By Ivlian Haindrava (6/6/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)

In fact there is nothing new in the idea of Cabinet. Before the adoption of the Constitution in August 1995, the Cabinet system did exist in Georgia though poorly operating and characterized by an amorphous structure. The 1995 Georgian Constitution established a presidential republic with the President being both the Head of State and the chief executive.

By Mikha Gegeshidze (5/23/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Sixty troopers of Kojori rapid response battalion of the Ministry of Defense responded by blocking the road to Tbilisi, showing the government’s fear that the detachment would march on the capital. According to eyewitness reports, however, the Mukhrovani base was never surrounded by the armed forces, contrary to later claims by the leader of the CUG fraction, Revaz Adamia. Apparently, the government never even considered the use of military force.

By Svante Cornell and Marcela Londoño (6/6/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: It is well-known that the trade in illegal drugs, with the high risks it entails, is driven by the huge profit margins at all levels of the commerce. A farmer growing coca or opium earns up to five times as much as if he was growing wheat or rice; yet this pales compared to the profits made by the middlemen that refine the drugs and carry them from producers through international borders to customers. Added to this is the addictive qualities of narcotics, especially heroin and cocaine, which makes the demand for these drugs close to inelastic: no matter the price, the user needs to have them, and will go to great lengths to get them.