Jennifer Segal and I just returned from a trip to Georgia where we were treated by the Ministry of Tourism to an extended bus tour of the monasteries and churches in Western Georgia as well as many classical Georgian banquets, a vineyard visit, a trip to a troglodyte monestary, and an the invite-only 'First Annual backgammon tournament for Journalists" sponsored by Europebet. I finished third in the Journalist tournament and we had many fascinating experiences like bathing in the famous radioactive baths favoured by Stalin at Tskaltubo. You can read about our adventures and how they shed light on the perennial debate about the Caucasus region: Is it Europe or the Middle East or Asia in our HuffPost article.
For over a hundred years, Caucasians have been plagued by a unique kind of identity politics....We read an article in the local English language newspaper in Tbilisi which cited that 93% of Georgians consider themselves very religious - the second highest proportion of any nation on earth... As a result of its Europe-directed foreign policy, Georgia is caught in a web of external threats.To read the full article click here.