OnTheBall Travels (Georgia)
What should we title this? Um…Surviving Georgia!
Not the state of Georgia, although looking at Atlanta’s crime rates, Surviving Georgia is also an interesting title…
Georgia is a country in the Caucasus that borders Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey and most notably, Russia. After the fall of communism in the early 90s, Georgia never really experienced a jolt of freedom until about 10 years into the 21st century. Authoritarianism is baked into the cake if you look at a historical point of view, but these days look far different behind this mountainous country. Georgia has since been touted a hidden gem for business, entrepreneurship, a place to tax favourable, save money & a place to get away from the ideologies in Europe while drinking their fresh famous wine–sounds good!—so I went to check it out myself. But first: sign up!
Itinerary
Once you land there you immediately feel “Oh, I get this, communism was done here” with a different feel compared to Europe. We flew from Montenegro by way of Turkey.
Immediately upon landing we were in a strange situation where the immigration agents didn’t believe that one of the members of our group had a real passport (from Mexico). A lot of questions like, “where were you born?, can you speak Spanish? Speak some to me. When did you get this passport? Who did you get it from?” accompanied with a magnifying glass looking at the details of the passport pages. It took a surprisingly long period of time for a Mexican passport to be stamped.
After getting our luggage we were signalled out by a woman who asked us many questions and forced us put our bags through an X-ray scanner (which was previously covered). We had some jewelry that she was eager to find (for stealing?) but luckily for us she wasn’t very bright and mixed up which bag had what.
Following that fiasco, we left to find our drive waiting for us. It was immediately noticeable the lack of infrastructure in the country and of course, lack of English. Our driver spoke no English, I spoke more Russian than he did English (not much at all…) and his driving… well, I’ll come back to the point about driving.
We stayed at an AirBNB which worked out good–although the owners didn’t know or appreciate the “wave” hello for some reason. We later stayed at a Jewish-owned hotel/restaurant which was quite frankly overpriced.
Impressions/Experience
There is a police state vibe throughout the country. It’s not that police roam or we have seen anything sketchy—the best way I put it to my associate is, “it felt like we were bordering Russia”.
Political spray-painted walls coated the entire city of Tblisi, with many protests daily. These protests were regarding former president Sakasvilli, the wanting to join the European Union & NATO, the wanting for US aid (to fight Russia) or the wanting of Vladimir Putin to be assassinated. I distinctly remember one sign “We will rave on Putin’s grave” (interestingly in English). There was no Pro-Russian side anywhere to be seen & suggesting Russia’s innocence in anything would have gotten you punched in the face. In hindsight, I should have taken many photos of the tunnel walls or sides of building & sold them as they perfectly captured the turmoil. It is political to the core.
Every protest had this anger and seriousness behind its voice. They ranged from 5-6 compassion folks to blocking off entire streets with hundreds holding Georgian flags and (one thing I’m sure you were not expecting) USA flags. Seeing more USA flags than EU flags (as many Georgians wish to become an EU member) was the icing on the cake for me that the Georgian people are going to have problems. I’m of the opinion that the USA, once there’s not much remaining in the Ukraine, will begin to use Georgia as a proxy against Russia—people are fired up for a fight.
People were noticeable dressed poorly. Perhaps it was because we were coming from Serbia where people (at least not the poor) spend effort in how they dress, but it was quite apparent that the quality of clothes, the combinations, overall people seemed less sophisticated. It looked like everybody was dressed like they were filming a 1990s punk Soviet music video.
You may have heard from others who comment on the stray dogs in the country–its true. They’re everywhere as is dog crap on the sidewalk. We saw them block off traffic at times too as the pack walked from one side to the other. In one case, one dog was in the middle of the road blocking traffic as he was waiting for another dog in the pack to ‘catch up’ to them. We didn’t think it was a deal breaker but someone afraid of dogs couldn’t last here. At one point, we had terrible food from a Jewish restaurant and I couldn’t eat anymore. It’s probably not advised but we went to a park that dogs had claimed as theirs (the dogs were looking at me like Who the Fuck does this Human think he is?) to give them the leftovers.
Banking
This is the only country where I ever saw a Canadian passport get rejected for “political reasons”.. Thanks Justin. I managed to get a bank account in Georgia although (I won’t name which–you can contact [email protected] or opendoorconsultancy.net for more) but I will say that it may be one of the best banks I have ever used. Some of the best rates, fees, convenience, accuracy the best service (24/7), they actually listen to your concerns and respond accordingly. Retail/Business banking service in Georgia would be close to Private Banking in North America with hardly any fees. For what negatives I say in this article, I can’t say enough about my experience with banking in Georgia. It’s recommended.
Immigration Leading to Problems
Georgia is at two disadvantages in this sense. Their language (which truly looks beautiful) has absolutely nothing else relates to it. It is one of the oldest languages in the world still surviving (kudos to the Georgians to preserve it!). But numbers-wise, more Georgians know Russian than Russians know Georgian–by a lot! I had a brief chat with a Russian guy who spoke poor English. We were in a bank and he asked where to go to speak to somebody. I said I think that’s the answer [pointing to the swirley inscriptions on the tally counter] and he just rolled his eyes.
The second disadvantage is a double-edged sword. Part of what makes Georgia so attractive is that they are one of the only countries to offer a 365 day visa for a whole list of countries. To my knowledge, they are the only country in the world to offer this free immigration policy. This is perfect for tourists who want to stay a little longer & perfect for investors looking to acquire a tax residency (stay 183 days) in a tax friendly country without having to manage the whole residency application process elsewhere. BUT, this is applies to the Russkiys too, and there is no sign that it will change because of the immense capital brought into the country. The Georgian Lari has outperformed the USD in 2022 primarily due to this. Short-term its great; long-term it becomes easy for Russians to come and stay, perhaps to their detriment. If the Russians mean harm like the Georgians claim, it’s a lot easier to just show up in large numbers than maneuvering tanks in the mountains. So far, Georgian politicians are enjoying the economic benefit and are changing nothing.
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Driving
Oh right, the driving. Admittedly I haven’t been to India or Southeast Asia to witness the insane driving of that country but I have been extensively throughout Latin America, which to any Westerner is nothing short of insane. Georgia… makes Latin America look like a coordinated parade. Georgia drivers have zero regard for speed and the lanes (even lanes against oncoming traffic!). When we first arrived, after being awake for 30 hours, I was the one driving since the driver himself had so much disregard for steering. Driving is completely unpredictable as a pedestrian as well–cars will turn unexpectedly and speed up whether you’re in the crosswalk. I would hate to raise kids around these types of drivers.
The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming
Quite interestingly, I showed up during the Russian invasion of the country. I am not referring to back in 2008 where the two anonymous territories were subsequently held by Russian forces, but rather an immense number of citizenry seeking refuge outside of Putin’s military conscription—so I wasn’t the only lost face.
It really put things into perspective that if you take one year and add 1,2,5,10% of your population of another ethnicity or race (in this case Russian) the place really runs the risk of turmoil. Georgians have a persistent idea that Russians are about to attack any day now (they fail to mention that it was Georgian’s Sakashvilli who initiated the reclamation of the territories of South Ossetia & Abkhazia) but it seems evident that if the Russians wanted to take it over, for whatever reason unbeknownst to me, they wouldn’t need an army. They’d simply manufacture a local crisis, push more citizens through the mountains and flood the place with people until it ‘becomes’ Russia.
As a matter of fact, while adjusting to the hour change (& markets) we went to a restaurant that was open late and sat close to a group of Georgian men. They were all in a state of grumpiness, drinking lots of alcohol, banging the table with one story-telling as if “he had new information”. One man accompanied them who could not speak Georgian so one would translate to English and from what I overheard they were upset about the new arriving Russians, that some of them may not be so friendly, and that this could not go on.
Encounters with people were quite neutral. Some people complain about the service about Tblisi but I can’t complain. They weren’t overly nice but not rude or dismissive either. Most can speak English, the only problems we encountered was that some words in English may simply not be known by the person or if you’re dealing with an older person they may not know any English—but if you only speak English (or Russian) you’ll have zero trouble navigating life. There were many Russians as I noted but also many Turks. Turkish restaurants gave the best service; Indian, the worst.
Food was good but we weren’t blown away. It was not worth the visit by any stretch (although some members of our group disagree). Although people take it seriously–a woman asked if we tried a Georgian dish and when we declined she gave a look like “Well, what the fuck are you even doing here?”
Leaving
Leaving the airport was a disaster. We were delayed 4 times (causing us to miss our connecting flight in Poland). Some folks were yelling to the airport staff in Georgian but they may as well been speaking Korean because the staff had no care at all on their face. They don’t get paid enough to care, I suppose. When there was a plane available, they had a (stand-up) bus to take people to the aircraft unnecessarily far away which took about 6 trips to load the whole plane. It either wasn’t equipped for the weight or the ice on the ground because it was burning a considerable amount of rubber just to move. Once our bus gained some traction it sent the entire bus flying, knocking over everybody like bowling pins. It looked kind of like a comedy movie with jackets, hats, luggage, wigs flying about at 6:30AM. We eventually got strapped in and my luck, a baby sat just behind my seat who happened to be as cranky as everyone else in the country.
Stay Tuned for our article about the #gold and #silver encounter we had while leaving… I am now “in the system” after this.
Prediction
After completing the city exploration, I said Georgia will be in a war, civil or otherwise within 3 years. We’re 15 months down and have seen lots of aggressions in the streets with water cannons, Molotov cocktails and smoke grenades. I’m sticking by my 3-year time frame (around 2 years to go). If you haven’t read our article why the USA will use proxies to fight their battles, click this link here. Estonia, Latvia & France seem to be the latest involved to head to Ukraine. I predict that Georgia will become involved in the Caucuses again.
Update: It may have started
Closing
Overall, it was an interesting experience. They have visibly revamped their tax system, their banking sector and immigration system. I heartedly disagree with anyone eager to move there in search for freedom. My partner found it quite pleasant given the number of eateries around while I could feel the volatility and overall depressed vibe. I think Georgia is reverting back to their mean of being an authoritarian state that always has the threat of an empire upon it or de facto controlling it (whether it be Russia or USA this time). The police-state feel lingered, workers didn’t seem particularly happy with their low wage pays, and political graffiti was trendy. In some way, perhaps chaos was sought after to receive some sort of structure and order.
Aside from the food, banking I believe is the highlight of the trip.
Although, worst of all, I fear Georgia will be brought into more chaos namely by the USA who can print dollars to fund an endless proxy. It felt that if you brought up anything remotely sensitive they’d make your life miserable–Georgia is just ‘ready’ for a fight, it felt like it and thats what we saw.
My next trip to the region will be to Armenia or Baku (Azerbaijan). All of our experience is simply more evidence to be extremely skeptical of the grifter Nomad Capitalist who charges you 65,000 USD to just say “After 9 weeks, we’ve concluded you and your family should move to Georgia…”
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