The other day I listened to an interview with Frida Lazba, a senior research fellow at the Abkhazian Institute of Economics and Law, on the topic of “How Abkhazia can use its economic potential and increase its own revenues.”

The interview was very amusing and, most importantly, easily predictable… All the clichés packed into one bottle…

In general, it often happens that the concept of “scholar” within a given nation becomes concentrated in one particular field — when there are dozens or even hundreds of scholars, but all of them are in the same discipline. For example, in the North Caucasus and in most Arab countries, a “scholar” is usually a theologian. In Abkhazia in the 1970s–80s, if there were scholars at all, almost all of them were historians and philologists. And overall, there is nothing strange about this, considering that the main goal of the Abkhaz people at that time was to prove that they were indigenous, and that the people across the Inguri were newcomers. All the intellectual energy of Abkhaz society during that period was entirely focused on accomplishing this epic task, which is why most of those who could read and write were historians and philologists.

Times have changed, tasks have multiplied, and “scholars” have appeared in other fields as well, for example, economists.

Listening to and reading Abkhaz economists is pure pleasure. The main thing is not to be lazy and to listen or read everything to the end. Though, by and large, this is not even necessary — they all say the same thing. Listen to one, and you will understand what the others will say.

The lady with the strikingly non-Abkhaz name “Frida” did not deviate one step from the fine tradition established by a group of extremely strange people who call themselves “Abkhaz economists.” Strange — because in the overwhelming majority of cases, their ideas have more to do with Abkhaz wishes than with economics.

Abkhaz wishes are very simple and clear: that we should have everything, and nothing should happen to us for it. In favor of everything good and against everything bad.

Frida Lazba gracefully juggled correct words that no one would object to: that the state should support investors, that the government should finance state projects through bonds, that it should help small and medium-d businesses, reduce the share of the shadow economy, and so on. Like other Abkhaz economists, she has everything in order with understanding WHAT needs to be done.

In general, WHAT needs to be done will be told to you anywhere — even in the most backward country. They will write multi-page concepts and abstruse programs. They will pour tons of empty talk and utter thousands of grandiloquent phrases, all in order to avoid doing the main thing — not to say and not to explain to people not WHAT needs to be done, but HOW.

And here it is, the million-dollar question. Not WHAT, but HOW? How are you going to stimulate investment, attract capital, develop small and medium-d businesses, reduce the shadow economy? Not a single Abkhaz scholar writes or speaks about HOW.

But I will tell you HOW. Of course, I am not a scholar, and I do not head institutes with prestigious names, but I can tell you in a few words, without 1,000-page reports — HOW.

Elementary. Start with the base, without which nothing exists, which is the foundation of everything — energy.

Sell the power plants, if any exist. Sell the distribution networks. The state should not be engaged in the production and sale of electricity — only private companies should. Increase the current tariff by at least 4–5 times, install meters everywhere, and mercilessly cut off electricity for non-payment. A large family, an elderly woman without means of subsistence, a wheelchair-bound disabled person — it does not matter who: everyone who does not pay for electricity must remain in the dark.

If you feel sorry for socially vulnerable and poor citizens — well, that is what the state is for, with its social policy and subsidies for those who cannot pay for utilities themselves. In any case, private energy companies must receive their due, and easing the life of the poor is the task of the state, not business.

I assure you: once you do this, the parasitic crypto-miners will leave Abkhazia far behind, and the energy crisis will end on its own, without concepts and programs of 2,000 pages…

Comrade Frida, instead of spending an hour telling us what is good and what is bad, tell us better whether you are ready for such an option? And at the same time for the possible complications, when your outraged compatriots take to the streets in protest and you have to disperse them with tear gas and water cannons?

Not ready, of course. No Abkhaz is ready.

You also need to reduce the share of the shadow economy, as you quite rightly noted. Want me to tell you how? Very simply: you send a special person into a shop, he buys a box of matches, does not receive a receipt, and he issues a fine exceeding the shop’s monthly turnover. Inspect all business companies and mercilessly fine them for non-compliance. Do this for three years in a row — and believe me, you will have no shadow economy.

Señora Frida, are you ready for such an option? And also for the possible complications, when your outraged compatriots take to the streets in protest and you have to disperse them with tear gas and water cannons?

Not ready, of course. No Abkhaz is ready.

And then you need to announce large-scale privatization, sell all sanatoriums, all state dachas, all hotels. Sell agricultural land to foreigners so that they can finally turn the land from the sacred property of the Abkhaz people into a commercial asset. Fight crime, without sparing your own, strictly enforce tax discipline, and of course, direct all finances toward education.

Young people should study in Europe, and those who remain in Abkhazia should predominantly receive technical education — so that there is no need to bring in welders from Turkey.

Undertake a number of actions that do not have a direct relation to the economy, but contribute to instilling discipline and self-organization skills in people — for example, a ban on smoking in public places and mandatory seatbelt use in cars. This is not about the economy, this is about discipline, without which there will be no economy at all.

Sooner or later, the question of Abkhazia’s self-sufficiency and the ability of its people to engage in productive labor will become relevant. Today, all the illusory well-being of Abkhazia rests exclusively on Russia, but the time may come when Russian assistance is reduced or discontinued.

In such a situation, Abkhazia must already have state institutions in place that would allow it, if left without Russia, not to collapse.

You do not need to import the Russian system of governance — it works only when there are inexhaustible natural resources; without them it is not viable. Abkhazians need to create modern state structures based on the rule of law.

To do this, it is necessary to erase old habits and traditions, to break the traditional Abkhaz mentality over the knee, which in reality is one of the trump cards in Russia’s hands.

Señora Frida, are you ready for such an option? And also for the possible complications, when your outraged compatriots take to the streets in protest and you have to disperse them with tear gas and water cannons?

Well, that’s what I thought.

Tengiz Ablotia