in your invitation the French economy will collapse at once; this is also true, if you are given 5 days, you of course want to escape 6th day. The same is with Germans. You fly to the US and have 13 hours in the airport of Munich - why not to sleep on the sofas (ironic) there; but don't bother us with your silly requests of transit visas, say thanks, you can stay in the airport...
But what is our fault, please tell us...
At least there must be a just trial...
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Georgia vs Russia - the game continues
After Soviet Union collapse (we suppose it was even before) our relationship with Russia collapsed simultaneusly:
1991 Russians stopped supplying Georgia with gasoline for several years
1991 Russians provoked civil war in Georgia supplying both sides with military equipment and guns
1992 Russians provoked Georgian government to start military expedition in Abkhazia and then helped with money, troops, military equipment and guns separatists in Georgia,
1993 Russians betrayed Georgians and occupied its territory
1993 Russians stopped supplying Georgia with natural gas for 4 years
1993 Russians stopped supplying Georgia with electricity for 3 years
1994 Russians provoked and organized another civil war in Georgia and forced Georgian government to join stupid CIS
1995-2007 Russians organized hundreds of provocations, acts of sabotage, attacks and bombing of the Georgian territory, abandoned Georgian wines, fruits, flowers, mineral water from Russian market, exploded pipelines and high-voltage wires for electricity, blocked Georgian airplanes, buses, postal services, tracks, deported Georgians from Russia only for their ethnic belonging (litso kavkazskoi natsionalnosti - person of Caucasian ethnicity),..
Much harm, nothing to say but we still believe, they love us, especially Russian media and press, and Mr. Jirinovski - our best friend.
But we were told everything is not true but false, or nightmare, or even fiction.
And what a stupid nation is Georgian. It is very easy to obey and have less problems, no separatism, no provokations, no political press, no bombing and no more visa requirement for Russia and in exchange subsidised natural gas and electricity. And Russians would like Georgian Tsinandali and Borjomi again.
But they need freedom, what a stupid people! They even think that if Georgians dissapear at all anybody will cry for them, ha, ha - everybody are Russians' friends, or consumers. They, Russians will show everybody GDE RAKI ZIMUUT!
1991 Russians stopped supplying Georgia with gasoline for several years
1991 Russians provoked civil war in Georgia supplying both sides with military equipment and guns
1992 Russians provoked Georgian government to start military expedition in Abkhazia and then helped with money, troops, military equipment and guns separatists in Georgia,
1993 Russians betrayed Georgians and occupied its territory
1993 Russians stopped supplying Georgia with natural gas for 4 years
1993 Russians stopped supplying Georgia with electricity for 3 years
1994 Russians provoked and organized another civil war in Georgia and forced Georgian government to join stupid CIS
1995-2007 Russians organized hundreds of provocations, acts of sabotage, attacks and bombing of the Georgian territory, abandoned Georgian wines, fruits, flowers, mineral water from Russian market, exploded pipelines and high-voltage wires for electricity, blocked Georgian airplanes, buses, postal services, tracks, deported Georgians from Russia only for their ethnic belonging (litso kavkazskoi natsionalnosti - person of Caucasian ethnicity),..
Much harm, nothing to say but we still believe, they love us, especially Russian media and press, and Mr. Jirinovski - our best friend.
But we were told everything is not true but false, or nightmare, or even fiction.
And what a stupid nation is Georgian. It is very easy to obey and have less problems, no separatism, no provokations, no political press, no bombing and no more visa requirement for Russia and in exchange subsidised natural gas and electricity. And Russians would like Georgian Tsinandali and Borjomi again.
But they need freedom, what a stupid people! They even think that if Georgians dissapear at all anybody will cry for them, ha, ha - everybody are Russians' friends, or consumers. They, Russians will show everybody GDE RAKI ZIMUUT!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Georgia is 35th Economically Free Country
Paradox, surprise, unbelievable... Many Georgians will say. The index doesn't correspond to realities, especially with the speed of economic development.
But let's look closely. If we blame the information - it must be not as wrong as it seems. We can also blame the methodology - but it is the same for other nations too. So if a component is wrongly understood, it must be wrong for other nations too.
We hope in future the authors can find more sources for information to touch the reality, feelings of real people.
But now Georgia is 35th in the world and 20th in Europe, economically free nation.
Let's have a look: http://www.heritage.org/index/country.cfm?id=Georgia and
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Why Georgians Tend to Become Criminals in the EU and Work Hard in the US?
Georgia lost up to 30% of its population after the collapse of the Soviet Empire (even the WB tends to hide this fact). Many of them left to find jobs somewhere. Most of the population of ex-SU had some kind of marketable skills and knowledge and the collapse of the economy left them without any job for long time and hence, without any chances for developing those skills and knowledge. They needed to have some money to live on and they decided to leave. Some of the Georgian citizens left for their own original countries, for instance Jews and Greeks (even Georgians always tolarated all ethnic or religious groups or persons). BTW, so called Georgian Jews still live their lives with Georgian traditions, speak and sing Georgian…
Now, about main question of this post. After some observations on the lives of Georgians in many countries, comparing with stile of life of Georgians in the SU, there appeared a question:
Why Georgians tend to become criminals in the EU and work hard in the US?
This question is not directed to Georgians. Yes, there are many criminals of Georgian originality in Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Spain, Greece, and especially in Austria (which decided to make huge obstacles to Georgians who want to travel there after that).
What can be real reason for this situation in Austria – I have been thinking for months. Then, after comparing this to the realities of the Georgians in the US, I think I found an appropriate answer.
It started after Soviet collapse. Many people, skillful workers and engineers and scientists among them, remained without jobs and chances for developing their skills and knowledge, or staying competitive on the market. Now, many of them decided to find jobs abroad: some of them went to Russia, some to Germany, Austria, Greece, Spain, Italy, France, UK, US, etc. Most of them work very hard – earning enough money live on it and send remittances to their relatives. Some of Georgians live criminal life – they are “successful” in this too.
But question is to understand why Georgians in the US work very hard (10-12 hours a day) and become criminals in Austria (or other EU country). To answer this question let’s look inside of these countries:
- Austria (and most countries of the EU) – state redistributes the wealth, it provides generous assistance to people, sometimes financing their life for long periods maybe not for wealthy life but enough for life. When Georgians (Aeries, Russians, etc) come there first information they get is that the government is “helpful” and “generous”. It can keep you from dying. It can provide you with food, room, clothes, some furniture, etc. So why to work, why try to find job – it’s so hard! Instead you only need to apply for assistance and allowance. After long period of doing nothing, walking around, you can mention how careless can be some workers at supermarkets and shops, how many things can be taken without problems, how easy is to earn money just to use this carelessness, etc. Then more heavy criminal ideas start to appear and after a while local police will be in a trouble – what to do with Georgians?
- The US – most of Georgian of course tend to settle in NY (mostly in Brooklyn). They find the city very attractive for some reasons: 1) climate is similar to Georgia 2) there are many Russian speakers in Brooklyn (it is still useful for Geogians) 3) diversity of the ethnic groups and individuals is what Georgians always were accepting 4) jobs – they appear every day, so if you want to work you do. 5) even if you are illegal emigrant local police, if don’t commit a crime, never touches you (simply it’s not their duty) 6) if you commit a crime – you’re lost 7) NOBODY offers you any assistance – instead – go and make money.
And Georgians work – very hard. It is a crush of another soviet myth that Georgians are simply lazy people. They are not (simply) lazy – they are rational and when there is a choice of having benefits without work or working hard they chose no work. In the US it is not possible but the EU governments, so generous and gullible, offer them do not work - steal instead and then we will imprison you (Georgians are ALL the same – criminals!).
But we are happy we could somehow answer the main question. It is simple: don’t give Georgians (or any ex-soviets) assistance, give them chances (open to them labor markets) to work!
The epilogue:
A Georgian in NY told me once: you can’t believe but here if you want to have a trouble you don’t need to be imprisoned for a crime, or bitten by local bandits, or even caught by the emigration service. The worst trouble you can have is if you have failed to pay in time for your credit card debts. If you do this more than twice you are really finished - go back to Georgia. We can only hope these people will come back with their greatest experience and make Georgia prosperous.
Now, about main question of this post. After some observations on the lives of Georgians in many countries, comparing with stile of life of Georgians in the SU, there appeared a question:
Why Georgians tend to become criminals in the EU and work hard in the US?
This question is not directed to Georgians. Yes, there are many criminals of Georgian originality in Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Spain, Greece, and especially in Austria (which decided to make huge obstacles to Georgians who want to travel there after that).
What can be real reason for this situation in Austria – I have been thinking for months. Then, after comparing this to the realities of the Georgians in the US, I think I found an appropriate answer.
It started after Soviet collapse. Many people, skillful workers and engineers and scientists among them, remained without jobs and chances for developing their skills and knowledge, or staying competitive on the market. Now, many of them decided to find jobs abroad: some of them went to Russia, some to Germany, Austria, Greece, Spain, Italy, France, UK, US, etc. Most of them work very hard – earning enough money live on it and send remittances to their relatives. Some of Georgians live criminal life – they are “successful” in this too.
But question is to understand why Georgians in the US work very hard (10-12 hours a day) and become criminals in Austria (or other EU country). To answer this question let’s look inside of these countries:
- Austria (and most countries of the EU) – state redistributes the wealth, it provides generous assistance to people, sometimes financing their life for long periods maybe not for wealthy life but enough for life. When Georgians (Aeries, Russians, etc) come there first information they get is that the government is “helpful” and “generous”. It can keep you from dying. It can provide you with food, room, clothes, some furniture, etc. So why to work, why try to find job – it’s so hard! Instead you only need to apply for assistance and allowance. After long period of doing nothing, walking around, you can mention how careless can be some workers at supermarkets and shops, how many things can be taken without problems, how easy is to earn money just to use this carelessness, etc. Then more heavy criminal ideas start to appear and after a while local police will be in a trouble – what to do with Georgians?
- The US – most of Georgian of course tend to settle in NY (mostly in Brooklyn). They find the city very attractive for some reasons: 1) climate is similar to Georgia 2) there are many Russian speakers in Brooklyn (it is still useful for Geogians) 3) diversity of the ethnic groups and individuals is what Georgians always were accepting 4) jobs – they appear every day, so if you want to work you do. 5) even if you are illegal emigrant local police, if don’t commit a crime, never touches you (simply it’s not their duty) 6) if you commit a crime – you’re lost 7) NOBODY offers you any assistance – instead – go and make money.
And Georgians work – very hard. It is a crush of another soviet myth that Georgians are simply lazy people. They are not (simply) lazy – they are rational and when there is a choice of having benefits without work or working hard they chose no work. In the US it is not possible but the EU governments, so generous and gullible, offer them do not work - steal instead and then we will imprison you (Georgians are ALL the same – criminals!).
But we are happy we could somehow answer the main question. It is simple: don’t give Georgians (or any ex-soviets) assistance, give them chances (open to them labor markets) to work!
The epilogue:
A Georgian in NY told me once: you can’t believe but here if you want to have a trouble you don’t need to be imprisoned for a crime, or bitten by local bandits, or even caught by the emigration service. The worst trouble you can have is if you have failed to pay in time for your credit card debts. If you do this more than twice you are really finished - go back to Georgia. We can only hope these people will come back with their greatest experience and make Georgia prosperous.
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