What’s more, there is “brutal and violent repression against media, opposition and protesters on the streets.” It happens in Georgia – which may be apparently far away but those who manifest themselves on the streets with EU flags are considered closer to us than from Russia, China and Iran. Because it is what it is – to choose sides. And democracy. And freedom. Jill Dougherty, former CNN’s chief of staff in Moscow, analyzes
With the collapse of democracy in Georgia, Russia, China and Iran see an opportunity
by Jill Dougherty (Former CNN’s chief of staff in Moscow, adjunct professor at the University of Georgetown and CNN collaborator over Russia)
A decade ago, Georgia was the example of post-soviet countries that were on their way to democracy and freedom. The government was taking steps to combat corruption. Civil society was flourishing. The economy was growing up. American companies were investing.
In 2004, although not a member of NATO, Georgia sent its soldiers to Afghanistan to join the United States and other members of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), becoming the largest contributor from outside NATO for the operation. In 2005, then US President George W. Bush visited the capital, Tbilisi, and the motorway leading to the airport was renamed “George W. Bush Street”.
The street sign is still there, but today democracy in Georgia, a small but strategically localized nation and with 3.7 million inhabitants, is falling apart. In the capitol, in a bipartisan effort, Republicans and Democrats are pressuring the approval of the Megobari Law.
In the Georgian language, “Megobari” means friend and his prosecutors claim that his goal is to reinforce democratic practices, human rights and the rule of law in Georgia. The law imposes American sanctions, prohibition of visas and freezing assets to employees considered responsible for electoral fraud, corruption and political repression. But, warning American congressmen, Georgia is falling rapidly under the influence of Russia, China and Iran.
Last December, the US imposed sanctions on Georgia’s ruler, Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire who made a fortune in Russia in the 1990s. The party that founded, called Georgian dream, controls all branches of government. Almost all political opposition leaders are trapped; According to human rights defense groups, about 60 political prisoners are defining in prison.
For more than 200 days that protesters have been filled with the main street of Tbilisi with flags from Georgia, the United States and the European Union.
Many now wear masks, trying to avoid being identified by what anti -corruption groups say it is a growing number of Chinese facial factor -installed chambers. Infringers of what the Amnesty International Human Rights Defense Group says it is a new repressive legislation to repress dissent can be fined until the equivalent of 1700 euros.
A Georgian dream spokesman did not make statements to the international CNN on the issue of Chinese manufacturing chambers used for surveillance.
Protesters were violently detained and tortured, according to international transparency, one of the anti -corruption groups. Last year, the US imposed sanctions on the then Georgia Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri for “brutal and violent repression against members of the media, opposition and protesters.”
Levan Makhashvili, a member of the Georgian Dream Party and chairman of the Georgia Parliament European Integration Committee, tells the International CNN that protests were essentially peaceful. However, it states that there were some violent protesters and that they should be processed. “There is a law: if we challenge state institutions, if we challenge the country, well, then we have to be prepared for responsibility. If they invade the US capitol, they are responsible, if they invade any Parliament of the European Union, they are responsible.
“Of course turning point”
Georgia held parliamentary elections in October and international observers stated that they were not free or fair. The opposition decided to boycott the new parliament and, without anyone to prevent the Georgian dream legislators, they approved what the observers say are a series of Russian draconian laws that profoundly polarized Georgian society and harmed ties with the leading western allies.
Last week, the European Parliament adopted a report that stated that the fraudulent elections had “marked a clear turning point for an authoritarian government in the Candidate Candidate for the EU,” according to a press release, and appealed to the holding of new elections and the return to the road.
China’s influence on Georgia is also increasing. Last year, the government canceled a contract with a Georgian, American and European consortium for the construction of the deep water port in the Black Sea. Instead, he attributed the contract to Chinese Chinese state companies, some of which are under US sanctions.
The Georgian dream is also meeting friends in Iran. Last year, the then newly named Georgia Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze moved to Tehran to watch the funeral of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, joining the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah in the funeral procession. In July, he returned to Iran for the inauguration of the new president.
Trade between Iran and Georgia is in full expansion, mainly due to imports of oil and Iranian oil products from this last country. An investigation carried out by an NGO based in Georgia, Civic Idea, says that, “as diplomatic ties between the Georgian dream government and Iran have narrowed, several companies have emerged in Georgia with direct connections to the Iran’s Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces Logistics Agency.”
The investigation concludes that “Iranian business men are using Georgia as a strategic traffic point to escape international sanctions and channel funds to the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“More vulnerable to Kremlin”
Georgia’s once strong relationship with the United States is disintegrating. The outgoing US ambassador to Tbilisi, Robin Dunnigan, criticizes what he describes as the government’s “anti -American rhetoric”. In an interview with RFE/RL, he said that the leaders of the Georgian dream sent a private letter to the Trump administration that was “threatening, insulting, not serious and received extremely bad in Washington.”
Makhashvili, from the Georgian dream, attributes deterioration to the Biden administration. “We were very surprised by the former ambassador’s statement,” he says to CNN. “We had a feeling that many people simply don’t want these ties to be invigorated and are trying to install as many blockages or impediment factors as possible.”
Georgia is “more than ready to cooperate” with the Trump administration, insists Makhashvili, and made it “explicitly clear” that he wants to “invigorate ties with the new US administration – whether in trade, economics, transportation, logistics, all kinds of areas where the United States are interested, especially in this part of the world.”
Despite the growing alignment of their government with Russia, the Georgian people overwhelmingly support integration with the West. The constitution of Georgia includes a mandate to continue full integration in the European Union and NATO. However, in November 2024, the Georgian dream -controlled government, while insisting that it still intends to move forward with the EU, suspended its efforts, a decision that the US State Department warned that it would make Georgia “more vulnerable to Kremlin.”
The large -scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022 gave the Georgian dream a powerful but paranoic message: that the West is trying to drag Georgia into war. The antigura message has resonance in many Georgians: Georgia was invaded by Russia in 2008 and Russia continues to occupy two regions representing about 20% of the country’s internationally recognized territory. Ivanishvili and his party Georgian dream party aggravated this claim, stating, without evidence, that they call “global war party” or “deep state” is trying to incite the revolution in Georgia.
The Megobari Law, whose declared objective is to counteract the influence of China, Iran and Russia in Georgia, is sponsored in the House of US representatives by Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, and Senate by Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat. The bill was approved in the House and introduced into the Senate. If approved in the Senate returns to the House if it has been amended and then to President Donald Trump for signature. Its supporters appeal to a quick approval.
“The Georgian people have made their euroatlantic aspirations clear and the US should continue to support him against the efforts of the Georgian dream to erode his democratic institutions,” says Shaheen, in an interview with CNN International. “At a time when Russia seeks to undermine democracies throughout the region, we cannot turn our backs on a fundamental partner who fights for a free and democratic future.”
Georgians themselves say the bill can be a powerful weapon to take Georgia out of the abyss. “When sanctions are not just a sign but a bite, the oligarchs realize,” says Zviad Adzinbaia, PhD in the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at the University of Tufts, “and in this case they are sweating.”
Makhashvili has removed any possible threat from Megobari law, but recognized the concern that “this law is a kind of symbol that we have several voices in the United States Congress who, for any reason, are not interested in maintaining normal ties with Georgia.”
Other Georgians warn of the fact that members of the opposition, strongly threatened by the government, continue to be divided by disparate opinions on how to ripine. The current debate focuses on whether opposition parties should participate in the national local elections, which take place in October.
IAMISHVILI, editor-in-chief of the International Journalism Initiative Independence Avenue Media, states this to CNN International: “Elections are the basis of all democracies and the only legitimate way to change government. If the opposition of Georgia decides to boycott the vote, risks sending a confusing signal to international democratic supporters-which may have difficulty understanding why a fundamental democratic mechanism is. to be abandoned “.
Giorgi Gakharia, former Minister of Georgia and Opposition Party leader by Georgia, is in the sights of the Georgian dream. Authorities accused him of betrayal, which most western observers describe as an offensive with political motivations. It can be sentenced to a prison sentence from 15 to 20 years and is currently outside Georgia. His party states that the next October municipal elections “may well be the last democratic battlefield to wage the skidding of Georgia to authoritarianism.”
