Word: tbilisi
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...ceasefire in Georgia was barely hours old before gunfire was replaced by another phenomenon that is becoming familiar in this part of the world. Tens of thousands of young and old, children and lovers, lawyers and factory workers, gathered in the city center of Tbilisi Tuesday night to call for change. In the past, demonstrations of this kind - in Belgrade, Kiev, and here in Georgia - have been aimed at ousting the local regime. In this case, the target was the bear next door, Russia, for having invaded their tiny country. It was not just an outpouring of nationalist sentiment (though...
...asked a senior Western official about the likelihood that the tense Russia-Georgia standoff over South Ossetia could escalate. The source acknowledged that the presence of "hotheads" on both sides - a clear reference to Putin and Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili, who, it's true, has not played Tbilisi's hand well. Still, the official said he thought the West was doing a reasonable job trying to keep both sides calm, and would continue...
Russia may have called an end to its military operations in Georgia, but it has already had its way with its uppity little neighbor. The country is traumatized. The people of the capital, Tbilisi, are unlikely to forget the last 24 hours anytime soon. Late last night, even President Mikhail Saakashvili's office expected an attack on the city by morning. Rumors swirled that tanks were on the edge of town and that the capital would be shelled. Saakashvili appeared on the verge of tears in a national address, and later, in the middle of the night...
...still amazed. "We don't know what to do. If I go back, I don't have a house. I don't have cows. Nothing." As we talk, another open truck piled high with the belongings of refugees, carpets, clothes and a TV trundled by on the road to Tbilisi. Even if the war is over for others, these refugees' struggle may only be beginning. They won't be returning to territory now controlled by Russian troops...
...Tbilisi, Georgians, who experienced near civil war between factions in the early 1990s, "want to remain united," says the banker Amaglobeli. "They all put the blame on Russia. A lot of people are not supporting the government, but they are united in one idea: that we have to fight for our freedom and independence...