Andreas Ribbefjord » In English

Charity shopping

Andreas — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:12:27 +0000

If shopping may ever be labelled charity, this is a very pleasant form:

Bottles from the Georgian Teliani Valley winery.

Central Asia–Caucasus Institute paper on Georgian Russian conflict

Andreas — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:26:15 +0000

From the excellent Central Asia–Caucasus Institute. And you know it’s not going to have Russian bias.

http://www.silkroadstudies.org/new/docs/silkroadpapers/0808Georgia-PP.pdf

Invest in…

Andreas — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:28:28 +0000

Easily accessible, WTO membership, favourable labour codes, educated population, low taxes, corruption free, possibility to own your own winery. These are some of the sales pitches from your favourite commercials — the “invest in…” commercials. Quite amusing!

Invest in Kazan (special Russian economic zone one)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQoL5QpiCec

Invest in Мурманск (special economic zone two, commercial in Russian)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fWeH7N7sXQ

Invest in Georgia (focuses on economic factors)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynihqPoG0Wk

Invest in Rostov-on-Don (techy, some speech would have been be nice)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7cz4OtYDeA

Invest in Moldova (short, cheap)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qdWyUlkygM

Invest in Albania (focuses on history)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VCJt63M2j8

Georgian–Russian war replayed in Google Earth

Andreas — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:26:21 +0000

As I’ve told you before, I love Google Earth. It has now come to my attention that blogger alias Catholicgauze (who teams with Catholicgauzette) has made Google Earth KMZ files describing the military positions and events of August 9, 11, 12 and 14. I haven’t double checked the accuracy or anything.

The Georgian--Russian war as seen in Google Earth

BBC documentaries

Andreas — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:08:23 +0000

Today’s tip is going to be the BBC World Service MP3 library of documentaries. “After the KGB”, “Benazir Bhutto – The Investigation”, “The Kremlin and the World”, “Return to Kurdistan”, “Uncovering Pakistan” and so on. Do any of these sound interesting? Sure they do. Check them out. What I did was that I loaded by phone with this stuff to listen on the bus.

By the way, I didn’t realise this until now, but I actually traveled the Georgian Military Road this summer.

The Georgian Military Road as seen through a marshrutka window this summer.

Photos from my trip to Georgia

Andreas — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:54:05 +0000

The EU Commission delegation office in Tbilisi.

The founder watching over the city of Tbilisi.

Narikala in the old part of Tbilisi.

What is that? Premises of Dr. No?

When trying to get to the northern Kazbegi region, our marshrutka (a minibus) broke down. First a couple of people came to aid us, but we later had to jump into a new marshrutka. At one instance, an old BMW 3 series convertible pulled over. The driver took a bolt out of the roof fitting and handed it to the marshrutka driver. The BMW driver jammed an ill-fitting screw where the bolt had been in his roof and drove away.

Meadow in Stepantsminda, Kazbegi. In the Caucasus, meadows may be horizontal or vertical.

Telecom, tv, military communications? No idea.

Stepantsminda and Gereti.

The Mtatsminda Zamemba church, as seen on our way up Mt. Kazbeg.

Glacier on Mt. Kazbeg.

The clouded summit of Mt. Kazbeg with a glacier in the foreground.

This is what I had before my eyes after accidentally straying off the path, lost on my own. For about 30 minutes, I had no idea where I was. At one time, I peeked over a ridge only to find a precipice. At that point, I’ll have to admit to feeling a bit uneasy. What bothered me the most was that nightfall was coming. Only minutes later, though, I could make out the path again in the remote distance.

“ЗА РОДИНУ, ЗА СТАЛИНА”, meaning “for the homeland, for Stalin”. Creepy indeed. Earlier the same day a film crew had been shooting scenes for some Russian film in this neighbourhood. I hope the picture of Stalin is only a prop. However, I have seen other public pictures of the dictator in this area.

The snow-capped peak of Mt. Kazbeg.

Back in Tbilisi, this is the new presidential palace under construction.

Sulphur baths in Tbilisi.

Climbing the Caucasus

Andreas — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:41:31 +0000

Now I’m back in Tbilisi after two days spent in Stepantsminda in the north of Georgia. We walked and climbed Mt. Kazbeg. I reached a glacier which was very impressive at a distance but looked more like a huge mass of ice and dirt, which I guess is what it actually is. I’m going to post stunning imagery once back in Sweden. Now it’s back out to the streets and baths of Tbilisi!

First day in Georgia

Andreas — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:53:20 +0000

Yesterday me and my two companions landed in Tblisi in the middle of the night and immediately fell to sleep after arriving at the homestay. Tbilisi has been very exciting indeed, on our first day, which is now turning into evening. We’ve climbed the city hillsides, visited churches and spoken to alot of people. We took some really nice shots, which I will be have to upload once I return to Sweden.

However, we still have almost five days left in Georgia and the focus right this minute is on planning the next few day. We’ve booked a homestay in Stepantsminda, in the north of Georgia close to the border to Russian regions Ingushetia and North Ossetia. We’re planning to join the resistance mov, uhm, watch we beautiful scenary of the Caucasus and stroll around for a day.

Signing out and stepping back out on the busy streets of Tbilisi.

A trip to the Kola peninsula

Andreas — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:00:29 +0000

In February I and 17 other people took a trip to the Kola peninsula. We went by train and bus and the purpose was skiing the slopes of Kirovsk — the “St. Petersburg Alps”.
I didn’t take any photos myself, but here are a few snapshots from the excellent skier Anton’s recordings.