Message from @mattforney

Discord ID: 633049394010390558


2019-10-13 21:04:54 UTC  

Hungarians are a mixed bag, but I like to work with them.

2019-10-13 21:05:08 UTC  

Georgians have had visa-free access to Schengen for a while and anyone with a bit of capital is leaving

2019-10-13 21:05:23 UTC  

there are already a ton of Georgians living in Poland

2019-10-13 21:05:49 UTC  

when I went to Warsaw for my friend's wedding in April, the Uber driver who took me to the Warsaw airport was Georgian

2019-10-13 21:06:19 UTC  

same thing will likely happen if/when Armenia gets visa-free access

2019-10-13 21:06:39 UTC  

They go then the way of Bosnia

2019-10-13 21:06:51 UTC  

Poland has depleted Ukraine's stock of guest-workers and they need more

2019-10-13 21:07:56 UTC  

yeah the ex-FSU states outside of Russia, Belarus, and the Baltics are basically going to get worse

2019-10-13 21:08:04 UTC  

Brain drain is the fertile grounds for future migration waves

2019-10-13 21:08:06 UTC  

they're losing human capital to the E.U. and Russia

2019-10-13 21:08:17 UTC  

and they're also flashpoints for CIA fuck-fuck games

2019-10-13 21:08:35 UTC  

Georgia will probably have some kind of color revolution shenanigans next year

2019-10-13 21:09:07 UTC  

there was an attempted uprising over the summer when the government declined to give extra police protection to the pride parade and they had to cancel

2019-10-13 21:09:46 UTC  

also, during an international conference of politicians from Orthodox countries, one of the Russian invitees gave a speech from the speaker's chair at the Georgian parliament

2019-10-13 21:09:55 UTC  

that ignited a week of tantrums from the opposition

2019-10-13 21:10:23 UTC  

the incumbent party are a bunch of cowards, despite basically being in the same position as Fidesz, having near total control over the government and country

2019-10-13 21:10:36 UTC  

in response to the protests, they changed the electoral law to remove the threshold

2019-10-13 21:11:06 UTC  

since they're only polling at about 20 percent that means five million parties will get seats in the parliamentary election next year

2019-10-13 21:11:55 UTC  

And what would come after a color revolution?

2019-10-13 21:12:16 UTC  

Liberal govt and mandatory poopdick?

2019-10-13 21:12:17 UTC  

the stridently pro-U.S. UNM comes to power

2019-10-13 21:12:28 UTC  

they're pro-gay rights and stooges for the deep state

2019-10-13 21:12:44 UTC  

they're Saakashvili's old party, he technically still leads them from exile

2019-10-13 21:12:56 UTC  

they'll take a more belligerent stand on Russia

2019-10-13 21:13:21 UTC  

keep in mind that the existing government is pretty pro-U.S. as it is; they didn't make any major changes after Saakashvili got bounced out of power

2019-10-13 21:13:35 UTC  

they were also one of the first countries to recognize Guaido as Venezuela's president

2019-10-13 21:13:52 UTC  

but they've also tried to steer a moderate course in thawing things with Russia

2019-10-13 21:14:01 UTC  

the UNM will be far more belligerent

2019-10-13 21:15:16 UTC  

I see, it's all about its value as a piece vs Russia

2019-10-13 21:15:56 UTC  

Their biggest problem though is the siren song of "western lifestyle "

2019-10-13 21:16:02 UTC  

yeah the incumbent party is basically trying to acknowledge reality

2019-10-13 21:16:16 UTC  

Russia is Georgia's largest trading partner, it's biggest source of tourists

2019-10-13 21:16:32 UTC  

Putin's flight ban was a massive blow to the economy and the government will get blamed for the lari's collapse

2019-10-13 21:17:17 UTC  

WizzAir won't keep them afloat, huh?

2019-10-13 21:17:55 UTC  

nah there's no way that Georgia can make up the difference with European and American tourism

2019-10-13 21:18:03 UTC  

Georgia is cheap but it's also far out of the way

2019-10-13 21:18:08 UTC  

not really on anyone's radar

2019-10-13 21:18:54 UTC  

It is really just a small place up in the hills next to Russia

2019-10-13 21:19:03 UTC  

Armenia is also trying to eat their lunch with similar anti-corruption reforms

2019-10-13 21:19:22 UTC  

streamlining the bureaucracy, getting rid of pointless laws

2019-10-13 21:19:43 UTC  

so Georgia's selling point of being a good place to do business will also recede