By Kakha Jibladze (11/29/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

According to Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, Gazprom’s demands are the equivalent of economic blackmail against the country as it doggedly follows its pro-Western orientation. During a speech on November 23, the president sought to encourage Georgians to stay united in their fight against Russia’s influence despite the threat of more hardships this winter.

“Those who want to make Georgia kneel down will soon understand that they will fail and we will get stronger.

By Sultanbek Aksakolov (11/29/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

This was the third of a series of bridges built by the AKDN across the Panj River to connect the rural, mountainous, isolated and impoverished communities living along the borders of Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Following the Great Game in the Pamirs and the 1895 agreement between the Czarist Russian Empire on the one hand and Afghanistan and the British Empire on the other hand, the area was politically divided along this river. The division of the Pamiris resulted in the loss centuries’ of the economic, social and cultural connections between the communities living on both sides of the river.

By Fariz Ismailzade (11/15/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)

On October 31, the President visited Ganja and Dashkesan, where he opened newly built facilities, adequate to world standards, including an international airport and a swimming pool. Similarly, a number of medium-size businesses were opened by the president. These included a chocolate producing factory, built by French technology; an iron-producing factory, left without work for 16 years and recently privatized by the British company “Detal”; and a newly built highway, worth US$12 million.