Something is in the works in Georgia, besides a unanimous vote on a law that the West does not want. On April 17, the ruling Georgian Dream party passed the “Foreign Agents Law” in its first reading, with 83 votes in favor and none against. The fanfare over the bill is just the beginning of what is to come next, and this is more revealing than the vote itself and the wording of the bill.
The first sign of something being planned is with restricting a journalist from arriving is over the top, especially for democracy– loving Georgia. To detain an RT journalist, hold him for hours and then deport without telling why is really over the top, however, what likely scares Georgian authorities the most is his dual-US-Russian citizenships.
I have predicted too many times that things will get hot here when things crash and burn in Ukraine, as this is the last forward operation base for US hegemony. In terms of recent protests, and the police reaction, or at times overreaction, that seems to get all the international media coverage over the proposed foreign influencer- agent’s law, we are starting to see this happen.
Today, it seems that most of the articles are focused on the police reaction, unproven claims that it is a Russian law, and how the President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, is against the law. Most of the press fails to mention that she is an unelected figurehead, highly unpopular among the people, and most likely on the payroll of at least one foreign intelligence service.
Why would they not focus on her being a French agent? Lol
The West has given the government of Georgia little choice now but to have passed this law, to show its sovereignty and that it will not cave into outside funded and organized protests, and that is why this law is so important. It is required to ensure that Georgia, be it the state or public, not be manipulated by outsiders, either the West or Russia or even large private funders.
Good luck finding a balanced article in western media on the topic
Even the subtitles are a foregone conclusion for all practical purposes. “The Legislation is seen as similar to an anti-democratic Russian law, and Brussels has said it would undermine hopes of EU membership.” The larger question is: Why should EU membership depend on domestic laws that are intended to safeguard Georgian national security? It should be noted that a number of EU members already have such laws, including France, whose ambassador rather hypocritically said that such laws were not appropriate for Georgia.
This rank hypocrisy is seen in the public statements from a number of western governments, including the US and EU, particularly the “Diplomats Club” representing the western embassies in Georgia. This group of ambassadors claim that the current government is “backsliding in democracy” and: shooting itself in the foot when it comes to EU membership.
The diplomats refer specifically to the “Foreign Agents Law,” emphasizing that the government’s goal with this law is to destroy civil society and civil society organizations, “through the efforts of which the EU granted us candidate status last year.”
“Georgia’s veteran diplomats express their full solidarity with thousands of patriots fighting for the country’s independence, democracy and European future, and call on our colleagues, serving Georgian diplomats and the international community to stand firmly on the side of the Georgian people,” the statement concludes.
This is incredibly rich, given that the same “western friends” of Georgia have no problem with Zelensky banning all opposition parties, taking state control of all media, and cancelling elections in Ukraine.
Another case of the so-called “Rules-Based Order” being a lie
This two faced approach is also shown in the statements by western ambassadors and their governments in relation to what they describe as “Police brutality” against “Peaceful protestors”. If one watched any of the coverage of the protests, it was obvious that the police were reacting to attempts to storm the parliament building, something that would not be acceptable in any of the western capitals that are issuing such hypocritical statements. One only needs to be reminded of the US reaction to the January 6th protests of 2020. How many American citizens were arrested for entering “the people’s house” and remain in detention without trial?
Police arrests appear to have been limited to those that were throwing projectiles such as paving stones at the police, or physically striking officers. While the police did use pepper spray and tear gas to finally disperse the protestors, this is nothing unusual, a seen in numerous cases in the EU and US, where the same methods are used to disperse protests by police agencies.
More hypocrisy
The hyperbola is extreme, with Samira Bayramova, a well-known NGO funded activist and darling of the Western Embassies and NGOs, made the insane claim that “The policemen standing behind the parliament are more aggressive and sadistic than the Russian army that entered in 2008” [writes on X] 04.16.24” which just shows the level of lies that activists and their western backers are prepared to go to.
Furthermore, the claim of 10,000 protestors took to the streets on the 16th of April seems a bit of a stretch, even so, this is a small protest for this country. If true, then why so much spin over this in the Western media, and with a bit of imagination, I would suspect the dire situation in Ukraine for the West may be a contributing factor. You will find few protectors at any political street meeting here unless they are getting paid, (NED at work) and having been to many, similar faces appear over and over again. The protests held on the 17th were larger, but again, were nothing compared in size to the annual Orthodox Church led “Day of the Veneration of the Holy Family” held each year on May 17th, in defiance of the western attempt to instigate LGBTQ events in this conservative Orthodox country.
A further development is the stance taken by the unpopular so-called President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, a French citizen of Georgian ancestry, widely known to have been foisted on Georgian Dream as “their” candidate by the EU and US. Considered by most of the population as a foreign agent, she has promised to veto any law that “goes against the European path” of Georgia.
The French-born President, who can’t even speak Georgian properly, has admitted that any such veto will be overridden by the parliamentary majority, strangely claiming that she has to do it because “she alone represents the will of the Georgian public” as opposed to the democratically elected government. She has also, to much public outrage, and at the instruction of her foreign masters, recently pardoned Lazare Grigoriadis, who badly injured a Georgian police officer by inflicting severe burns on him with a Molotov cocktail during similar protests last year.
It is becoming more and more apparent that the US and EU intend to cause another revolution in Georgia. MEP Petrus Austrevicius, for example, called for protestors to use the “Rose Revolution Spirit” to save Georgia. I am waiting to see where the usual instigator of such activities, Victoria Nuland, raises her ugly head.
I wonder if the western funded NGOs and their US and EU masters have really thought this through. They want to “keep Georgia on the path to Europe” (one which will never be achieved, one might add) and use the country as a needle with which to prod Russia. This is the same disastrous policy that they have undertaken in Ukraine, and it is not hard to see why the current Georgian government has been so careful to not become involved in the ongoing western led Ukrainian debacle.
Do the neo-cons in Washington, Brussels, and various western capitals really think that Russia will sit idly by and allow a government that is not actively hostile to Russia to be replaced with one that is?
It is not hard to fathom why a bill that would require organizations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad would not want to register as being agents of foreign influence, it would allow the public to see exactly what their so-called friends in the west are really funding. It is likely to pass in a parliament controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party and its allies.
Henry Kamens, columnist, expert on Central Asia and Caucasus, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.