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TBILISI-The blocking of Georgia's main east-west highway by Russian soldiers for nearly a week threatens the economic viability of the poor Black Sea nation, ministers and analysts say.Lorries with foreign number plates normally compete with local goods trucks and battered private cars for space on the road between the capital Tbilisi and the ports of Poti and Batumi.But since last Wednesday Russian soldiers with Kalashnikov rifles have guarded checkpoints on the road and camouflaged tanks in fields have trained their cannons on nearby hills."It will have a very serious impact on the economy," Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze told Reuters when asked about the fallout of a prolonged Russian blockade of the road.The well-paved road is the main route across the mountainous former Soviet state. It also links Georgia's Black Sea ports with Baku, capital of energy-rich Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea some 1,000 km (700 miles) away.Bypassing the Russian checkpoints via the narrow, rough and steep roads of southern Georgia is barely an option for cars and simply not possible for lorries, said Georgia's first deputy economics minister, Vakhtang Lezhava.Trade volumes between Tbilisi and the Black Sea have dropped by some 95 percent since the road was blocked, he said.The conflict between Georgia and its former overlord Russia erupted after Tbilisi tried to recapture the Moscow-backed separatist region of South Ossetia. This provoked a huge Russian counter-attack that has shaken ties between Moscow and the West.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah.......
