Dream, Georgia…Dream
For the Georgian people, Georgia Dream’s second try at passing the foreign agent registration law proved the charm.
It is a battle of the “playbooks.”
On the one side you have the so-called “Russian playbook,” where an authoritarian government uses threats of violence and oppression to intimidate a population into passivity, denying the people any voice when it comes to the shaping of society and defining the soul of a nation.
On the other hand, there is the “American playbook,” where secret money buys misplaced loyalty, allowing fantasy-laced scenarios of wealth and prosperity to drown out the practical matters of sovereignty, where false promises of freedom shout down the voices who cry out in defense of traditional values.
Whose playbook is in play all depends on which side of the argument one resides.
Today, the streets of Tbilisi, the capital of the southern Caucasus nation of Georgia, are jammed with thousands of protesters lamenting the probable passage of a bill—"on transparency of foreign influence”—they call “the Russian law.”
Thirteen months ago, similar crowds of angry young Georgians, many of whom carried the blue and gold banner of the European Union alongside the red and white flag of the Republic of Georgia, pressured the Georgian Parliament to withdraw from consideration the initial draft of this law, which would require non-governmental organizations to declare the sources of their funding, and mandated that those organizations that took in more than 20 percent of their funding from foreign sources register as foreign agents.
Similar Russian legislation passed in 2012 (and subsequently modified in 2019 and 2021) proved to be the death knell for US, UK, and EU-funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that had spent more than two decades trying to, according to their leaders, shape Russian civil society along western lines.
But the Russian government saw things differently. These same NGOs, the Russian government maintained, were involved in fomenting a soft-power coup by tearing down public confidence in government while simultaneously promoting so-called political opposition that, by receiving money and instructions from abroad, was less a product of Russian democracy, and more a tool of malign foreign interests.
The Russian legislation succeeded in its objective—with few exceptions, those political oppositionists who took foreign money were rooted out and expelled from Russian political life.
This was the “Russian law.”
For the leaders of the ruling Georgian political party, Georgia Dream, the failure to pass the foreign registration legislation represented more than a political setback—it opened the door for a renewed push by the US and EU to seize control of the Georgian socio-political agenda, paving the way for pro-EU/NATO political parties to defeat Georgia Dream in elections scheduled for October 2024.
In short, the US and EU were succeeding in accomplishing in Georgia—a soft-power coup—what they failed to accomplish in Russia.
Because Russia passed the “Russian law.”
The narrative painted by the pro-EU/NATO Georgians was one that blames Russia for all that ails Georgia today, and portrays the West (i.e., the US/EU/NATO) as Georgia’s saviors. But a quick review of the relevant history provides a completely different reality.
For most of the 20th Century Georgia enjoyed peace and prosperity as part of the Soviet Union, where Georgians lived in harmony with their Russian neighbors.
In 1991 Georgian nationalists led Georgia down a path of national suicide, prematurely declaring independence from the Soviet Union, and foregoing the normalization of relations with Russia in the false pursuit of western prosperity.
The West ignored Georgia.
In 1991-92 Georgian nationalists instigated a Civil War in South Ossetia which tore Georgia apart, leading to civil conflict and ethnic cleansing.
Russia intervened as a peacekeeper.
The West ignored Georgia.
In 1992-93 Georgian nationalists instigated a Civil War in Abkhazia which led to the loss of that territory, the deaths of tens of thousands, and more than 250,000 Georgians ethnically cleansed.
Russia offered to intervene to save Abkhazia. The Georgian government rebuked the Russian offer.
The West ignored Georgia.
In 1993 Georgian nationalists started a Civil War that threatened to tear Georgia apart.
Russia offered to intervene to save Georgia.
Georgia accepted the Russian offer.
Georgia was saved.
The West ignored Georgia.
In 2003 the West pushed Georgia to overthrow its government (the so-called “Rose Revolution”), tempting Georgia with promises of EU and NATO membership.
In 2003 the West had Georgia deploy troops to Iraq.
In 2004 the West had Georgia deploy troops to Afghanistan.
In both conflicts Georgian boys were killed and wounded fighting in a war that had nothing to do with Georgia, and everything to do with preserving western hegemony.
The Russians did nothing to Georgia.
In 2008 Russia was engaged in active negotiations with Georgia for the return of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
That same year the West ordered the Georgian government to stop negotiations, and instead use the Georgian army, which the West had helped build, to invade South Ossetia.
Georgia invaded, killing Russian peacekeepers in their sleep.
Russia counterattacked, destroying the Georgian army.
Russia stopped short of taking Tbilisi, which was left undefended.
The West did nothing to help Georgia.
In 2014 the West provoked a war with Russia in Ukraine.
The West promised to stand by Ukraine forever.
The West promised Ukraine EU and NATO membership.
In 2022 Russia counterattacked.
Ukraine is being destroyed.
There is no EU membership,
There is no NATO membership.
There is only death and destruction.
In 2024 the West is trying to buy Georgian politicians in an effort to open a second front against Russia.
The West offers EU membership.
The West offers NATO membership.
Russia offers peace and co-prosperity.
Georgia, the choice is yours:
A path of peace and prosperity that leads through Moscow.
Or a path of war and destruction that leads through Brussels.
Choose wisely.
It appears that the ruling Georgia Dream Party is heeding this advice. On April 17 the Georgian Parliament adopted the bill on transparency of foreign influence in its first reading with 83 votes in favor and none against. According to Georgian parliamentary procedure, the bill was sent to committee, where each paragraph will be considered, and the opportunity for debate and amendment provided. This process takes about two weeks, after which the bill will be brought up for reading again and voted on.
Parliamentary wisdom dictates that one doesn’t bring up a vote on a controversial issue unless the outcome is predetermined.
Georgia Dream has a super majority in the Georgian Parliament, meaning that it can override a Presidential veto (and one is expected).
The only way to prevent the bill on transparency of foreign influence from becoming law is if enough Georgian parliamentarians are intimidated by either the threat of violent protests at home, or political sanctions abroad.
The Georgian Prime Minister has made sure that there is sufficient police power present to hold in check the emotions of the opposition protestors.
And the threat of EU sanctions is mitigated by the reality that awaits Georgia Dream and the Georgian nation if they are not able to pass the foreign influence bill—a war with Russia, and all that entails.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze emphasized this reality in a statement made to the Georgian people about the importance of the foreign influence bill. “If the NGOs had achieved what they were actively trying to do between 2020 and 2022,” Kobakhidze said, “which was to change the Government through a revolution, today Georgia would have been in a worse situation than Ukraine, which means that both peace [in the country] and the European integration would have been left behind.”
Kobakhidze went on the explain that, “The bill is primarily aimed at protecting Georgia from Ukrainization, strengthening the sovereignty and ensuring [the country’s] stable development, which is a necessary condition for Georgia’s integration into the European Union. Avoiding Ukrainization is a necessary condition for Georgia’s integration into the European Union, and this is the main goal of this bill.”
The Ukrainian government decried Kobakhidze’s use of the term “Ukrainization,” but there simply isn’t a more apt word available to describe the fate of Georgia should the foreign influence bill fail to become law.
Opposition parties, such as Droa! (“It’s Time!”), have accepted money, in violation of the Georgian Constitution and Georgian law, from foreign sources—Elene Khoshtaria, the head of Droa!, which operates both as a political party and an NGO, recently admitted receiving money from the European Foundation for Democracy (EFD), an off-shoot of the US-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a State Department-supported NGO. The EFD is largely funded by State Department grants, grants from the FDD, and fundraising done by the FDD on behalf of the EFD. In short, the EFD is a money-laundering front for US government-directed funds used to promote regime change in the name of democracy.
If the FDD were operating in the United States as an adjunct of a foreign nation, it would be required to register under the US foreign agent registration act, or FARA.
But the demonstrators gathered outside the Georgian parliament do not decry the “American law,” which would be an apt description of the bill before the Georgian Parliament, but rather the “Russian law,” a fictional construct drawn from their own propagandistic imaginations.
The battle lines have been drawn. The future of the Georgian nation is on the line. Right now, the Georgian government appears to be committed to making this foreign registration legislation law. All that is needed now is for enough Georgian politicians to hold firm to their principles, which argue against Georgia taking the dark path toward “Ukrainization.”
Georgians need to avoid the nightmare of war, and instead dream of peace.
Dream, Georgia…dream.
It would be good for all countries to adopt "the Russian law" and require ALL NGOs to declare the source of their funding. And even better - all politicians! NGOs are used everywhere to Launder money and buy influence. They are a cancer infecting the body politic.
Really, Scott, you simply MUST stop confusing people with facts and reason!