Chechnya Weekly Jamestown Foundation

To keep up with the newest developments in Chechnya I regulary get the Newsletter Chechnya Weekly by the Jamestown Foundation. News often have profound analyses, viewpoints are balanced and seem to be quite objective. It covers not only Chechnya, but the whole region Caucasus, Middle East and Central Asia. Very useful is also the Eurasia Daily Monitor


Aufklärer-Scouts, Hans Heiner Buhr 2001


The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire

A great book and website

I found this interesting website about a book by Ants Viires, saving information about the smallest nations of the former Sovietunion, including some Nations from the Caucasus Region like the Abazians, the Akhvakhs, the Georgian Jews, the Nogays and others. The best source I found about those small but great nations.

Photographer Gia Chkhatarashvili

A Georgian Artist won the Fiftycrows-Prize 2004

I am very proud on our friend Gia, that he won together with three other Photographers the prize on "Social Change Photography" out of about 2000 professional participants from all over the world. His serie has the title "Ushguli- a Village at a crossroad" and portraits the life in the Svanetian village Ushguli, 2300 m above sealevel. See the complete serie here at Fiftycrows

Gilotsavd Gia !

Horses of the Wind in Rustavi

I really like this sculpture bei the Jikia-Brothers and its powerful contrast with the concrete buildings of the town and its wide and open steppe- landscape surrounding. A perfect art piece at a perfect place, where I spent three great years of my life.
One of the very few great sculptures in Georgia.

A nice little painting of Hotel Adshara

This painting by Murtazi Shvelidze,

I bought yesterday after a nice party in his Studio. We met with two Gallerists from Cologne, Christoph and Tomaslav, and with Thea Tsiklauri from Munich. The "Dshigari" a spicy ragout from heart, liver, lung and kidney was wonderful. The wine, a simple Kakhetian, too.
The painting is from 1993, this was the hard time of unrest in Tbilisi, and is 55x32 cm. I like it very much.



More paintings of Murtazi Shvelidze you can find at Kaukasus-Kaleidoscope

Deutsche Agenten operieren im Kaukasus ?

Zitat Die Welt: "Deutsche Agenten operieren im Kaukasus, um den islamistischen Kämpfern ihre Rückzugsräume in den Nachbarländern Tschetscheniens abzuschneiden."

Ha, Ha, wie machen das denn unsere deutschen Superjungs ? Schütteln sie ihre Drinks in Moskau ? Ich hoffe, sie haben ein wenig Nachisch, Awarisch, Lesgisch, Lakisch, Darginisch, Nogaiisch, Tscherkessisch, Kabardinisch, Balkarisch, Kalmückisch, Karatschaiisch, Abasinisch, Ossetisch und die Sprachen Dagestans gelernt. Grundkenntnisse des Russischen, Armenischen, Türkischen, Georgischen, Aserbaidschanischen und der Kryptoanalyse werden natürlich vorausgesetzt.

Hat mich echt erheitert dieser Schmarrn. Das deutsche Agenten im Kaukasus leider wieder hoffähig werden, hat man als Künstler wohl im Gefühl. Hier mein Bild "Operation" aus dem Jahr 2003: