Gela Merabishvili
@gmerabishv.bsky.social
580 followers 1.7K following 200 posts
Political geography postdoc at KU Leuven Research: borders/territory, security and conflicts Current project: EU in the Black Sea https://research.kuleuven.be/portal/en/project/3E241158
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white billionaire's burden
Musk claims that his right wing propaganda house of mirrors is "saving Western Civilization." The MAGA propagandists on the streets of Portland who are getting boosted by his algorithm claim they're "saving Portland" from imaginary Communists. It's all so stupid. bsky.app/profile/karl...
Essential reading on Ivanishvili
by Stephen Jones and Gabriel Chubinidze
www.cacianalyst.org/resources/Iv...
www.cacianalyst.org
Reposted by Gela Merabishvili
Drops today: this week's ARB @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social podcast features host Nicholas Gordon in conversation with Charles R Butcher, co-author of “Before Colonization: Non-Western States and Systems in the Nineteenth Century” @columbiaup.bsky.social asianreviewofbooks.com/podcast-with...
This is happening because the regime has criminalized almost all forms of peaceful protest. You have to either go big or go home. No middle ground anymore.
Georgians a few months ago: stop speaking of a revolution, stay disciplined in demands and methods.

Georgians now: whoever says anything other than a revolution is a traitor!
If that happened, who would be football's version of Steph Curry?
Fabrizio Romano's global influence has reached the White House!
Ursula von der Leyen today:
"Europe’s eastern flank keeps all of Europe safe. From the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. This is why we must invest in supporting it through an Eastern Flank Watch. We must heed the call of our Baltic friends and build a drone wall".

www.politico.eu/article/von-...
Von der Leyen backs ‘drone wall’ to resist Putin
The European Commission president also announces a drone alliance with Ukraine.
www.politico.eu
However, both last night's incident as well as previous ones show that Russian drones can cause damage to the EU/NATO territory even across Ukraine. As one resident in Romania's Danube Delta complained, “We feel like we’re not in NATO”.

neweasterneurope.eu/2023/11/15/r...
Romania’s Plauru hamlet: a collateral victim of the Russian invasion - New Eastern Europe
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several Shahed drones have exploded near Plauru, Romania.
neweasterneurope.eu
E.g., Orban has long held the view that Ukraine should serve as a buffer zone to Hungary.
“The essence of Hungarian tactical thinking is that the area between Russia and Hungary should be of adequate width and depth. Today, this area is called Ukraine”.
2015-2022.miniszterelnok.hu/interview-wi...
Interview with Viktor Orbán in the political weekly “Mandiner” – miniszterelnok.hu
2015-2022.miniszterelnok.hu
This border security initiative stretches along the borders with Russia/Belarus but as far as I understand, Polish 'East Shield' also covers the Ukrainian section of the eastern border. Other EU/NATO members bordering Ukraine (Slovakia, Hungary and Romania) haven't pursued such border measures.
And these border security programs are not just national projects but a coordinated multi-state geopolitical initiative between Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Norway. Last year, they announced the 'drone wall': using drones to deter incursions, including drone incursions.
Poland and other EU/NATO members neighboring Russia and/or Belarus have been busy building defenses along their (mostly) eastern borders. A good overview here: ig.ft.com/russia-easte...

Poland even has a name for its border security program: East Shield. tarczawschod.wp.mil.pl/en/
Is Europe prepared for war?
With US support for transatlantic security faltering, Nato nations are fortifying the eastern frontier with Russia
ig.ft.com
This is a map of last night's drone incursion into Poland, posted by Mykhailo Podolyak. It's probably not super-accurate, but it shows that at least some of the 19 drones that entered Polish airspace passed through Ukraine, while the rest thru Belarus. This is interesting from a border security pov.
Reposted by Gela Merabishvili
Academic authors, here's a peek into the black box of journal publishing from an journal editor if you can bear it:
Reposted by Gela Merabishvili
“When we understand that ‘wartime’ is an argument, rather than an inevitable feature of our world, then we can see that it need not cause us to suspend our principles. Our times do not determine our actions, they do not absolve us from judgment.”
Bookcover “War Time” by Mary Dudziak
A very important story of from Georgia:
“There are only 40,000 people in Chiatura. They might feel ill or live in bad conditions but they are sacrificed so that millions of Europeans can have a cleaner environment.”

www.politico.eu/article/geor...
The controversial Georgian mine fueling Europe’s new industrial arms race
A troubled manganese mine in the former Soviet state is exposing the European Union’s double standards on environmental and worker protections.
www.politico.eu
Slovakia's young winger Leo Sauer reminds me of Kvara.
2. Half of the population (48%) views the EU in neutral terms and only 43% has a positive image. So, basically, a large chunk of those who say they would vote for EU membership think, 'Yeah, whatever, I guess so.' In other words, EU is a generally good but abstract idea.