anti-russian defend liberty coalition, are in vocal opposition. recently, a move by the ruling party to sign a deal with russia s gazprom for all georgia s oil needs, has caused dissention. we meet at sophia melnikovas a much-loved bistro for the most loved, perhaps most iconic georgian dish, khinkali. i understand that georgia is not releasing, but looking around, compared to 2008, life looks good. there s money in the streets, shiny new cars. sophia: no, well, the thing is that, yes, things have changed. after the collapse of the soviet union, georgia was the country that suffered the most among the former soviet republic s economically. and our economy totally collapsed, corruption, like,
country people identify themselves closely with christianity. family based. sophia: exactly. anthony: and there seems to be a point beyond which the population will not go and to come around to comrade putin, um, he seems to understand this very, very well. sophia: the way putin operations is that, like, first putin emanates strength. i mean, he s a bad guy. i mean, there s a consensus. anthony: right. sophia: like 80% of georgians, like, believe that putin is a very bad guy and russians as well. anthony: right, but he s on the winning side. sophia: yeah, exactly so he s a winner, so they don t judge winners. they say, okay, we re bad, but west is worse. anthony: but are they wrong? sophia: of course they are wrong. anthony: wherever you find a traditional, religious, conservative society, you ll also find a countervailing force. georgians, as a rule, are compassionate about tradition, about the way things are supposed to be done.
became like just the normal way of living. anthony: truly a pretty miraculous transformation, unlike sophia: yeah, well. anthony: anyplace. sophia: it happened because, like, people wanted it, i mean, and there was this demand. that s why revolution took place. anthony: oh man, look at that. wow, that looks sensational. sophia: yeah. anthony: big, fat, juicy soup dumplings filled with spicy cumin-jacked minced beef in a hot, rich, potentially scalding broth. sophia: you have never tried that? anthony: i have never. no, i m new to this country. sophia: according to tradition, you re eating it with the, with fingers. anthony: okay. sophia: that s the whole thing. anthony: mm, so good. oh wow, these are terrific. sophia: i mean, this not something very sophisticated to eat. [ laughter ] anthony: mm, who cares? this is a very religious
anti-russian defend liberty coalition, are in vocal opposition. recently, a move by the ruling party to sign a deal with russia s gazprom for all georgia s oil needs, has caused dissention. we meet at sophia melnikovas a much-loved bistro for the most loved, perhaps most iconic georgian dish, khinkali. i understand that georgia is not releasing, but looking around, compared to 2008, life looks good. there s money in the streets, shiny new cars. sophia: no, well, the thing is that, yes, things have changed. after the collapse of the soviet union, georgia was the country that suffered the most among the former soviet republic s economically. and our economy totally collapsed, corruption, like,
country people identify themselves closely with christianity. family based. sophia: exactly. anthony: and there seems to be a point beyond which the population will not go and to come around to comrade putin, um, he seems to understand this very, very well. sophia: the way putin operations is that, like, first putin emanates strength. i mean, he s a bad guy. i mean, there s a consensus. anthony: right. sophia: like 80% of georgians, like, believe that putin is a very bad guy and russians as well. anthony: right, but he s on the winning side. sophia: yeah, exactly so he s a winner, so they don t judge winners. they say, okay, we re bad, but west is worse. anthony: but are they wrong? sophia: of course they are wrong. anthony: wherever you find a traditional, religious, conservative society, you ll also find a countervailing force. georgians, as a rule, are compassionate about tradition, about the way things are supposed to be done.