Gay Caucasus - Гей Кавказ (new blog)

Few days ago, after I wrote about surge in numbers of gay Georgian blogs, the author of the mentioned blog - Tbilisi Gay Life, Alexander left comments there and suggested opening a blog to unite LGBT bloggers from the Caucasus region, to share news and keep in touch.

I thought of this idea before, but never managed to have time to realise it. Thanks to Alexander, the blog is now live, and there are already 2 entries there: a greeting – introduction; and a review of gay Georgian websites/forums/blogs.

The blog is in Russian, so that more local people would understand it.

So far, 2 gay Georgian bloggers, and PINK Armenia signed up as the co-authors of the blog.

If you are LGBT blogger from the South Caucasus, or a broader Caucasus region, and you know Russian and able to post in that language, you are welcome to join. Please, contact Alexander at Gay Caucasus blog.

The only reason that I personally did not join the Gay Caucasus blog is that, as of now, for technical reasons only, it would be difficult for me to post entries in Russian. However, I will keep an eye on it, and will share important developments and news, if any, here.

I welcome this initiative and wholeheartedly support it and wish it to be a success. Let’s see…

http://gaycaucasus.blogspot.com/

Warning: New computer virus – “gay Saakashvili”

Over the last few days my mailbox’s ‘spam folder’ caught number of ‘gay Saakashvili’ messages (referring to Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili). Obviously, I did not open them expecting that this could be a kind of fishy, computer virus spreading spam. Today gay.ru posted news by Security Lab which provides details of that spam attack.

"Mikheil Saakashvili gay scandal! New of this week!" messages contain a reference to the fake BBC news link. It re-directs to the site which starts downloading a malicious code into the user's computer. Experts note the size and technical execution of this spam attack. It began on Friday and within a short time managed to take up 5% of total advertising traffic. Tests conducted at the University of Alabama showed that only four out of 36 special antivirus systems (VirusTotal) were able to recognize the circulated code as malicious. There were 44 identified computer sources of that spam indicating the formation of a new botnet.

Одной из последних тем для спама стала предположительно нетрадиционная ориентация президента Грузии. Письма с темой "Mikheil Saakashvili gay scandal! New of this week!" содержат поддельную ссылку на новость BBC, на самом деле перенаправляя на сайт, откуда происходит загрузка вредоносного кода.

Зафиксированную рассылку выделяют среди прочих ее масштабы и техническое исполнение. Распространение спама началось в пятницу, за короткое время он занял 5% от общего объема рекламного трафика. Второй момент – тестирование специалистов Университета Алабамы показало, что только четыре из 36 антивирусов сервиса VirusTotal смогли распознать распространяемый код как вредоносный. Было зафиксировано 44 компьютера-источника спама, что свидетельствует о формировании новой бот-сети.

Nationalist media in Russia hints at "homosexuality of Georgian soldiers and spies"

Gay.ru reports that nationalist and clerical media in Russia uses Georgia – Russia war to provoke homophobia.

From the early days of the escalation, some information sources started spreading rumours alleging that “women’s underwear” was found on killed Georgian soldiers. Particularly, nationalist Eurasia portal, close to the movement of contemporary Russian nationalist ideologist Alexander Dugin, explicitly stated that "the Georgian army recruits homosexuals."

From a nationalist Eurasia portal (both Russian and English texts – as in original source):

В грузинскую армию набирают гомосексуалистов
В Цхинвале был обнаружен один убитых из грузинских солдат, который был одет в женские колготки и кружевное нижнее белье, сообщает корреспондент портала «Евразия» с места событий. Также в его кармане была найдена фотография одного из высокопоставленных чиновников грузинской армии, на оборотной стороне которой предположительно его подпись и признания эротического содержания.

HOMOSEXUALISTS IN GEORGIA ARMY
One of killed georgian soldiers in Chinvali wore stockings. Photo of one of Georgia Army oficial was found in his pocket. On other side of the photo - name of the oficial and a erotic message.

In the meantime, Ossetian media published an interview/report about “uncovered [in previous years, by Russian intelligence agency, aka ex-KGB] network of Georgian spies”. In particular, the online publication mentioned Zurab D. who was "under the patronage" of famous Moscow sculptor of Georgian origin Zurab Tsereteli. Media report specifically indicated that Zurab D. has ”non-traditional sexual orientation" and alleged that he “recruited a staff member of the Russian Foreign Ministry.”

[...] В результате такой информированности одним из самых неприятных для нас сюрпризов явилось то, что Зураб Церетели - заслуженный человек, не обделенный российским вниманием, - очень активно помогал грузинским спецслужбам. В частности, он разместил у себя Зураба Двали, который работал на телекомпанию "Мзе" и который имел нетрадиционную сексуальную ориентацию, у него было хобби посещать гей-клубы Москвы. Зурабу Двали удалось завербовать одного из сотрудников МИД России, который впоследствии стал предоставлять ему служебную информацию. Этими сведениями, не раскрывая источники, спецслужбы Абхазии обменялись с москвичами и в итоге этот человек больше не работает в МИД РФ. Кстати, Зураб Двали "отличился" еще и тем, что во время бесланских событий оказывал информационную помощь террористам: давал те интервью, по которым террористы узнавали обо всем, что происходило за внешним ограждением. Позже Двали был выдворен из России сотрудниками УФСБ по Республике Дагестан, как агент грузинских спецслужб, но, тем не менее, он продолжал работать в Москве, и нам пришлось приложить немало усилий, чтобы выставить его из России.

Штаб-квартира Двали одно время располагалась в Москве, прямо у Зураба Церетели в мастерской, в районе Белорусского вокзала. Когда произошла утечка информации о работе З. Двали на грузинские спецслужбы, Зурабу Церетели пришлось выкинуть Зураба Двали из своей мастерской.

Oh dear!

System Of A Down - Boom!

Listening to the 'anti-war' speeches full of hypocrisy at its highest level by Bush & co re current Georgia - Russia war, I suddenly wanted to put Boom! by System Of A Down.

Message from the head of LGBT NGO in Georgia

Well known gay rights activist from the US Michael Petrelis initiated an exchange of messages to the Gays Without Borders group on Yahoo being concerned about well being of gay people in Georgia and South Ossetia. Unfortunately, I do not know anyone from the South Ossetia, but I know Paata Sabelashvili, head of Georgian only LGBT organisation – Inclusive Foundation. I got involved in the conversation and mentioned about Inclusive Foundation.

Hi guys,

I've been in touch with the head of Georgian only LGBT NGO - Inclusive Foundation. He is OK, well, as 'OK' as the rest of the population.

Best Wishes,
Artmika

Based on this conversation, Michael made the following blog post:
Georgian Gay Leader is Alive and OK

I forwarded our conversation to Paata, and we just heard back from him from Tbilisi:

Hello everybody,

In the first place, let me thank you for expressing solidarity in this difficult moment.

I am the head of Inclusive Foundation. Unfortunately, I have not been able to take good care of the NGO these days as I was helping out journalists who covered the events. I was with Danish TV2 journalists as close to capital of South Ossetia as 6 km today. Bombs have been dropped around us. we saw 3 jets and heared more, as well as the noise from more than 20 charges being released.

It is close to panic situation. I am now sitting in the office and try to get on hold with family and friends. mobile phones are down. I am not sure when will internet go off. Russian troops are stationed 20 km west to capital Tbilisi and people are fleeing the city. I do not know what is on invaders' mind but it is really bad what is on in town.

Only reason our website still works is that it is placed outside Georgia and does not have Georgian domain.

It is not so easy for me to make clear points. So, obviously I need to stop writing and go back to why I came to office: to back up all our workfiles in case office is bomned.

I thank you for thinking of us and I wish peace to all of you no matter where you are.

Best,

Paata Sabelashvili
(by the way we are out and publicly visible - you can see that in our magazine as well)...

Open Letter To Stop War

Women’s Coalition for Peace in South Caucasus

11 August 2008

In light of the recent events in South Ossetia and Georgia, we at the Women’s Resource Center are taking action as part of the Women’s Coalition for Peace in the South Caucasus. The Coalition is composed of women’s groups in Armenia, Azerbaijan, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia that are united in a call for peace in our region. We work towards stopping all types of violence against women in conflict zones, and we believe that the voices of women need to be represented to realize this goal.

The Women’s Resource Center engages in mobilizing Armenian women to stand in solidarity with our sisters in Georgia and South Ossetia. The war of the past few days in that region is having a profound impact on the general civilian population as seen by the destruction of property, livelihood, normality and the senseless loss of life. The ongoing violence is exacerbating an already unstable situation as well as adding to the existing problems and dangers of the entire region in terms of creating countless refugees and internally displaced persons.

We condemn the actions of both Georgian and Russian authorities in harming peaceful citizens. We urge all sides of the conflict to return to non-violent processes in reaching a peaceful resolution. We also call on the international community to swiftly intervene in this situation and ensure that peace prevails in the South Caucasus region.

CALL FOR ACTION: in solidarity, we invite everyone believing in reinstating peace in our region to wear red and white ribbons and join our peaceful collective actions.

For upcoming peaceful actions in Yerevan, please contact the Women’s Resource Center.

Contact info:

Women’s Resource Center, NGO

34 Zarubyan st.

Yerevan, Armenia

Tel: + 374 – 93 -99-22-44

+ 374 -01- 51-91-68

e-mail: armwomen@namag.com