Radio War Nerd EP #483 — Georgia Elections & Precarious Neutrality, feat. Sopo Japaridze

I also had a cat named Whiskers growing up

I was so sure that meowing was my cat in another room. Was meowing back at him and everything! So dopey, lol.

Great episode, loved the part where NGO wages were mentioned. It seems the same here in the US…pro worker in theory, but mention a union, watch your neighborhood nonprofit turn into a Walmart They may even hire the same union bustin lawyers!

Does anyone else have issues where the rss feed freaks out and gets false new episodes?

Sopo episode, let’s go!

Hi, this episode is not on the RSS feed yet. Or is it just me?

Can't wait to hear this episode as usual! Quick question: I hear what I think is passing familiarity with Michael Hudson's ideas, why don't you have him on? He is alone out of anyone (ever) in insisting marx is not only taboo in us discourse, but so is an accurate reading of classical economists- if you de-emphasize the role of productive vs unproductive debt, and economic rent, you end up with utter propaganda... Although his ideas seem to be catching on recently.... I hope, I really hope. Id love to hear you guys talk! His childhood in a trotskyite home is fascinating too, as is his life in general...

As a Bulgarian it's very funny to me the Georgian liberals singing the EU anthem I dont even know the EU anthem

My dog passed around the same time as your cat mark & i completely sympathize I miss him every day 💔

Leave it to JD to pull the most heartbreaking tale imaginable out of his ass even when discussing getting a new kitten.

God, listening to Mark go ,"Yeah. Yeah. Mm. Mmm" is almost enough to make me withdraw my support.

shout out to the Cat he has a bright future at the Opera or maybe the heavy metal band

Imagine if the US balkanized and an empire across the world was fucking around with like South Dakota or Wisconsin or basically any other state in “the union” to destroy say California or whatever state had the strongest economy that had the most influence on the other balkanized states That’s what the US has done to the former Soviet states after working for decades to destroy their union. I realize this isn’t a 1:1 but it’s similar comparison imo. The fall of the Soviet Union was catastrophic for all of its faults. I don’t know another way to explain this to regular people in America when talking about this.

The US has a weird fetish for trying to make other countries have their own “Vietnam”

More RWN episodes with kitty background effects

Ivanishvilli Is my favorite oligarch on account of his massive financing of rugby union in Georgia. The Georgian national rugby team has become a force to be reckoned with, much to the surprise of the sclerotic old boys club that is the English speaking rugby world. Hell I’d wager that Georgias chief export is now Georgian men who are between 5’9” & 6’3” and who weight anywhere from 250lbs +. IIRC there are 130 professional Georgian rugby players playing prop in France alone.

Loved to hear from Camo. Those first few minutes I was thinking there’s a secret second guest trying to get on the mic.

I highly recommend listening to Sopo and Bryan's podcast, Reimagining Soviet Georgia. I visited Georgia this summer and listened to it to catch up on the history, a century ago and what has been happening since the fall of the USSR. RWN episode #46 is also good for this as Mark was on assignment in 2008 following the Russian incursion to Gori, Georgia (and more). Reimagining Soviet George episode part 1 with academic Timothy Blauvelt goes into some of the Georgian population transfer (Abkhazia and South Ossetia) policies that took place during the Soviet era. These policies (language bans, and so on) played a role in the Georgian war of the 90s, claims for autonomy and Russian occupation that continues today. Prior war nerd appearing guests include, Volodymyr Ishchenko (Ukrainian Sociologist) on episode 28, Vincent Bevens (If We Burn) guests on episode 34, Anatol Lieven is a guest in episode 39, and Peter Korotaev (Events in Ukraine substack) in episode 44 of Reimagining Soviet Georgia. As is made clear by Sopo and Bryan, their podcast has a Marxist perspective/analysis, but I think it pairs well given the overwhelmingly pro-Western bias that absolutely dominates any and all news that comes out of Georgia. Episode 39 with Anatol Lieven and Almut Rochonawski specifically goes into this embeddedness and role of Western funded NGOs and academics.

I find it very sweet and relatable how attached Mark is with his cats. I've got a cute tuxedo boy named Jotaro Jostar who is a rescue (originally found trapped in a trash can) and my fiance has a calico a bit over a decade old (originally found in a barn, and sadly declawed by the fiance's parents). Very attached to them, they're great companions.

Non event out here (almost), with regards to the hurricane

Sorcerer is a phenomenal film, they do not make them like that anymore.

Meow

Wasn’t the whole point of John buying the apartment in Italy to “settle down” and now have to move from place to place? He’s off zipping around the world again.

“We flew into Vancouver a few days ago” John, are you and everyone else alright?!?

At first I thought this was referencing the recent US elections and I thought, “ah shit, what happened now”

Love the cat name- Camo features in two very good biographies of Stalin (he was one of Stalin’s early associates.) I highly recommend Suny and Montefiore’s biographies on this count (since most anglophone Stalin biographies tend to either ignore or pathologize Stalin’s early life.)

Yes! I was just thinking about the first RWN interview with Sopo. Excited to listen. Also Erdogan Pizza is great, having a hard time putting it down and always trying to eek in a few minutes when I can.