Why I Started Region Alert: From Tbilisi Riots to Real-Time Intelligence

Sean Hagarty built Region Alert after living through Tbilisi riots and the Azeri-Armenian war. The story behind real-time field intelligence.

Posted: January 2026 · 12 min read · By Sean Hagarty, Founder

A Georgian man was captured by occupying forces near Gori. It never made the front page of the New York Times. But in Tbilisi, where I lived with my wife and kids, it was the only thing anyone was talking about, and it signaled an escalation that the international community ignored until it was too late.

That gap between what locals know and what the world reports is where people get hurt. It is exactly why Region Alert exists.

Sean Hagarty

Sean Hagarty

Founder of Region Alert. Former resident of Tbilisi, Georgia during multiple regional conflicts.

When "Stability" Evaporates in Hours

In 2023, the Azeri-Armenian war unfolded a few hundred miles from our apartment. In the Caucasus, a war next door is not just news. It is a direct threat to logistics, fuel supply, and the safety of everyone you know. Georgia was being pushed to the brink, and most international observers had no idea.

The Ground Reality: Tbilisi 2023-2024

While I was on the ground, the city went through massive riots and mass arrests. Streets were blocked, communication was spotty, and the "official" news sources were always three steps behind the reality on the corner of Rustaveli Avenue.

A Request from the Field

After moving back to the U.S., the calls kept coming. A partner operating near a border where ISIS cross-border bombings had become a weekly event did not want a white paper on regional stability. They needed to know if a truck could pass a checkpoint right now. They needed to know about a drone strike 12 miles from their site minutes after it happened, not days later when mainstream media caught up.

Why Region Alert Exists

The tools big NGOs and mining companies rely on are either too slow or too detached from ground truth. Region Alert is what I wish I had in Tbilisi: a system that monitors 1,000+ local sources. Telegram channels, regional radio, community forums, in 100+ languages and filters them into actionable intelligence for people whose lives depend on it.

Operational certainty is not about avoiding risk. It is about seeing risk clearly enough to navigate it.

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