53% of Americans have an unfavorable view of Russia and 34% of Russians negatively assess the performance of the leadership of the United States.

Although Georgia went to war with Russia last year, a new nationwide survey indicates mixed feelings about Russia.

Starting from April, 28 till May, 5 IPM has conducted next in turn wave of omnibus survey and used political questions only for estimation of political organization’s ratings.

About 20,000 people rallied outside the Georgian parliament in Tbilisi on Monday in the fifth consecutive day of protests, demanding the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili.

The streets of Moldova and Georgia are boiling with protest and anger, while Kosovo continues to grapple with its self-proclaimed statehood.

The first face-to-face talks between Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev were expected to shed light on what the notion of the “reset button” for US-Russian relationships promulgated by US Vice-President Joe Biden was really about.

Interview with Irakli Alasania, leader of the Alliance for Georgia.

Saakashvili’s address did not have a radical tone this time. Populist rhetoric was also missing. Saakashvili said almost nothing about his vision of how territorial integrity would be restored.

The US-Georgia Charter is not a Mutual Defence Pact. But It Draws Red Line for Russia.

Deepening Georgia’s integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions is a mutual priority, and we plan to undertake a program of enhanced security cooperation intended to increase Georgian capabilities and to strengthen Georgia’s candidacy for NATO membership.

Georgia's United Nations envoy Irakli Alasania has become the latest potential player in the country's ever-changing gallery of opposition leaders, following the December 8 announcement of a coalition between two centrist parties.

The August events have given a boost to major shifts in the alignment of forces and priorities in NATO territory, although these consequences will not become manifest in full at once.

Barack Obama's election may have prompted celebrations from Chicago to Nairobi. But in Tbilisi, it was disappointment that carried the day, with many Georgians ruefully contemplating what John McCain's defeat would mean for them.

ALEXANDER ISKANDARYAN

It is hard for the U.S.A. and other Western countries not to take into account Russia’s interests in the South Caucasus. In case there were any illusions in this respect, the five days war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008 has dispelled them.

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

After May 26 (Georgia’s Independence Day), when an impressively large-scale rally organized by the opposition had shown that too many people in Georgia sought to make Mikheil Saakashvili and his team resign, the opposition and the ruling party decided to weaken their confrontation and to step back from the “Red Line”.

MARIA YULIKOVA

US president Barack Obama will travel to Moscow in July this year for his second negotiations round with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. The first meeting between the two leaders in London in April went well.

SERGEI MARKEDONOV

What does the current situation in Georgia mean for Russia? On the one hand, the confrontation between the government and the opposition is Georgia’s domestic affair. Whoever wins the struggle, no one would take a pro-Russian position.

GHIA NODIA

The Georgian opposition has been holding the protest actions for over a month. The protest started subsiding after several days of mass rallies in April. However, after the 7 May physical skirmish between the police and the opposition the protests recommenced.

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

How long the opposition’s rally in Tbilisi will last and how long can it maintain the protest mood? Many have asked this question since the seventh day of the protest rally when it became clear that the opposition had failed to take to the streets the number of protesters, which would be a weighty argument for the authorities to effect changes.

DAVID LOSABERIDZE

The rally showed that many people were displeased with the current authorities. The global economic crisis adversely affects the ratings of the authorities, in particular of President Saakashvili, which also forces the sides to seek the consensus.

ARCHIL GEGESHIDZE

It is early to speak whether the Georgian opposition may make President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia step down and whether the early presidential elections will be held.

GHIA NODIA

The opposition rally started in Georgia on April 9. The opposition leaders are sure that they will make President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili resign, and the early elections will be called.

MARIA YULIKOVA

On April 1, 2009 Baraсk Obama met with the Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev to establish agenda for the future bilateral cooperation. Although the presidents agreed on a number of critical issues, the human rights violations and lack of rule of law in Russia were obviously put aside.

ALEXANDER RONDELI

The U.S. will not throw away its allies including Georgia for the sake of "reset" of the relations with Russia.

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

The external players, which have their own plans and interests in Georgia and the Caucasus region, have become increasingly involved in monitoring of the internal developments in the country along with raising Georgia’s political temperature.

ALEXANDER ISKANDARYAN

There are no new tendencies or changes in the U.S. policy towards the South Caucasus after the new U.S. Administration has been formed. Barack Obama has not worked out his South Caucasian policy yet. For the time being, the new U.S. authorities focus on overcoming the economic crisis.

ALEXANDER RONDELI

In the eyes of the U.S. Administration Saakashvili represents the guarantor of stability and further development. If Saakashvili slowly but steadily promotes democratization in the country, he has nothing to worry about.

VIKTOR KREMENIUK

The rivalry between Moscow and Washington regarding the post-Soviet space will be still urgent under President Obama, but it won’t be crucial as it was under the previous Administration. A certain compromise is possible to achieve.

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

It is difficult to forecast how diligently the Administration of President Barack Obama will follow the above-mentioned articles of the Charter. But there is a high probability (taking into consideration the increased tension in the Russia-U.S. relations) that Russia would consider the Charter as a challenge to its interests in South Caucasus.

TATYANA STANOVAYA

Geopolitical strategies in the former Soviet republics are undergoing change. The United States no longer intends to spare any effort to preserve post-Soviet regimes that are relatively loyal to the West, banking instead on weakening or overthrowing them.