By Johanna Petersson (2/25/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

With just four months since Georgia’s Rose revolution, political campaigning for the forthcoming Georgian parliamentary elections in late March is scarce. The leaders of Georgia’s Rose revolution currently present a unified front and although opposition to the new leadership troika exists, the ousting of former president Shevardnadze has left it largely in tatters. With a platform focusing on further integration into western European political structures (NATO and EU), eradicating corruption as well as improvement of the investment climate, Zurab Zhvania confirms the rumors that the two parties, Zurab Zhvania’s and Nino Burjandze’s “United Democrats” and President Saakashvili’s “National Movement” will merge after the parliamentary elections.

By Narmina Rustamova (2/25/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Dayirman is the first rap-group in Azerbaijan. They have propelled this genre of music to popularity in the country, where rap is everything but a traditional music style. But thanks to “Dayirman”, now rap is associated with the old traditional poetry genre “Meykhana” in Azerbaijan, where several people recite rhythmic poetry.

By Aziz Soltobaev (2/11/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The NGO “Psychic Health and Society”, the most actively working NGO in the field of improvement of the mental health system claims “it is necessary to decentralize and bring patient care institutions to homes so that the mentally ill do not drop out of the community, and relatives could visit them regularly”. The Republican Center for Mental Health (RCMH) that manages the system also makes such a statement. However, the head “Psychic Health and society” Burul Makenbaeva said “the RCMH is not going to do it, since it has promised to for the last three years, yet there’s a lack of real actions and results”.