Germany’s population now stands at 84.7 million — adding some 300,000 people in 2023 — mainly driven by net migration. https://t.co/bFSWuiOvUC
— DW News (@dwnews) January 25, 2024
Day: January 26, 2024
FWIW: Every Eurocrat I’ve ever interviewed has described Orban as a shakedown artist and nuisance, but a manageable one. Trump, on the other hand, they’re terrified of and use as an excuse to argue that Europe can’t rely on the United States… https://t.co/9ltcRqitlS
— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) January 26, 2024
Excellent description of Trump’s psychology: “oppositional 9 y.o.”:https://t.co/KfPSmEFbFP #News #Times #NewsAndTimes #NT #TNT #Israel #World #USA #POTUS #DOJ #FBI #CIA #DIA #ODNI #Mossad #Netanyahu #Putin #Russia #GRU #Ukraine #SouthCaucasus #NewAbwehr #Bloggers…
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) January 26, 2024
BREAKING: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell makes the shocking confession that Republicans are intentionally sabotaging the border to help Trump win the 2024 election.
It’s astonishing that he would admit to plotting something so truly indefensible…
For months, Democrats… pic.twitter.com/znWqVuMOkQ
— Occupy Democrats (@OccupyDemocrats) January 25, 2024
I guess Senator Hawley @HawleyMO skipped all the Ethics classes at Yale and Stanford and Rockhurst Jesuit School. Everything he has ever said about the vital importance of securing Anerica’s borders was obviously insincere. @Acyn @FPWellman https://t.co/6ArWgSMQB1
— Ben Hodges (@general_ben) January 26, 2024
On January 25 and 26, the websites of the opposition-oriented Mtavari and Formula TVs, as well as the Georgian President’s website, were reportedly cyber-attacked. Earlier on January 23, the Soviet Past Research Laboratory- SovLab, a civil society organization that studies Georgia’s Soviet past, also reported a “coordinated” cyber attack from Russia.
According to the RFE/RL-Georgian Service upon entering the President’s website, a message appeared that read “Hacked by COZY BEAR, Glory to Russia.” The caption has been removed from the President’s website; however, it remains inoperable as of 12:30 p.m., January 26, 2024. the Russian hacker group “Cozy Bear,” which is believed to be linked to Russian intelligence.
Earlier on January 25, Mtavari TV reported that its website had been cyberattacked and that some of the station’s data had been deleted.
A similar cyberattack was reported by Formula TV on January 26, noting that the attack had been ongoing for several hours, resulting in the shutdown of the website.
On January 23, SovLab reported that its web resources have been hit by hackers.The statement by the organization said: “During the past few weeks, the Georgian Dream has been orchestrating a propaganda campaign against the Soviet Past Research Laboratory. Simultaneously, the organization’s web resources have become the target of a coordinated attack from Russia.”
“The server hosting SovLab’s public archive website (archive.ge) is the focal point of DDoS attacks, with the objective of disrupting its proper functioning,” SovLab said, adding that “over the past several days, the intensity of the attacks has been growing exponentially, especially from Russia. The daily number of users attempting to visit the website exceeds 700,000.”
A DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of the targeted service, network or service by overwhelming it with Internet traffic.
Also Read:
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, US Department of State James O’Brien, speaking at the German Marshall Fund event Europe Whole and Free: Priorities for 2024 on January 25, said that US sees Georgia as a “critical security partner for the Black Sea” and spoke about the importance of the upcoming 2024 parliamentary elections. He also praised the Georgian government for its efforts to prevent sanctions’ circumvention.
He said: “In Georgia, you have got these very important parliamentary elections this year and we strongly supported international election observer mission. We’re going to be working with that mission, and with really vibrant civil society in Georgia to see that election goes well, because what we know is [that] more than 85% of Georgians continually say what they want is reform and entry into the EU. That’s what we have to stand with.” He also noted that the Georgian government has “really put in an effort at reform measures, particularly over the last months and we appreciate what they’ve done.”
O’Brien added: “We appreciate what they’ve done on avoiding sanctions’ circumvention by restricting a lot of activity. I think there’s room to have to have a lot of optimism that Georgia will be a key contributor in that environment.“
Speaking about Georgia’s role in the region and in the security context of the Black Sea, the Assistant Secretary of State stressed that the Black Sea “is managing even more of the global trade, critical minerals, grain, all kinds of items.” He predicted that the “Black Sea will end up with LNG connections between Geo and Romania, a number of undersea cables for electricity, communications and so on…” Stressing that the density of economic engagement is expected to increase in the Black Sea he added: “We need to make sure that’s protected and that the rules of engagement across that wide range of countries are pretty clear to everyone, including to Russia.”
Assistant Secretary O’Brien spoke about global challenges, Euro-Atlantic relations, Russia’s war in Ukraine, technological development and other issues. He devoted a large part of his speech to developments regarding the EU membership prospects of the most recent candidate countries. In particular, he stressed that “over the last decade, there have been a number of states that may have been on a path to Europe but not a clear prospect of moving toward it, and there were other states that were sort of half between Russia and the US, and that goes from the shores of the Caspian and even Central Asia all the way through to the Adriatic.”
Calling this state of affairs “a serious problem” he said that “this grey space allows politicians to flourish who love to be just outside of the rules.” O’Brien stressed that it is necessary to “change their political incentives” and welcomed in this context “the EU’s decision to begin accession talks with nine countries.” He said the US “strongly support this” and is “linking the instruments we have in support of reforms needed for all these states and to find the future as part of the single market and the EU.”
On January 25, the group of doctors of the Ombudsman of Georgia conducted their routine health check of the former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili at the Vivamedi clinic. One of the doctors in the medical group commented to the media on the current state of health of Saakashvili, saying that his health has improved somatically, but that his neurological condition remains the same.
Commenting on the ex-president’s health, neurologist Tengiz Tsuladze told Mtavari TV: “”The condition has improved somatically, the neurological remains the same. This means that he has gained some weight, he already weighs 77 kilos. It is important that his vital functions are not endangered, in which of course the staff of the “Vivamedi” clinic played a big role in stabilizing him in this way. But as far as his neurological status is concerned, it remains more or less the same. It seems that the injury, which was quite severe to begin with, and his psychological state are not improving very quickly. He still has anxiety, phobias, depressed mood, and this condition continues. We keep thinking that the patient is unstable – he is being treated, but he seems to be resistant to this treatment.”
Asked about the possibility of transferring the patient from the clinic to the prison, the neurologist said that the mandate of the council members did not cover such decisions. According to Tsuladze, Saakashvili’s previous diagnoses are still valid, and the decision to release him lies with the attending physician or the medical group supervising the patient. Tsuladze expressed concern about Saakashvili’s psychological stability and recommended against the transfer.
The group of doctors to monitor the medical services rendered to the former President was set up by the former Public Defender, Nino Lomjaria, within the scope of her mandate. According to the information of the Office of the Public Defender, the group of doctors continues to visit the patient at intervals of two to four months, and more often in the case of emergency. Notably, the group was not and is not involved in the process of the patient’s treatment.
Note: The full assessment of the medical team is expected to be released in the coming days. This news will be updated accordingly.
Also Read:
On January 25 and 26, the websites of the opposition-oriented Mtavari and Formula TVs, as well as the Georgian President’s website, were reportedly cyber-attacked. Earlier on January 23, the Soviet Past Research Laboratory- SovLab, a civil society organization that studies Georgia’s Soviet past, also reported a “coordinated” cyber attack from Russia.
According to the RFE/RL-Georgian Service upon entering the President’s website, a message appeared that read “Hacked by COZY BEAR, Glory to Russia.” The caption has been removed from the President’s website; however, it remains inoperable as of 12:30 p.m., January 26, 2024. the Russian hacker group “Cozy Bear,” which is believed to be linked to Russian intelligence.
Earlier on January 25, Mtavari TV reported that its website had been cyberattacked and that some of the station’s data had been deleted.
A similar cyberattack was reported by Formula TV on January 26, noting that the attack had been ongoing for several hours, resulting in the shutdown of the website.
On January 23, SovLab reported that its web resources have been hit by hackers.The statement by the organization said: “During the past few weeks, the Georgian Dream has been orchestrating a propaganda campaign against the Soviet Past Research Laboratory. Simultaneously, the organization’s web resources have become the target of a coordinated attack from Russia.”
“The server hosting SovLab’s public archive website (archive.ge) is the focal point of DDoS attacks, with the objective of disrupting its proper functioning,” SovLab said, adding that “over the past several days, the intensity of the attacks has been growing exponentially, especially from Russia. The daily number of users attempting to visit the website exceeds 700,000.”
A DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of the targeted service, network or service by overwhelming it with Internet traffic.
Also Read:
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, US Department of State James O’Brien, speaking at the German Marshall Fund event Europe Whole and Free: Priorities for 2024 on January 25, said that US sees Georgia as a “critical security partner for the Black Sea” and spoke about the importance of the upcoming 2024 parliamentary elections. He also praised the Georgian government for its efforts to prevent sanctions’ circumvention.
He said: “In Georgia, you have got these very important parliamentary elections this year and we strongly supported international election observer mission. We’re going to be working with that mission, and with really vibrant civil society in Georgia to see that election goes well, because what we know is [that] more than 85% of Georgians continually say what they want is reform and entry into the EU. That’s what we have to stand with.” He also noted that the Georgian government has “really put in an effort at reform measures, particularly over the last months and we appreciate what they’ve done.”
O’Brien added: “We appreciate what they’ve done on avoiding sanctions’ circumvention by restricting a lot of activity. I think there’s room to have to have a lot of optimism that Georgia will be a key contributor in that environment.“
Speaking about Georgia’s role in the region and in the security context of the Black Sea, the Assistant Secretary of State stressed that the Black Sea “is managing even more of the global trade, critical minerals, grain, all kinds of items.” He predicted that the “Black Sea will end up with LNG connections between Geo and Romania, a number of undersea cables for electricity, communications and so on…” Stressing that the density of economic engagement is expected to increase in the Black Sea he added: “We need to make sure that’s protected and that the rules of engagement across that wide range of countries are pretty clear to everyone, including to Russia.”
Assistant Secretary O’Brien spoke about global challenges, Euro-Atlantic relations, Russia’s war in Ukraine, technological development and other issues. He devoted a large part of his speech to developments regarding the EU membership prospects of the most recent candidate countries. In particular, he stressed that “over the last decade, there have been a number of states that may have been on a path to Europe but not a clear prospect of moving toward it, and there were other states that were sort of half between Russia and the US, and that goes from the shores of the Caspian and even Central Asia all the way through to the Adriatic.”
Calling this state of affairs “a serious problem” he said that “this grey space allows politicians to flourish who love to be just outside of the rules.” O’Brien stressed that it is necessary to “change their political incentives” and welcomed in this context “the EU’s decision to begin accession talks with nine countries.” He said the US “strongly support this” and is “linking the instruments we have in support of reforms needed for all these states and to find the future as part of the single market and the EU.”