Shuffled 2025-14

This week turned out to be not quite as devoid of events as I was fearing a week ago, but though I have heard rumours of some other impactful things happening in the world, the threshold here is someone actually leaving office, and by this metric it has certainly been the quietest week of the year so far:

🇬🇪 Georgia: In what superficially has the semblance of a straightforward machinery of government change, the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure has been split into a (gasp!) Ministry of Regional Development and a Ministry of Infrastructure. It is widely believed, however, that this is not so much about developing the regions, as rigging the upcoming municipal elections. The plan was for the existing Minister, Irakli Karseladze, to remain in the Infrastructure role, with “Regional Development” going to the Head of the State Security Service, Grigol Liluashvili, in what would otherwise be a demotion for him. Anri Okhanashvili, the Justice Minister, would move up to SSSG, with Paata Salia in turn taking on his first ministerial role. But when the music stopped, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze suddenly ripped the chair out from under Liluashvili, supposedly over a difference of opinion on his picks for junior ministers, but more likely because he’s seen as a possible future candidate for Prime Minister (and/or due to further Russian meddling¹ ). Liluashvili is now out entirely, with Deputy Mayor of Tbilisi Kakhaber Guledani the last-minute replacement as Minister of Elections Regional Development.

🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea: The Democratic Party (PDGE) is no longer the only political party in the country, though in many regards it might as well be, given that they hold the Presidency, and every seat in both houses of Parliament. For more than decade, Jerónimo Osa Osa Ecoro was its Secretary General (though perhaps more well-known internationally for having €60 million in cash stolen from his house a while back), before stepping down late last year. Now the Interior Minister, Faustino Ndong Esono Ayang, has been appointed to take over, with former junior minister Victoriano Engonga Ondó Kea slotting swiftly into the newly vacated senior role.

🇨🇱 Chile: Jeannette Jara, the Minister of Labour, has resigned, to run for President.

🇰🇷 South Korea: Kim Moon-soo, the Minister of Labour, has resigned, to run for President.

Follow-up:

🇮🇱 Israel: Bezalel Smotrich’s resignation and unresignation antics last week were part of a complicated ploy to push Yitzhak Kroizer, from the rival ultra-nationalist Otzma Yehudit party, out of the Knesset, so that Zvi Sukkot, from Smotrich’s Religious Zionist Party, could return instead. With the in-fighting between these parties threatening to bring down the coalition, Netanyahu has instead managed to persuade Otzma Yehudit MK Almog Cohen to take a vague new Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office position, freeing up his Knesset seat for Sukkot.

Catch-up:

🇧🇾 Belarus: In news that I missed for last week, Aleksei Kushnarenko, the Minister of Energy, and former head of the state-owned gas company, has been reassigned as Governor of Minsk Oblast, with Deputy Minister Denis Moroz promoted to the top spot.

Next week:

Things start to pick back up again, with updates from Bangladesh, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Liechtenstein, South Sudan, and more. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you know what to do…

1  After I’d spent way too long spelunking the warren, this morning the Eurasia Daily Monitor published a much better explanation of it all than I can possibly pull together here.