Rocky way
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Seeing the European flag in places like Sarpi, Georgia always makes me smile at humanity’s unceasing optimism, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to suggest such optimism is, at best, misguided. Our good friend BReed, in a post better entitled "We Were Molested By the Soviets for 70 Years and All We Got Was Electrification and These Stupid Stamps, points to but a few reasons why EU membership is such a distant dream for the Georgians. I have come across a few examples myself in my recent travels. Now, everyone knows I love Turkey. I recognize that I tend to overlook elements of Turkishness that hold up poorly under close scrutiny. I’m just saying that, having seen Romania and Bulgaria, and spent a fair amount of time in Georgia and Azerbaijan, the Turks are getting the shaft from the EU. Let’s stop pretending that the EU gives a shit about human rights (would that Turkey had oil), buy those pesky generals off (everyone’s got their price) and let ‘em in already. Armed with a firm understanding of the principles of supply and demand, the Turks have got it going on. Let me give you a comparative example. The Turks have a fantastic nationwide bus system. They know there are people who want to go places and money to be made getting them there. Competition is cutthroat and you can be reasonably certain of getting to your destination in one piece, in a respectable degree of comfort, on time for a fair price. At one point of my journey, I had doubts. A bus on which I was riding broke down on the coastal highway between Trabzon and Hopa. As clouds of acrid smoke rose from its nether regions, I felt a rising – and too familiar -- sense of despair. Passengers stood on the narrow, shadeless shoulder as cars and dump trucks filled with boulders roared past the driver and conductor, who were involved in intense negotiations or, possibly, castigations, that involved many hand gestures. Nothing good happens to your travel plans when your bus catches on fire. However, in no more than 15 minutes, another bus pulled up. Passengers and baggage boarded and the journey proceeded with no further delay. That NEVER happens. I fell in love with the Turks all over again. Contrast this to my mashrutka ride from Batumi, Georgia to Tbilisi. I won’t bother elaborating on the general peril associated with riding in moving vehicles with Georgians, but let’s say just adherence to basic principles of highway safety was par for the course. But, seriously, how stupid do you have to be to run out of gas on the country’s busiest highway, between its two biggest cities, with petrol stations every two kilometers, after already stopping twice to put no more than three or four liters at a time in the tank? HOW FUCKING STUPID? I think Europe is pretty stupid sometimes, but this might exceed EU directives for maximum stupidity.
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