The Monocle Minute

Eight days of astonishing scenes on the streets of Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, have evoked memories of uprisings against authoritarian rule in Eastern Europe since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Motivated by the government’s decision to halt the country’s EU accession talks, young people are facing down water cannons and black-clad riot police. Lasers scythe through the murk of sodium streetlights and fireworks crackle and explode overhead.

I have witnessed enough revolutions as a journalist – in Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Armenia – to recognise one in the making. Rarely do they end the way that they are supposed to. And there is reason to doubt that the youth can bring Georgia back towards Europe and rescue it from its status as a client state of Russia.

Should Georgians lose this battle, authoritarianism will only accelerate. Bidzina Ivanishvili, the governing party’s founder, is estimated to be worth more than €6.7bn. He made his money in Russia and thinks like a Russian oligarch. He has created a social class of loyalists with generous handouts. His former bodyguard runs the interior ministry. The police and anonymous goons in balaclavas are at his service.

While the young have taken to the streets, middle-aged opposition politicians try to strategise in hotel conference rooms. After years of squabbling among themselves, they failed to prepare for defeat in October’s rigged elections, which they hoped to win. Right now it’s difficult to imagine how a figure with Ivanishvili’s purchasing power can lose. But there is some cause for hope. I am starting to believe that the young people on Rustaveli Avenue – self-organising, creative and dancing defiantly in the water-cannon spray – will not let him get away with it this time.

Rallies have spread across the country, as well as across class and generational divides. Civil servants are speaking out and ambassadors are resigning. The fear is lifting and the anger is still growing. Let this moment remind Europeans (and the UK’s Brexiteers) how cherished the EU and its values are – especially by those who are desperate to join the club.

Robin Forestier-Walker is a Monocle contributor based in Tbilisi. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

South Korea isn’t the only Asian nation dealing with a bewildering impeachment saga. Lawmakers in the Philippines, another close US ally, are considering whether to impeach the country’s vice-president, Sara Zimmerman Duterte, over the alleged misuse of government funds. Complaints were filed against Duterte, the daughter of firebrand former president Rodrigo Duterte, after she threatened to have the incumbent, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, and his wife killed.

Relations between Duterte and Marcos Jr have broken down since the pair successfully appeared on the same ticket in the 2022 presidential election. Marcos Jr, who holds significant sway with lawmakers, seems to have the upper hand in the feud; he has publicly dismissed the latest furore as a “storm in a teacup” and a “waste of time”. In private, however, he might see this as his best chance to remove an increasingly dangerous thorn in his side.

The art world is flocking to Florida for Art Basel Miami Beach, which opens to the public today. This edition of the largest contemporary art event in the western hemisphere is the first under director Bridget Finn, who is tasked with striking the right balance between staying true to the brand and giving the event a Floridian flavour.

“Miami is truly both the cultural and geographical nexus between North and South America,” Finn tells The Monocle Minute. “So in many ways, that becomes a priority in terms of the show’s profile.” This year’s fair features a mammoth 283 galleries and a newly introduced option of smaller (and cheaper) booths to ensure that a fresh batch of younger galleries can take part in the buying and selling. The fair can’t guarantee a surfeit of sales but Miami, at least, always knows how to throw a good party.

A memoir by Germany’s former chancellor Angela Merkel has become the country’s most successful book of the year mere days after being published. Freedom: Memories 1954-2021 chronicles Merkel’s life from her upbringing in Soviet-controlled East Germany through to her 16 years in the driver’s seat of the German government. The 736-page book has soared to the top of Germany’s bestseller lists after selling more than 200,000 copies since its publication on 26 November.

Merkel’s tenure saw Germany transform into the powerhouse of the European Union. Since her departure in 2021, the nation’s leadership of the continent has slipped. Earlier this year, Germany’s seemingly indestructible governing coalition collapsed after disagreements over an increasingly fragile economy, which led Merkel’s successor as chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to dismiss his finance minister. With a rare snap election on the horizon, it’s little wonder that the German population are yearning for the stability that their beloved “Mutti” once embodied.

The Alpino newspaper – Monocle’s annual escape to snow-swept mountains and chillier climes – came out yesterday. Whether you’re in need of inspiration for your next trip to the Dolomites or essential reading for a skiing holiday over the Christmas break, our newspaper is full of bracing dispatches. From a unique school in French-speaking Switzerland to the extremes of Alaska and Iceland’s tempting tourism play, there are stories to keep everyone warm and informed. The below photo, shot by Seattle-based photographer Grant Hindsley, is from the paper’s report from America’s last frontier, where the US Army is training soldiers known as Arctic Wolves to fight in freezing conditions. To get around in the Alaskan snow, soldiers use super-tough BVS10 Beowulf vehicles (pictured) produced by BAE Systems.

For the full story and more cosy reading from our winter edition, pick up ‘Alpino’ online or on newsstands now.

French newspaper kiosks might have evolved but they still play a key role in the life of Paris. And there’s one that has become a star in its own right – Le Kiosque de Paris, in front of Le Bon Marché. It’s run by the brothers Médéric and Nicolas Bogo, who are following in the footsteps of their great-grandparents, grandparents and parents. And it’s not just the line-up of titles that pulls in so many regulars – and passers-by – but also the siblings’ rich knowledge about the titles that they sell and the time they take to talk to their customers.