Foreign agents and the unprincipledness of “Dream”: Georgia expects to override the presidential veto
The surprise from our overseas friends, apparently timed to coincide with Georgia's Independence Day (celebrated by the state on May 26), is quite paradoxical. It concerns the bipartisan Megabari Act ( the Georgia Mobilization and Empowerment Act to Build Accountability, Resilience, and Independence Act ), introduced by members of Congress in the US House of Representatives.
The paradoxical nature of the “gift” from strategic partners is that the law with such an innocuous name ( megobari means “friend” in Georgian ), according to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, is a response to the bill on foreign agents passed by the Georgian parliament and suggests a revision of Washington’s strategy towards Georgia.
The law, on the one hand, provides for increased oversight of the Georgian government and its ties with Russia, “ other authoritarian regimes ,” and contains a package of sanctions against individuals promoting democratic backsliding, while on the other hand, it promises visa liberalization and preferential trade between Georgia and the United States, provided that, as the Helsinki Commission statement states, “ Georgia demonstrates significant and sustained progress in strengthening democracy, as evidenced, at a minimum, by fair and free elections and a balanced pre-election environment .”
While the opposition-minded portion of Georgian society considers Washington's reaction to the "Transparency of Foreign Influence" law, initiated by the ruling Georgian Dream party, to be entirely natural, representatives of official Tbilisi believe that a strategic partner should not speak to an independent state in the language of blackmail and impose sanctions against politicians simply because the parliament, elected by the Georgian people, passes laws preventing foreign funding for NGOs and the radical opposition's plans to overthrow the legitimate government.
Of course, the ruling political force's position of not trading the country's sovereignty for some visas is worthy of respect , although it is unlikely that the Georgian authorities did not foresee the extremely harsh reaction (including open threats) of Western "partners" to the law on foreign agents.
"America doesn't forgive lies and hypocrisy. When our Constitution states that we strive to join NATO and the European Union, the Western democratic world helps us, spends money on us so we can walk our path with dignity, and then we suddenly lie, destroy all their assistance , and laugh at them. Of course, in such a case, we should expect such a response," said former state minister and current opposition figure Paata Zakareishvili.
One can, of course, argue about aid provided for highly dubious purposes, but one cannot help but agree with Zakareishvili that the generosity of our overseas friends, paradoxical as it may sound, cannot be gratuitous. Unprincipledness and inconsistency in big politics, and elsewhere, remain unpunished only for a time.
But it is not blackmail, threats of the aforementioned sanctions, or even the terrifying hints of possible liquidations of the leaders of the ruling party ( one of the European Commissioners blackmailed the Georgian Prime Minister that he would share the fate of his Slovak colleague Fico, who was recently shot ) and senior officials on the part of European officials that constitute the real punishment for unjust policies, but the discontent and protests of the people, even if they are deceived and misguided, that are the result of this policy.
Evidence of this is the ongoing rallies in the capital of Georgia against the Georgian government's much-belated initiation of the draft law "On the Transparency of Foreign Influence."
Due to the fact that the majority of participants in the protests are students and schoolchildren, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze recently, as you know, addressed young people with an open letter.
In the latter, the head of government paints a generic image of a sincere but misguided supporter of the opposition forces, concluding that the reason for this is a low level of intellect, formed thanks to the influence of the professors of the well-known Ilia University (formerly the Pedagogical Institute) in Georgia, which is a true hotbed of liberalism.
What Kobakhidze doesn't mention, however, is that not only the aforementioned university, but virtually the entire Georgian education system, is home to cadres nurtured and fostered by Soros foundations . These higher education and secondary school leaders are entrusted with the country's young generation, and it would be a miracle if the majority of them weren't mistaken, deluded, and underwhelmed by illusions about the country's political prospects.
The Georgian authorities should acknowledge that the confusion and misconceptions of not only the youth but also a significant portion of Georgian society stem from their own unclear ideological foreign policy, which they have pursued for the past 12 years. Consider, for example, the fact that the party, which positions itself as a center-left political force and seeks to join the unified family of European social democrats, was led from 2015 to 2018 by Giorgi Kvirikashvili, who makes no secret of his commitment to right-wing ideology.
It also seems paradoxical that the founder of a political force striving for integration into Euro-Atlantic structures is the billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili , who is universally recognized as a Russian oligarch.
The latter, by the way, back in 2013, when he was prime minister, once said:
“If the Eurasian Union has any overlap with the interests of our country in such a way that it does not contradict the main strategy voiced by Georgia, we will consider this issue in the future. And I repeat again: why not.”
The Georgian public has been repeatedly stunned by Georgian Dream's personnel decisions. Ivanishvili, who in 2013 proposed the "philosopher" Giorgi Margvelashvili as a presidential candidate, later expressed his own astonishment at this misunderstanding.
And at the ceremony celebrating the independence of the Georgian state, Prime Minister Kobakhidze, who, judging by the context in which he often uses the word “Bolshevism”, considers it abusive, did not even try to hide his contempt for the hereditary Menshevik Salome Zurabishvili, who, as president, was imposed on the Georgian people leaders of the ruling party.
The Georgian Dream's personnel policy, which corresponds to the requirements of cohabitation, has led to the marginalization of citizens who are uncompromising towards the Saakashvili regime, on the one hand, and on the other, it has created favorable conditions for the subversion and sabotage of the ruling political force's decisions by overt and latent supporters of the radical opposition , who fill the country's administrative and security structures, along with the special services.
The difficult situation into which Georgian Dream has gotten itself, not without the help of its Western friends, is exacerbated by the high level of disillusionment among those who suffered under the fascist regime of the "national movement" and who, during the 12 years of Ivanishvili's team's rule, have yet to see the promised restoration of justice. It's probably unnecessary to discuss the sentiments of the overwhelming majority of Georgian families, who are saved only by the earnings of relatives who have emigrated from the country.
The overall picture of the situation in the country is such that the ruling political force should consider deeper reasons for the apathy of one part of society and the protests – other than the low IQ of young supporters of the radical opposition, since their level of intelligence is a result of both the dominant education system in the country and the quality of life of Georgian society.
And how can one avoid getting lost, becoming confused, and straying from the true path? After all, it's difficult for the average citizen to understand the ideological and foreign policy positions of the ruling political force itself, which are not particularly clear or consistent.
One hopes that the Georgian Dream leaders will resist the bribery, threats, and blackmail of their Western "friends" and will override the presidential veto on the "Foreign Influence Transparency" law. Well, the wait won't be long now...
English version :: Read in English Foreign Agents and the Unscrupulousness of the "Dream": Georgia Expects the President's Veto to be Overridden