Georgia's first female president sworn in

Yahoo – AFP, Vano SHLAMOV, December 16, 2018

Georgia's new and first female President Salome Zurabishvili was sworn in on
 Sunday (AFP Photo/IRAKLI GEDENIDZE)

Telavi (Georgia) (AFP) - Georgia on Sunday swore in its first female president, Salome Zurabishvili as opposition parties continue to denounce her election as fraudulent and demand snap parliamentary polls.

The inauguration paved the way for a new constitution to come into force, transforming the country into a parliamentary republic with a largely ceremonial president.

The event was held in the mediaeval town of Telavi in Georgia's eastern winemaking region of Kakheti.

French-born Zurabishvili, 66, took the oath of office in the courtyard of an 18th-century manor that belonged to Georgia's penultimate king Heraclius II.

"The goal of my presidency is to make Georgia's democratic development and its path towards Europe irreversible," she said in an inaugural speech.

"I will facilitate this process with the support of our strategic partner, the United States of America, and our European friends," she said.

Opposition parties have refused to recognise Zurabishvili's election last month and tried to hold a protest rally outside the royal residence.

But the plan was thwarted by police, who on Sunday morning blocked a kilometres-long opposition motorcade on a road leading from the capital Tbilisi to Telavi.

Pro-opposition Rustavi-2 TV channel reported that clashes briefly erupted between police officers and protesters as they tried to break through police ranks.

"Georgian Dream has taken away our constitution, our state institutions, our freedom of expression," defeated candidate Grigol Vashadze told journalists after a failed attempt to stage a protest in Telavi.

Police block a street during Georgia's new President Salome Zurabishvili's
inauguration ceremony in the eastern city of Telavi (AFP Photo/Vano Shlamov)

Election irregularities

Vashadze was the candidate of an 11-party opposition alliance led by exiled former president Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement.

Zurabishvili was backed in the election by the ruling Georgian Dream party of Georgia's ex-premier and billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Ivanishvili, Georgia's richest man, stepped down as prime minister in 2013 after just a year in office but is still widely believed to be Georgia's de facto ruler. His critics accuse him of "state capture" as his loyalists hold key cabinet posts.

Former French diplomat Zurabishvili has said her election was a step forward for women and a move closer to Europe.

But opposition parties have refused to accept the result, pointing to instances of alleged vote-buying, multiple voting, voter intimidation, and ballot-stuffing in the November 28 election.

On December 2, thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets in Tbilisi against the election result, demanding snap parliamentary polls.

Georgia's leading rights groups denounced the electoral irregularities, which the US State Department said were "not consistent with the country's commitment to fully fair and transparent elections."

Observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that while the election was "competitive" and candidates campaigned freely, it was concerned over "the misuse of state resources" by the ruling party.

In what critics derided as "vote-buying" ahead of the election, Ivanishvili promised the government would drastically increase social spending and pledged to spend his own money to write off the bank loans of more than 600,000 people.

Georgia's new President Salome Zurabishvili said she would continue to promote 

the country's pro-US, pro-EU policies (AFP Photo/IRAKLI GEDENIDZE)

Daughter of refugees

Zurabishvili was born in France to a Georgian family who fled the Bolshevik regime to Paris in 1921.

She studied international relations at the prestigious Paris Institute of Political Sciences before a 30-year career as a French diplomat, with postings to the United Nations, Washington and Chad.

Her career in French diplomacy culminated in a posting to Tbilisi, where then-president Saakashvili appointed her as foreign minister.

But Zurabishvili quickly made enemies in the ranks of the parliamentary majority, with MPs and a number of senior diplomats publicly accusing her of arrogance.

She was sacked in 2005 after a year on the job, though thousands took to the streets of the capital to protest her dismissal.

She then joined the opposition as a member of parliament and became one of Saakashvili's fiercest critics.

In her book "A Woman for Two Countries", published in France after her firing, she wrote: "Now, I have to engage in a political battle, which has never attracted me, which I never practised, which is being imposed on me."

Zurabishvili will be Georgia's last directly elected president as the country transitions to a parliamentary form of governance following a controversial constitutional reform.

The Caucasus country's next president will be elected in 2024 by a 300-member electoral college.

Adopted in September 2017, the constitutional change was protested by all opposition parties which denounced it as favouring the ruling party.

Pope's Mass snubbed in Orthodox Georgia

Pope Francis has celebrated Mass in a sparsely attended Tbilisi stadium in predominately Orthodox Georgia. The Pope was deserted by the leadership of the Georgian Orthodox Church, in a surprising snub to the Vatican.

Deutsche Welle, 1 Oct 2016

Barely 3,000 people braved brilliant sunshine Saturday on a beautiful autumn day to attend a Mass held in the former Soviet republic's 27,000-capacity sports arena in a snub that highlights ongoing divisions between the Catholic and Georgian Orthodox churches.

The snub was unexpected. Pope Francis had received a surprisingly warm welcome from the Orthodox leader upon his arrival Friday for the three-day visit that also includes a stop in Muslim-majority Azerbaijan.

Patriarch Ilia welcomed Francis as my "dear brother" and toasted him saying: "May the Lord bless the Catholic Church of Rome."

However, the Orthodox leader and other senior figures were nowhere to be seen on Saturday. Meanwhile, some hardline Orthodox protesters gathered in the city to criticize the Papal visit. Signs read: "The Vatican is a spiritual aggressor," and "Death of papism."

The Orthodox patriarchate, though, had criticized the protests, indicating something of an institutional shift that compared to the frosty reception by then-Pope John Paul II's 1999 visit, which the Orthodox Church explicitly encouraged Georgians to boycott.

The Georgian Orthodox church is ultraconservative and nationalistic and tied to the Moscow Patriarchate, which has strained, though improving, relations with the Holy See.

Hardline Orthodox Christian protesters
didn't exactly roll out a red carpet for
 Pope Francis in Tbilisi, Georgia.
September 30, 2016.

Georgia has a miniscule 2.5-percent Catholic minority in the overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian country. It was to those Catholics that Pope Francis seemed to tailor his address.

"Little and beloved flock of Georgia, who are so committed to works of charity and education, receive the encouragement of the Good Shepherd, trust in the One who takes you on his shoulders and consoles you," Francis said in a homily.

But some Orthodox Christians did turn up to hear the Pope's message. "I'm Orthodox, this is a Catholic Mass, but we are all Christians," Nata Koridze, a 40-year-old woman, told the DPA news agency.

Francis' Saturday itinerary includes a meeting with Georgia's Catholic clergy, a visit a hospital for the poor run by Catholic missionaries and a cathedral in Mtsketa, 22 kilometers (14 miles) northwest of the capital city and considered the spiritual center of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

His three-day visit will next move on to Muslim-majority Azerbaijan. That country is locked in a bitter and bloody conflict with Armenia over the breakaway province of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Francis visited in June.

jar/rc (AP, dpa)

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Pope Francis and other religious leaders at the Vatican. Photograph: AP

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“.   New Tolerance

Look for a softening of finger pointing and an awakening of new tolerance. There will remain many systems for different cultures, as traditions and history are important to sustaining the integrity of culture. So there are many in the Middle East who would follow the prophet and they will continue, but with an increase of awareness. It will be the increase of awareness of what the prophet really wanted all along - unity and tolerance. The angel in the cave instructed him to "unify the tribes and give them the God of Israel." You're going to start seeing a softening of intolerance and the beginning of a new way of being.

Eventually, this will create an acknowledgement that says, "You may not believe the way we believe, but we honor you and your God. We honor our prophet and we will love you according to his teachings. We don't have to agree in order to love." How would you like that? The earth is not going to turn into one belief system. It never will, for Humans don't do that. There must be variety, and there must be the beauty of cultural differences. But the systems will slowly update themselves with increased awareness of the truth of a new kind of balance. So that's the first thing. Watch for these changes, dear ones. ...."

"The Humanization of God"–  Jul 16, 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… The Humanization of God

I'm going to title this channelling so that my partner will not. I don't always title them, for labeling items is something done for 3D reasons. In your reality, you want a label for the message you're about to hear. So I'll give it to you, just as a dichotomous exercise. Its title will be, "The Humanization of God."

My partner sits in a chair. It has taken him 22 years to bring my conceptual thoughts to you. Even though these conceptual thoughts from the other side of the veil are also within each Human, within your Higher-Self, they are not easy to access. This is because they exist in a multidimensional state and not one that a Human relates to. Therefore, it has taken 22 years for my partner to learn to linearize the concepts into a string of words, presented in a language that you will understand.

Not all of you here and reading this will understand what I'm teaching today. I am aware of that, for Spirit does not speak to Human Beings with words in this fashion. Instead, the language of Spirit speaks in that what you call intuitive flashes, outside of linear time, and all at once. That is how you get your best information. Yet many of you feel you have God all figured out.

Examples of the Linear

As I sit here, perhaps an individual who may be here for the very first time asks the question, "Who are you, Kryon, and where are you from?" Now those two questions may absolutely be logical and normal to every single Human Being who hears and reads this message, but I will tell you that the questions themselves betray biased linear thinking. For Kryon is not a who and is from nowhere. How can that be? The only way I can explain this is to give you metaphors. I know that metaphors don't hold up under full examination, since no analogy is perfect. So consider it only a close example to get you to begin the understanding process.

Let's say you feel incredible love in your life for another Human, or for an animal, for instance, or for your child. Let us say that it is overwhelming and perhaps even has you weep with joy, so strong it is! Now, when you feel this way, do you look around and say, "Who are you, really? Who is there?" Would you address that love emotion as though it had a body and ask, "Where are you from?" You would not! Instead, you'd simply accept it and say, "I know it's coming from me, but it really doesn't feel part of me."

There's something about love. It comes from everywhere. It permeates the soul of the Human Being. You feel it so strongly. You are not aware of it being sent to you, or pulled to you; it just is. But it's unusual and profound, almost like it's part of something else, something bigger. Perhaps it's the God part of you, expanding? You'd be right about that. Love is not singular. You don't segment it into parts, or put a body on it and give it a name either. It's a concept that affects every cell of your body and all your body functions. It sometimes even takes over! This is the beauty of love.

I'm not a who. You hear me within this voice, coming from a singular body of a Human Being. So you understandably want to know who's talking. But the only thing singular here is the Human who I come through. I am best identified as that which is the collection of the confluence of the creative energy source in the Universe. I am uncountable and am not isolated and singular. You can't notate me (define me with attributes in 3D). Twenty-two years ago, I identified myself and said, "I am, that I am." And then I said, "And so are you!" I told you that at the center of the atom is where I am. I told you that the space between the electron haze and the nucleus is filled with love. I told you that the benevolent, creative source energy that is part of you is part of me. It is all things together. You'll find it in a tree, in the dirt and in the grass. You'll find it in the air and you can't ask who because we are not singular. You can't count the flavor in the soup, or identify "where is the salt?" It just "is" the soup.

God does not have the mind of a Human Being with the consciousness of a Human Being. God is not a collection of many separate consciousness parts either, and this is difficult for you to understand. God can talk to every single Human - all 6, 7 billion of them - at the same time. God can carry on a loving, healing conversation, being personal all at once with every single one of you. Think of that! That's not a who. That's the creator of the Universe. That's a divine, intelligent, loving energy. Don't humanize this source! It's not like you.

The Linear Thinker

Humans want to make everything separate and individual. You want to separate, identify, and quantify. This is Human nature, for every living thing you come into contact with is separate and singular - a Human, an animal, a bug, a tree. They all have this in common. Each one is a closed life system and is ONE thing. So placing God in this box makes you feel better. Because only then can you grasp how you're supposed to act and react to Spirit. Linearizing God helps you to feel what you're supposed to do and when you're supposed to do it. All of the survival attributes that you've learned all your life go into this, and we call it the Human linear bias. God is better understood if it's a man with a beard and a low voice - the authority figure. But Spirit is not like that.

God is not an authority figure, either! Yet many of you will not accept that. "You mean the creator of the Universe is not in charge?" I didn't say that. I said that God is not an authority figure. God is family. If there is any authority energy, then you share it with God, for God is in you. Therefore, YOU are the authority figure.

There is no protocol, either! Did you hear me? There is no generic protocol! Thousands of years of religion have created thousands of "rules" of how to "get God's favor." What if none of that is so? Let me ask you something: If you wanted to talk to your own body's cellular structure, what's the protocol? If it's you with you, how do you start? Should you dress up a bit, kneel, prepare yourself? Do you invent something, some framework of motions, so it will work better? Or do you simply go inside with your mind, talk to that which you own, and work the puzzle out? Do you see what I mean? Humans never consider God in them. Instead, they wish to separate God. They wish to elevate God and put Spirit on the altar where they can face it and perhaps even create a statue so they can visualize who to talk to. That is humanizing God.  …”

EU leaders meet with ex-Soviet partners in Riga

The European Union has gathered in Latvia to meet with eastern countries and bolster ties. Russia has warned that the meeting "mustn't hurt" its interests.

Deutsche Welle, 21 May 2015

European Union leaders met in the Latvian capital of Riga on Thursday for a summit of the bloc's Eastern Partnership program, eighteen months after the last meeting set off a fateful chain of events that led to the current turmoil in Ukraine.

The program seeks to bolster ties between the EU and six former Soviet nations: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Just before the two-day summit, the European Union promised grants amounting to 200 million euros ($223 million) to support small and medium sized businesses in some of these countries, including Ukraine, but as German Chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured above with Latvian President Andris Berzins) stressed ahead of the meeting, these talks "are not an instrument" of EU enlargement.

"We should therefore not raise any false expectations that we cannot fulfill later," Merkel told German lawmakers in Berlin before boarding her plane to Riga.

Russia takes center stage

Relations with Russia are likely to be a hot topic at the meeting, as the last summit in November of 2013 saw former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych withdraw his country's bid to sign an association agreement with the EU, opting instead for closer ties with Russia. The resulting protests in Kyiv ultimately caused Yanukovych's ouster which, along with Russia's annexation of Crimea, brought about the ongoing conflict in the east of Ukraine which has claimed over 6,000 lives.

The two-day summit will be
closely watched by the Kremlin

Speaking in Riga, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said his country was "ready to demonstrate a real fight against corruption and improve the investment climate."

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov drew a line in the sand, saying that while it wasn't a "tragedy" that the six nations were seeking closer ties with Europe, the developments of the meeting "musn't hurt the interests of the Russian Federation."

But Donald Tusk, former prime minister of Poland and current European Council president, dismissed Russia's "bullying tactics" after arriving in Riga.

"The Eastern Partnership is not a beauty contest between Russia and the European Union. But let me be frank: beauty does count," Tusk said at the start of the summit. "If Russia was a bit softer, more charming, more attractive, perhaps it wouldn't have to compensate its shortcomings by destructive, aggressive and bullying tactics against its neighbours."

Tsipras to meet with Hollande and Merkel

Although Russia and its President Vladmir Putin will be important themes of discussion at the summit, the Greek debt crisis will also be on the agenda. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is set to meet with Merkel and French President Francois Hollande after dinner on Thursday, as an end of June deadline looms over a debt deal for Athens.

However, Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble downplayed hopes for reaching an agreement soon, telling news agency Reuters on Thursday that the Greek government's optimism may be unfounded and that one should not rule out a possible default.

es/msh (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Eduard Shevardnadze: A Soviet-Georgian life of global importance

As Gorbachev’s foreign minister, Eduard Shevardnadze helped end the Cold War and helped bring about German reunification. He died at age 86.

 Deutsche Welle, 7 July 2014

The appointment of Georgian party leader Edward Shevardnadze as Soviet foreign minister in July 1985 surprised many at the time. The 57-year-old did not have any experience with regard to foreign policy. He had quickly made his career within the party and as a civil servant in Georgia. As Georgia's Communist Party leader, he had strong ties with the KGB and had made a name for himself in the fight against corruption and favoritism in the Soviet republic. He was a perfect match for Mikhail Gorbachev, who had only been in office as general secretary of the Soviet Union's Communist Party for a few months himself.

Not only did both Gorbachev and Shevardnadze hail from the Caucasus, where they had been acquainted with one another since the early 1960s, but both also shared the vision of giving an ailing Soviet Union dominated by corruption and mismanagement a new economic perspective.

In the mid-1980s, the stagnating Soviet economy was threatening the legitimacy of the communist regime and the ideology of victorious socialism. In order to improve living standards amongst the grumbling population, both men aimed to divert resources from arms and heavy industries into consumption. But they needed a policy of detente in the conflict between East and West, in particular with the US.

New Thinking

Over the following five years, Shevardnadze wrote world history as Gorbachev's foreign minister through what would later become known as his policy of "new thinking." His and Gorbachev's names will forever be associated with the disarmament treaty with the US, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and the non-intervention in the peaceful revolutions in East-Central Europe.

Germans will forever see Eduard Shevardnadze - just like Mikhail Gorbachev - as one of the fathers of German reunification. In his position as the Soviet Union's representative in the two plus four negotiations, he helped realize Germany's reunification against the resistance of many old-style Soviet communists and army generals in Moscow. In the end, Shevardnadze became one of the leading figures in ending the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union, which brought him much international acclaim.

Shevardnadze and Gorbachev (center)

But in December 1990, Shevardnadze announced his resignation from the position of Soviet foreign minister. He warned of a looming dictatorship in what was a protest against those forces resisting further reforms in the Soviet Union and fighting against the breakup of the Communist regime.

He continued working within in Gorbachev's political sphere, but the coup against Gorbachev in August 1991 and the breakup of the Soviet Union in December ended Shevardnadze's role in Moscow.

Returning home

Leaving Moscow did not mean Eduard Shevardnadze's political career was over, however. He returned to Georgia, which was in a bad shape politically and economically, to take over power in the Caucasian republic that had just become independent from the Soviet Union.

Elections in the fall of 1992 brought him a landslide victory. Over the following ten years - he was President of Georgia from 1995 onwards - he managed to stabilize the country, despite the secessions of the republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

But his political course in Georgia was not to be crowned with a happy ending. In his last years as the country's president, Shevardnadze ultimately put the brakes on Georgia's breakthrough as a democracy and market economy. He seemed to be more actively engaged in securing his own stay in power through favoritism and corruption than in developing Georgia as a rule-of-law state. When there was voter fraud in the parliamentary elections in November 2003, mass rallies led Georgia toward the so-called Rose Revolution. It was an inglorious end to his term in office, but at least power was handed over peacefully, without any bloodshed.

When Shevardnadze stepped down on November 23rd, 2003, his political era ended in Georgia, and he left politics for good.

Shevardnadze then started writing his memoirs. "Democracy was my biggest goal," he told DW in an interview on the occasion of the launch of his autobiography.

Eduard Shevardnadze achieved only a part of that goal. His crucial achievements as Soviet foreign minister are now overshadowed by the abrupt end of his political career as an ageing president who clung to power for too long.

Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova sign deals strengthening political, trade ties to EU

The leaders of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova have signed deals with the EU designed to strengthen political and trade ties with the bloc. Russia's reaction was almost instant, and it wasn't a message of congratulation.

Deutsche Welle, 27 June 2014

Ukrainian President Petro Poroschenko (pictured above, center) signed the association agreement with the European Union on the second day of a summit of the bloc's 28 leaders in Brussels on Thursday.

"I think this is one of the most historic days for my country after getting independence," Poroshenko told reporters as he arrived for the signing ceremony. "It's an absolutely new perspective for my country."

It was a decision by Kremlin-friendly former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych late last year to balk at signing the agreements, that in part sparked the country's ongoing crisis.

The two other eastern European leaders who signed deals on behalf of their respective countries expressed similar sentiments to those of the new Ukrainian president.

"Moldova has made a choice and that choice is definitive: It is that of European integration," Moldova's Prime Minister Iurie Leanca said.

"Becoming a full member of the unified European family is Georgia's unwavering will," Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said, adding that it marked "the beginning of a great journey."

The president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy described the signings as making Friday "a great day for Europe... the European Union stands by your side today more than ever before."

He also said that the accords contained "nothing that might harm Russia in any way" and that they offered all involved the opportunity "to chart together a safer future."

Russian rage

However, Russia, which has seen its influence in decline in much of eastern Europe through the expansion of the EU and the Western military alliance NATO in recent years, quickly expressed its disapproval of the agreements signed on Friday.

"The consequences of the signing by Ukraine and Moldova will certainly be serious," Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin was quoted as saying by Russia's Interfax news agency. He added however that "the signing of such a serious document is, of course, a sovereign right of any state."

With the signings completed, the 28 European heads of state and government were expected to get down to the business of trying to reach a consensus on who should be the next head of the European Commission.

By Friday morning it was looking increasingly like Jean-Claude Juncker would win their approval, with just British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orban on the record as opposing the candidacy of the former premier of Luxembourg.

pfd/ipj (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)

Georgia, Moldova Endorse EU Association Agreements

Radio Free Europe, RFE/RL's Georgian Service, November 28, 2013

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili has said he would like his country to
get on with the "long and meticulous work" ahead of signing an Association
Agreement with the EU by next September.

VILNIUS -- Georgia and Moldova have initialed their respective Association Agreements with the European Union ahead of the start of an EU Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius.

The process leaves one page to be ceremonially initialed during the second day of summit proceedings in the Lithuanian capital before more work that allows actual signings months or years down the road.

None of the other four so-called Eastern Partnership countries -- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Ukraine -- is expected to initial deals in Vilnius.

Georgian First Deputy Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani, who is leading his country's delegation in Vilnius, told RFE/RL that the initialing of the some 1,000-page document means it is already an irrevocable agreement.

MORE on the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius

Newly installed Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said earlier this month that his country hoped to sign its EU Association Agreement by September 2014.

But he noted that "long and meticulous work" must be done first.

A signed Association Agreement would offer Georgia the possibility of closer economic integration provided Tbilisi adjusts its legal, judicial, and economic systems to fit certain EU norms.

Ukraine last week turned its attention toward Russia and upended negotiations with the European Union, putting a damper on the widely awaited summit and extending a Moscow-backed chill between some post-Soviet states and Brussels. Kyiv's move sparked street protests by pro-European Ukrainians who view with distrust President Viktor Yanukovych's moves to ally their country more closely with Russia.

Armenia recently sent a similar message to the European Union, putting its priority on a Russian-led customs union.

INFOGRAPHIC: A Cold Front From The East

Belarus, already a member of the same customs union, is still far away from any intention of significantly deepening its ties to the European Union.

Azerbaijan continues to negotiate for its own Association Agreement with the bloc.

 Students take part in a rally to support EU integration in Kyiv 

on November 26.

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Tens Of Thousands Attend 'Pro-Europe' Rally In Moldovan Capital

Radio Free Europe, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service, November 03, 2013

Reliable estimates put the number of participants in the November 3 "pro-Europe"
rally in Chisinau at more than 60,000.

Tens of thousands of Moldovans have gathered in downtown Chisinau for a rally organized by the country's ruling coalition to highlight public support for further European integration.

The demonstration's aims were to signal internal support but also send a message to Brussels in the weeks ahead of a major EU summit in Vilnius on November 28-29.

Eastern Partnership states Moldova and Georgia are hoping to initial Association Agreements with the European Union at the Lithuanian summit, while Ukraine is expected to sign its Association Agreement.

But Russia, still a powerful trade partner and political player in the region, has intensified its efforts to derail those plans for Moldova, as well as for Ukraine and Georgia.

ALSO READ: EU Says Moldova 'Good Example' For Eastern Partnership States

Armenia, another Eastern Partnership country reportedly under pressure from Moscow, recently announced its intention to join a Russian-led Customs Union.

Moldovan Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman and Deputy Prime Minister for
Reintegration Eugen Carpov at the rally in Chisinau on November 3.

The November 3 rally in Chisinau ended with the adoption of a symbolic "Pro Europe" statement describing "the European option" as "the only correct one for the future of our country's major national interests and the only chance to ensure rights, freedom, and prosperity for all [Moldova's] citizens."

President Nicolae Timofti told the crowd that Moldovans will "have to work harder to reach European standards."

"But we can do this effort, for us and the future generations," Timofti said. "Moldova belongs to Europe."

RELATED: Draft EU Summit Text Acknowledges 'Aspirations' Of Eastern Neighbors

Organizers claimed 100,000 people attended the rally, while other sources put the figure at between 60,000 and 70,000.

"Being here sends a clear message that Moldova belongs to Europe," Democratic Party leader and former acting President Marian Lupu told the crowd. "We want a European destiny."

Officials have suggested that Brussels and Chisinau hope to finalize the EU Association Agreement by next spring.

The Eastern Partnership also includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, and Ukraine.

Swedish technology likely used in Georgia surveillance

Google – AFP, Anna-Karin Lampou (AFP), 30 October 2013

A man talks on his mobile phone as he enjoys the sunset from a roof bar in

Tbilisi, March 29, 2005 (AFP/File, Mladen Antonov)

Stockholm — The Georgian government may be using technology from Swedish telecom giant Ericsson to illegally monitor its own citizens, the company said Wednesday.

The technology, originally designed to track criminals, is standard and Ericsson sold it along with networking equipment to Georgian telecom provider Geocell in 2005, the Swedish company told AFP.

"The technology is aimed at lawful monitoring to fight crime, but the (Georgian) authorities allegedly use it for purposes it's not intended for," said Ericsson spokesman Fredrik Hallstan.

He was speaking after Swedish public radio reported that the Georgian government may be using Ericsson technology to eavesdrop on its own population.

The story, first reported Wednesday, has an additional Nordic dimension as Geocell is majority-owned by Swedish-Finnish telecom operator TeliaSonera.

Authorities in Georgia have the technical capacity to monitor 21,000 mobile phones, of which one-third are connected to Geocell, according to the radio, which did not give a source for these figures.

The claim that Ericsson's technology is being used for unauthorised eavesdropping comes in the wake of allegations that the Georgian government is deeply involved in monitoring its own citizens.

Surveillance without court authorisation is a "systematic practice" in Georgia, according to a report published last month by Thomas Hammarberg, the EU special adviser on constitutional and legal reform and human rights in Georgia.

"The possibility of some access to inter-personal communications could be essential in the fight against organised crime and terrorism," Hammarberg wrote in the report.

"However, the risk for misuse means that there is a need of legal regulations and democratic and judicial control over all activities in this domain."

Salomon Beckele, spokesman for TeliaSonera, told AFP that operators in Georgia are required to give the government access to their networks.

"It monitors the networks, and we don't have any idea what they are listening to and what information they gather -- neither we or any other operators would know," he said.

Pasi Koistinen, CEO at Geocell, told Swedish radio that the surveillance was legal under Georgian law.

"I find it unacceptable and would like to see the law changed," he told the radio from Georgia. "But as long as the surveillance is done according to the laws, we must follow the laws in this country."

But Elisabeth Loefgren, a spokeswoman at Amnesty International Sweden, told AFP that companies have a responsibility not to violate human rights, and the argument that their actions are legal is a poor excuse.

"If the tapping is against the law as we see it -- if it is illegal surveillance -- it is clear that Ericsson and Geocell, TeliaSonera's subsidiary, have to take responsibility," she said.

EU foreign ministers want Ukraine on board

Deutsche Welle, 22 October 2013

The EU wants former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko freed before it strikes a deal with Ukraine. A partnership and customs union with the 28-member bloc hangs in the balance.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague, right, speaks with German Foreign 

Minister Guido Westerwelle, center, and Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel

Garcia-Margallo, left (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

The European Union foreign ministers have been discussing their plans for the forthcoming summit on the EU's Eastern Partnership at a meeting in Luxembourg. They intend to sign deals at the end of November to form closer ties with Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine. But Ukraine is a difficult case. Almost all the EU's foreign ministers are demanding the release of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is imprisoned on charges of abuse of power, before the association agreement is signed.

According to the German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, time is slowly running out: "Last-minute moves are not reasonable, they are extremely risky."

The Ukrainian government has introduced a bill that would allow Tymoshenko to leave the country briefly for medical treatment. But Ukrainian Prime Minster Mykola Azarov demanded in an interview with German business magazine "Wirtschaftswoche" that the EU accept the legality of the Tymoshenko verdict, something the EU foreign ministers refuse to do. They see her imprisonment as politically motivated.

Ukraine has to make the move

Yulia Tymoshenko is still a powerful

opposition figure

"This is a case of great symbolic importance. We expect that the case of Ms. Tymoshenko will be resolved soon. Germany is ready to receive Ms. Tymoshenko so that she can receive medical treatment," Westerwelle said. He made the same offer a few days ago on a trip to Ukraine.

But that is not the only crucial point, British Foreign Minster William Hague said at the meeting. "We want to see them fulfill the conditions set in December last year by the Foreign Affairs Council, so that an association agreement can be signed with Ukraine. But there are still conditions to be met, particularly in judicial reform, selective justice and electoral reform," he said.

It is now up to Ukraine to act, Austria's Foreign Minister Martin Spindelegger said: "They have to decide if they want to belong to Europe or to Russia."

In contrast, Lithuania is an enthusiastic backer of the Eastern Partnership, due to the country's geographical location on the Eastern edge of the EU. Foreign Minister Antanas Linas Linkevicius said, "Ukraine has already moved on very important segments with regard to the electoral system and with regard to the prosecutors' office, and the Commission has provided a quite positive assessment, so this is good news."

Russia wants influence over Ukraine

Negotiations have been underway on the association agreement since 2007 and its completion would be an important step towards a future accession of Ukraine to the European Union. The EU hopes such an agreement would bind Ukraine to the West and ensure the transit of natural gas through Ukrainian territory. But Russia does not want to lose its hold on Ukraine and has offered the government in Kyiv membership in a Russian-led customs union.

On the fringes of the ministers' meeting, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt announced another attempt to bring the Ukrainian government to a compromise ahead of the Eastern Partnership summit. "It's obvious that Ukraine has not yet fulfilled the conditions that are there. Immediately after this meeting, Radek Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, and myself will go to Chisinau, Kyiv and Tblisi to review those things in the next few days in anticipation of the further moves that might be happening."

Syria conference aims for a political solution

A conference on Syria in Geneva next
month is to pave the way for an end to
the civil war.

Syria continued to be a major issue for the ministers. Bildt welcomed the renewed attempt to hold a peace conference for Syria in Geneva in November. Westerwelle again called for dialog to end the conflict between the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and the armed opposition: "We urge all parties to participate in this conference and to do their utmost to come to a political solution." In Geneva, the government and rebels are set to meet in direct talks for the first time.

On Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague plans to make preparations for the second conference on Syria together with John Kerry, his US counterpart, and European and Arab colleagues. Hague announced that he also wanted to talk about the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria and the political future of the country. But, he said, it was important the suffering of the civilian population was not forgotten: "Of course we must also discuss the desperate humanitarian situation in Syria, which is getting worse. It is very important that humanitarian access is provided to areas where people are literally starving, as well as short on medical supplies."

EU wants to speak with Turkey on accession again

Turkish membership is not popular in most
 of Europe, and fewer than half of Turks
now want it.

There was good news for Turkey from the EU foreign ministers' meeting. On November 5, accession negotiations are set to resume after a three-year hiatus. The chapter on regional policy will be opened. In June, the foreign ministers had postponed the continuation of the negotiations because of the violence of the Turkish police against demonstrators in Istanbul. Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans declared in Luxembourg that his country was now ready for further accession talks, after parliament in The Hague had approved.

The EU and Turkey have been negotiating since 2005. None of the chapters has been formally completed so far, because Turkey refuses to recognize EU member Cyprus. Turkish troops occupy northern Cyprus in contravention of international law.

The German government also wants further negotiations, even though the current coalition government - which remains in office until a new government is formed in Germany - came out against full membership in the EU for Turkey. Westerwelle said it was a good decision for Europe and Turkey, and called for more chapters in the area of fundamental rights to be quickly opened: "It is even more urgent to accelerate the negotiations, especially in the chapters on rights and the rule of law, and here, too, to pursue this more vigorously."

Austrian Foreign Minister Martin Spindelegger also supports the German position: "This creates clarity that a Turkey working towards Europe will enact reforms in this area so that human rights are respected." But the EU foreign ministers were not able to agree on expanding the negotiations to include this new area. The formal decision on Turkey will be issued on Tuesday.