I'm leaving tomorrow for Tblisi, Georgia to attend and give two talks at the Cato Institute's conference on "Freedom, Commerce, and Peace: A Regional Agenda". This will be my second trip to Tblisi, and it will be interesting to see if there's been any improvement.

Before the conference itself, I'm going to spend a few days hiking in the Khevsureti region of Georgia up near the Chechnya border (sshh: don't tell my wife!). This is a beautiful area with medieval fortresses and stunning mountains.

I do hope, however, the Russian tanks don't come rushing across the border. Russia and Georgia are, you see, having a bit of a spat at present. In fact, I just spent two hours standing at the ticket counter at the airport changing my flights around because all flights between the two countries are currently shut down (and naturally I was flying through Moscow on the way home.)