who knows *how* untouched they are, given that the CEC is an arm of the state, but their election day conduct seems accepted by the general populace as far as I can tell

Russian interference here is also interesting in that it all seems to be outside of the actual *electing*

deporting opposition voters, extensive propaganda, moves like cutting electricity and internet.... all while the ballot boxes appear untouched

abkhazworld.com/aw/current-a...

perhaps, given the apparent concern Russia has with supposed Turkish influence and Turkish meddling in Cyprus and Syria, Turkey would indeed be a viable alternative ally

abkhazworld.com/aw/current-a...

I'm not expecting a complete flip, where Russia supports Georgia while Abkhazia has NATO ambitions, but it does seem as though Abkhazia is increasingly being estranged from Russia

things like the incorrect leader of nicaragua or the poor ideology choices for venezuela and guatemala in hearts of iron, or the lack of reference to fraxinetum in crusader kings despite the second game havjng a start date in the middle of muslim activity there

proto-history is neat

colarusso has suggested that greek pottery with seemingly "gibberish" inscriptions actually record early caucasian languages among others... quite an interesting topic

johncolarusso.net/publications...

both the abkhazians and georgians have a vested interest in proving that the colchians (and karachoi and kubancultures) spoke the ancestor of their language, but it's difficult to prove any angle without much evidence

evidence is strong that the conspiracy theory about abkhazians being russian imports or invaders from the early modern period is simply false, but the mysterious lack of writing from the hellenic colonies in colchis presents a challenge for determining just who these people were

I am, however, workshopping something looking at the linguistics of the colchians (the group among whom the greek colonies settled) in the context of the modern debate about when the abkhazians arrived in georgia

viacheslav chirikba (abkhazian linguist formerly with abkhaz state university) and zurab papaskiri (georgian historian at sukhum state university) have both read it, according to academia

kinda neat!