Under the Gun in Georgia

'Georgia,
Russia: Tbilisi Reports'
by Veronica Khokhlova

See Global Voices special coverage page on the South
Ossetia crisis.

Below are a few posts from bloggers who are currently in Tbilisi, Georgia.

LJ user merienn wrote this (RUS) from Tbilisi on
Aug. 11 and 12:

Aug. 11, 2008 - 10:46 AM:

At 6 AM today, Marina
called, scared to death: there was an explosion, and their windows were nearly
smashed over at Gldani. Turned out the radars [...] that serve the
international airport were being bombed.

Yesterday, Khelvachauri, a suburb of Batumi,
was bombed, Sandro is staying there with grandfather and grandmother and
doesn't want to go to the village to my parents.

Khatuna and I were walking with kids [at the park], it's almost empty, and we
took them to McDonalds' - banned in peaceful times, it seems so attractive in
the time of war.

Yesterday, crowds of people were marching all over the city with flags,
chanting "Sakartvelo" - Mishka didn't understand what was going on.

- There's war now, and we are being bombed, and these people are demanding to
stop all this.
- And who's doing the bombing? - Mishka the Ant asked, [his eyes huge with
surprise].

I didn't tell him who was bombing us.

- Let them throw these bombs on themselves, I hate them, - Mishka got angry in
a funny way.

Just a week ago we were chatting about some sweet trifles - where they do
French manicure better, and where I put that swimming suit, and how to train
your husband to hang his wet towel on the rope.

Now we are breaking our heads, [trying to figure out] how to get to Batumi with
kids and avoid being shot at, where a safer place to take shelter is, who said
what the UN Security Council, whether it is true that people got killed in
Poti.

There's no panic. [...] There was shock on the first day, and then it started
feeling as if we've been living like this for a hundred years. Crowds of people
are donating blood. We knew that this is how it would be. [...]

We are not leaving anywhere. [Because] all they do is wait for us all to leave.

***

Aug. 11, 2008 - 11:54 AM:

[...] There is no Russophobia whatsoever - I've already said more than once
that we have very clear boundaries separating the notions of the Russian state
and the relations between the peoples. [...]

I'll pack a backpack, just in case - warm clothes, water, documents. Refugees
have taught us so - the rest doesn't matter.

Though it is unclear where we'll be forced to go - there's not a single place
in my country that's inaccessible for the brave fighter jets.

They bombed Gori once more. Bombed Kakhetia.

Sites hosted in Georgia
have been hacked, there's no opportunity to access Russian sites, so LJ remains
my only platform to keep in touch with the world. [...]

***

Aug. 11, 2008 - 07:00 PM:

[...] We've decided not to go yet because it is dangerous. At home, the walls
[of a house] help. [...]

Value all that you have. Value the fact that you are alive and healthy, that
you can watch a movie instead of the news, that you can buy a ticket and go
anyplace you like. [...]

***

Aug. 12, 2008 - 01:38 AM:

I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow morning. Maybe tanks will enter
the city. Mishka is asleep, my little boy, he kept turning around, asking: They
aren't bombing Batumi,
are they? He misses his brother. I shouldn't have told him yesterday. Though
this way he is prepared, at least.

All hope for Sarkozy, maybe he'll convince them - but this is unlikely, too, no
one is going to back out at this point - they'll be eating us hot.

Tbilisi-based LJ user dzvirpaso wrote this (RUS) on Aug. 11:

I've just called Ukraine's
consul in Georgia,
I know him well. He said that he and his family (wife and two children) are
here. He said that those who wanted to leave were leaving, but assured me that
the situation was stable. I asked whether he thinks if it would be better to
leave or not, and he replied that there's no need to at this point, that
everything is stable and will soon be over. If something happens, he will
definitely call me.

LJ user oleg_panfilov reports (RUS) on the situation in Tbilisi this night:

I've just had a ride around the city - everything is quiet and calm. People are
discussing the situation on the phones and that's why it's been impossible to
reach friends in the past two or three hours. Some people manage to get through
[to my number], ask me what to do, and then the phone goes silent again.

There is panic, of course, but for now only in conversations and discussions.
Though there are those who've decided to leave already - mainly to Eastern
Georgia, towards Azerbaijan.

I can't get rid of the thought that these people do not want to greet the
occupational troops with flowers and wine - even though there's such an effort
being done for them, all the demands for Saakashvili to escape... [...]

In another post, oleg_panfilov adds (RUS):

[...] Tomorrow there'll be plenty of politics.

Forgot to write that Eka Zguladze, deputy minister of foreign affairs of Georgia, has confirmed to me that tomorrow, in
the middle of the day, presidents of Latvia,
Lithuania, Estonia, Poland
and Ukraine are expected to
arrive in Tbilisi.

You may view the latest post at

https://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/08/12/georgia-russia-tbilisi-reports/