At death's door...

that's democracy and press freedom in Georgia. The president has now resigned, in accordance with the election process, and now another TV station, Maestro, has been closed. Apparently it's an entertainment channel (cable), but it was closed just before its one politics/investigative journalism show.

Oh dear, the credit in the world community. It's going down and down.

The credit of the Lithuanian president, at the end of his presidential career, is only going up. He is now European Statesman of the Year, for brokering a deal with Poland which was ready to go for a battle with the EU. Apparently the Polish president tells anyone who wants to get a deal with him, to speak to the Lithuanian President first. Adamkus was in Tbilisi a week ago, telling them to behave themselves and be open and fair in their elections so the president can have a proper mandate ...no-one seems to have listened.