Devi Dumbadze
Devi Dumbadze studied philosophy, sociology, and media in Tbilisi and Bochum. He has published articles on social philosophy, political economy, media theory, and aesthetics. His ongoing research deals with transformation of Georgian society, and investigates conditions of the possibility of antisemitism. You may follow him on Twitter @ilikilar.
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Articles by Devi Dumbadze
Georgia Risks De Facto Recognition of Breakaway Regions by Opening Direct Talks
Georgian citizen Archil Tatunashvili died in custody in breakaway Tskhinvali Region (South Ossetia), on February 23 (Civil Georgia, February 23). Subsequently, the de-facto authorities have refused to hand over the...
Georgia Detains Five Alleged Supporters of the Chatayev Terrorist Group
On January 27, residents of Georgia’s northeastern village of Duisi, in Pankisi gorge, largely populated by Kists, a 40,000-strong ethnic minority related to the Chechen people, demanded that Georgia’s State...
Released From Three-Day Detention, Saakashvili Resumes Calls to Remove Ukrainian President Poroshenko
Following a turbulent chain of events, Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia and the opposition activist leader of the Ukrainian Rukh Novykh Syl, last week found himself under house...
Special Operation in Tbilisi Highlights Risk of Terrorism by Returning Fighters in Georgia
Georgia recently carried out one of the most significant counter-terrorism operations of the past several years. On the evening of November 21, several special forces units armed with heavy weaponry...
Invasive Stink Bug Pest Devastates Georgia’s Agriculture
The South Caucasus republic of Georgia is struggling with a plague of brown marmorated stink bugs (BMSB), or Halyomorpha halys. Originally native to East Asia, the BMSB is an agricultural...
Georgia’s Ruling Party ‘Supermajority’ Passes Unilateral Constitutional Reform
The parliament of Georgia approved amendments to the Constitution, on September 26, in its final, third reading. One hundred and seventeen lawmakers—mostly from Georgian Dream–Democratic Georgia (GDDG)—voted in favor and...
A Dexterous Move Propels Saakashvili Back Into Ukraine’s Political Limelight
What occurred on September 10, at the Medyka-Shehyni crossing on the Polish-Ukrainian border, is remarkable. Earlier that day, Mikheil Saakashvili, the third president of Georgia and a Ukrainian opposition politician,...
March of Georgians: A Breakthrough for the Country’s Identitarian Groups
On July 14, several hundred agitated participants of the “March of Georgians”—a loose alliance of identitarian political groups, some of them self-proclaimed “fascists” (Facebook.com, July 14)—rallied along Aghmashenebeli Avenue, in...
Georgian-Chinese FTA: A Trade Agreement With Caveats
When the Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Zhong Shan and Georgia’s Minister of Economy Giorgi Gakharia signed a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Shanghai,...
Extradition Cases of Azerbaijani and Turkish Citizens Raise Ire in Georgia
“I do not know whom we should ask: [magicians David] Copperfield or [Zurab] Vadachkoria? How can it happen that a person disappears from point A and appears at point B?”...
Embrace of Iranian Overtures Undermines Georgia’s Counter-Terrorism and NATO Integration Efforts
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili recently visited the United States. And the main tangible result of his delegation’s meetings with US President Donald J. Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and...
Georgia’s State Security Service Annual Report Downplays Country’s Terrorist Threat
On April 12, the State Security Service of Georgia (SSG) released its annual report for 2016, assessing the country’s security threats (Ssg.gov.ge, April 23). Unsurprisingly, the report states that “the...
Iran Builds Soft Power in Georgia to Foster Tighter Nexus With Russia
“I appreciate that Georgia has [a governmental] agency that directly works on religious affairs and with religions. I am very pleased that thanks to the efforts of Georgian government representatives,...
Russia Progressively Pulls Georgia Tighter Into Its Orbit by Way of New Transit Routes
After Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili met with his Armenian counterpart, Karen Karapetyan, in Tbilisi, on February 23–24, the initial reports in the Georgian media were vague. Kvirikashvili provided general...
Georgia to Skip NATO Summit as Russia Flexes Military Muscle in South Caucasus
On January 26, Viktor Dolidze, Georgia’s state minister on European and Euro-Atlantic integration, declared that his country will “probably” not participate in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) upcoming May...
Terrorist Threat in Georgia Shifts From Exporting Militants to Homegrown and Returning Fighters
Mukhammad Khangoshvili, a 24-year-old inhabitant of the village of Duisi, in Pankisi Gorge, Georgia, was killed, on November 7, 2016, in a bombing of the Islamic State’s (IS) positions in...
Russia Consolidates Military Control in Abkhazia as Georgia’s Ruling Party Further Eases Its Resistance
On November 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into a law an agreement between the Russian Federation and Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia on establishing a new joint military force...
Georgia’s Weak Opposition Looks on As Ruling Party Flirts with China
While a split within the United National Movement (UNM) party threatens to sink the Georgian pro-Western opposition into political chaos, the ruling Georgian Dream–Democratic Georgia (GDDG), which enjoys a constitutional...
Constitutional Majority Looms as Georgia’s Opposition UNM Party in Danger of Emaciation
Sunday’s runoffs in 50 precincts—which became necessary because none of the candidates in these single-mandate districts garnered an absolute majority of the vote in the first round of the October...
Opposition UNM Party Hurting From Saakashvili’s Distance
Late on the evening of October 4, a car was blown up next to Tbilisi’s Freedom Square. Givi Targamadze, a high-ranking member of Georgia’s United National Movement (UNM) party, along...
Georgian Parties Fail to Link Domestic Prosperity With a Consistent Foreign Policy
Days after Russia completed its annual military exercise Kavkaz 2016, centered on the southern part of the country and the Black Sea area and reportedly involving 120,000 service personnel (see...
Oscillating Between Israel and Iran, Will Georgia Tilt Toward the Islamic Republic?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming trip to Azerbaijan (APA, July 6) highlights his country’s growing interest in the nearby South Caucasus region. And indeed, the Republic of Georgia often...