JAMES TAM  谭炳昌

要瞭解格魯吉亞的處境，失業率是個好參數。蘇聯瓦解後，格魯吉亞獨立，失業率狂飆至85%，社會動蕩了二十多年。現在比較安定，失業率降了下來，仍然停留在65%的懸崖邊上。導遊指出，格魯吉亞人的傳統本領是務農和打仗。現在人口只有三百多萬，要把本事擴大，經濟多元化，談何容易？美國，北約和以色列於是把握機會，大發好心，在一個名為 「軍備培訓」 的資助計劃下，大力培養格魯吉亞人的戰爭天分。 格魯吉亞人給我的印象很淳樸倔強，老實勤勞。但很多人的眼神都帶著幾分無奈與憂戚。 Unemployment in Georgia is a good indicator of the disheartening situation. When first separated from the USSR in 1991, the newborn nation plunged promptly into chaos. Unemployment rocketed to 85%. Relative calmness has been restored, but unemploym

A capella singer in a stone chamber at Garni, Armenia 在亚美尼亚古迹 Garni 石室清唱圣诗的歌手 我將阿塞拜疆與亞美尼亞兩個世仇放在一起，是對他們的一種友好祝願。早在一戰前，這兩族人一有機會便你插我眼珠，我咬你耳朵。20世紀期間，奧斯曼帝國，大英帝國，和蘇聯都先後當過監護人，亦分別播下了新衝突的種子。 By mixing Armenian and Azerbaijani faces in this post, I’ve probably committed a capital offence in both countries. Animosity between the two neighbours goes way back to before WW1, for untraceable reasons which have long been distilled down to elemental hatred. For more than a century now, they’d

We are supposed to be tolerant of religion no matter how absurd it is; but religions have not been very tolerant of others. Throughout the Caucasus, there’s nearly nothing left of its pre-Christian glories; they have been brutally destroyed or craftily painted over by organised religions long ago. All that’s left from five millennia of Caucasian civilisation are churches, cathedrals, monasteries, and memories of savage conflicts incited by gods. In less than three weeks, I sa

A few months ago, I was still misspelling Caucasus as “Caucuses”. Now that I’ve visited Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia for 18 days, less travel time, I have learnt a few trivia about the Southern Caucasus, and formed some superficial impressions of my own. 老實說，幾個月前，我連高加索是哪個「索」字也搞不清。但花了18天時間參觀南高三國 －－ 阿塞拜疆，亞美尼亞，格魯吉亞 －－之後，除了知道了一點點他們的歷史文化和風土人情外，也對這歐亞要塞多了幾分模糊印象和片面看法。 Tsminda Sameba Church against Kazbegi 格魯吉亞著名的卡茲別吉風貌 The Caucasus is one of the earliest cradles of civilisation.