In the winding streets of ancient Tbilisi, one is ever under his watchful gaze. From a hilltop glass mansion, likened by critics to a Bond villain’s lair, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s wealthiest and most influential figure, has guided the country’s shift away from the west over more than a decade.
With his party’s latest victory in the pivotal parliamentary elections on Saturday, that trajectory appears set to continue for years to come, sparking warnings from opponents that Ivanishvili plans to dismantle Georgia’s fragile three-decade experiment with democracy while blocking any viable path to EU integration.
Since his short tenure as prime minister from 2012 to 2013, the secretive oligarch, whose wealth is estimated to be $7.5bn in a country whose GDP is $30bn, has largely exerted his influence from behind the scenes and is widely described by many Georgians as the country’s “puppet master”.
Media Bias/Fact Check - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Media Bias/Fact Check:
Wiki: unreliable - There is consensus that Media Bias/Fact Check is generally unreliable, as it is self-published. Editors have questioned the methodology of the site’s ratings.
MBFC: Least Biased - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: Very High - United States of America
The Guardian - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for The Guardian:
Wiki: reliable - There is consensus that The Guardian is generally reliable. The Guardian’s op-eds should be handled with WP:RSOPINION. Some editors believe The Guardian is biased or opinionated for politics. See also: The Guardian blogs.
Wiki: mixed - Most editors say that The Guardian blogs should be treated as newspaper blogs or opinion pieces due to reduced editorial oversight. Check the bottom of the article for a “blogposts” tag to determine whether the page is a blog post or a non-blog article. See also: The Guardian.
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - United Kingdom
Billionaires are a malignant disease all across the world. They don’t deserve to exist.
He’s a Kremlin asset that should leave Georgia and never come back.
