https://voicefromrussia.ch/en/georgia-a-pawn-of-western-geopolitics-fights-back/

By passing the NGO law, the Georgian parliament is sending a signal against the veto of its French-born president. The Georgians have had enough and want to be independent – the West is dismayed.

Introduction

A small country in the Caucasus with a proud population is standing up and putting the West in its place, which is trying to manipulate Georgia’s politics with the power of its NGOs.

With its almost 70,000 square kilometers, Georgia is about the size of Bavaria or almost twice the size of Switzerland and has a population of 3.7 million, a third of whom live in the capital Tbilisi.

In 2022, Georgia’s gross national product adjusted for purchasing power amounted to 20,243 euros (EU approx. 40,000 euros). Compared to the previous year, the value grew by an outstanding 19.1 percent. Measured by this figure, Georgia is therefore a world leader. This year, the economy is expected to grow by a further 5.7% (Wikipedia).

However, the appearance of an extremely solid economic policy that these growth rates convey is deceptive. Just like Armenia (growth rate in 2022 at an incredible 20.5 percent), Georgia has benefited from a massive influx of Russian citizens and Russian capital as well as the recalibration of Russian export and import routes as a result of Western economic sanctions.

Apart from this special situation, this small country still seems to be on the right track economically, without even coming close to the statistical values of the EU states.

So the question remains as to what is so interesting about this country that many politicians in the West have recently, for the repeated time in Georgia’s short 33-year modern history, left everything at home and rushed to the Caucasus. What arouses the interest and at the same time the displeasure of the entire West?

The West wants to grab geopolitical control of Georgia
Source: Kaukasus Map

It is not the beauty of the country, the friendliness of its people and the great atmosphere in Tbilisi, but its geographical location that acts on Washington, Brussels, Berlin, London, Paris and the Baltic states like nectar on bees. Situated between the Caspian and Black Seas, small, manageable, not rich, it seems malleable, in other words: manipulable.

The geographical location is ideal from a NATO perspective, as Georgia has a long border with Russia. Its ethnic diversity and manageable size make it attractive for Western powers to exert influence.

Practically since its independence in 1991, it has been lured and manipulated with the repeated promise of early and accelerated accession to the EU and NATO, almost tearing it apart in terms of domestic and foreign policy.

The EU is far away. The nearest EU states are Romania and Bulgaria, both 1000 kilometers away as the crow flies. The road connection is almost twice as long and leads either via Turkey, which has also been waiting for EU membership for a generation, or via Russia.

Integration into the economic structures of the EU is not only difficult due to its geographical location. The reality is that NATO now determines the EU’s political compass. EU membership without a firm commitment to NATO is no longer an option. There is no question that Georgia is a dream candidate for NATO’s anti-Russian strategy. Baiting the Georgians with EU membership despite the geographical distance is part of the deal.

The situation is difficult for Georgia: the country does not want to make trouble with Western Europe, the USA or Russia. The situation is therefore reminiscent of that in Ukraine shortly before the Maidan.

The Western states did not achieve their political goals by clean means. Following tried and tested political technologies worldwide, they therefore use NGOs, non-governmental organizations, under the guise of promoting democracy: an approach that has been perfected by the USA in particular.
What are US-style NGOs?
Non-governmental organizations – a look into the cuisine of global Western influence, not only in Georgia

The term non-governmental organization (NGO) in the geopolitical sense refers to organizations that lobby and try to assert the interests of groups and individuals in politics.

As long as the procedure is transparent and can be traced, i.e. the horse and rider are known, there is nothing wrong with this.

However, with the development of NGOs, which began around 120 years ago with organizations such as the International Red Cross, it quickly became clear that these formally non-governmental organizations could very well be used to promote political goals without the actual initiators, sponsors and therefore beneficiaries being identifiable. This also includes political goals whose official governmental implementation is not possible, opportune or officially undesirable.

From this consideration, it was only a small step to the next idea with far-reaching consequences: the use of formally non-governmental organizations not only to support existing political goals, but also to postulate and implement completely new political goals. And here too, without the actual initiators, sponsors and beneficiaries becoming recognizable.

A further, higher level in the creative use of formally non-governmental organizations was reached when interested parties began to use these organizations for the implementation of political goals that are practically unknown to the public and are not clearly defined in the statutes of the organizations. It goes without saying that the people behind such NGOs have no interest whatsoever in publicity.

The phrase “formally independent of the government” was not chosen by chance. Western governments now use such organizations as a matter of course to assert their interests. Both nationally and globally.
The “foreign agent act”

In the USA, knowledge of the political activities of NGOs led very early on to the enactment of a law that attempts to exclude the undesirable effects of the activities of NGOs and individuals on political decision-making in US politics – the so-called “foreign agent act” of 1938.

In the USA, however, knowledge of the political activities of NGOs has also led to the creation of an entire NGO industry in the name of the government or US policy, in order to install a dense network of NGOs, particularly outside the USA, which massively propagate and attempt to enforce the political interests of the USA. This NGO industry is massively financed by the American government as well as by politically interested and financially extremely powerful circles. One example of the latter is Goerge Soros, one of the richest people in the world.

With the help of such non-governmental organizations (what a euphemism), the USA now influences and controls practically the majority of political and social life not only in its own country and the so-called collective West. They influence politics worldwide through these structures.
An intergovernmental organization became a de facto NGO under private control

NGOs are created from scratch in order to achieve certain goals, but existing world-famous and therefore influential organizations are also undermined and conditioned to the “American way of influence” with a lot of money, enticements and threats. The latter include, for example, the IOC, FIFA and UNESCO. The WHO, which is actually an intergovernmental organization, is now 80 percent privately funded. By far the largest financial backers of the WHO are private foundations, even if the USA nominally makes the highest contribution. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the GAVI Alliance finance the WHO with 12.12% and 8.18% respectively, with GAVI in turn being controlled by the Gates Foundation.

The scale of this worldwide American-controlled influence is beyond imagination. The USA created its own government agency to control such non-governmental activities in the American interest.
USAID – the US government sponsor for NGOs worldwide

USAID is probably the most important structure for supporting NGOs worldwide.

This state-run American agency sees itself as the world’s leading “specialist” when it comes to NGOs enforcing American interests.

This is how she sees herself:

„USAID is the world’s premier international development agency and a catalytic actor driving development results. USAID’s work advances U.S. national security and economic prosperity, demonstrates American generosity, and promotes a path to recipient self-reliance and resilience.”

The translation of the quote into realpolitik means that so-called non-governmental organizations always play a decisive role in the preparation, planning and implementation of political unrest and changes of power in the interests of the West and, above all, the United States.

This is because state structures such as foreign ministries and secret services like to make extensive use of the NGO structures created and controlled by USAID for their own purposes.

This should come as no surprise to anyone and is no secret.

USAID’s “Country Development Cooperation Strategies (CDCS)” contain a list of approved strategies per country.

Georgia is also on this list.
NGOs in Georgia
Countless NGOs in Georgia

Georgia is probably the country with by far the highest density of NGOs in the world.

This assumption is based, among other things, on information from USAID. USAID writes about the situation in Georgia in a report from October 2023:

“According to the National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR), there are 31,339 registered NNLEs in the country, but only 4,051 are recognized as “active” by the National Statistical Office of Georgia.”

With this wording, USAID is playing down the importance of NGOs in Georgia, thereby influencing politics in Georgia in its own way. The report was prepared when the legislative process for an anti-NGO law in Georgia was gaining momentum and therefore describes the situation in Georgia before the legal regulation of the activities of NGOs.

In the course of current political events, the Tagesschau fact finder also looked at NGOs in Georgia on May 17, 2024. Tagesschau quotes the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Georgian parliament, the representative of the ruling Georgian Dream party Nikoloz Samcharadze. He told the BBC in an interview: “We have 25,000 active non-governmental organizations in Georgia”.

In Georgia, with a very conservative assumption of 5,000 NGOs, there are statistically 740 members per NGO. Assuming 20,000 NGOs, the statistical figure is only 185 members.

It doesn’t really matter whether there are 10,000 or 20,000 or even 30,000 NGOs active in Georgia. However, it does play a decisive role that the overwhelming majority of these NGOs are financed and therefore controlled by the West. Their money comes from the USA, the EU and the UK.

With this organizational power, it is no longer a mystery how it is possible for 100,000 people in Tbilisi to be activated practically overnight to demonstrate for or against something in the name of “freedom, democracy” or the like. Because the smaller an organization is, the easier it is to control and manipulate.

And these actions by “peaceful citizens” are constantly accompanied by the Western media and Western politicians.

Based on this and the possibilities for NGOs to influence the political and social life of a country as described above, it is in the national interest of every state to regulate and control the activities of such organizations by means of laws.
Parliament votes in favor of Georgian national sovereignty – the president opposes it

On May 28, 2024, the Georgian parliament finally passed the so-called “NGO law” based on the aforementioned US version, the “foreign agent act” of 1938. With this final act, the parliament overrode the veto of the country’s pro-Western president, Salome Zurabishvili. The majority was overwhelming with 84 votes to 4.

The events that accompanied this legislative process in Georgia’s political life are not even presented in the opinion-dominating media of the West in a way that is remotely oriented towards the truth. Indeed, the fisticuffs that took place in parliament are often shown in detail, and the mass demonstrations of mainly young Georgians are also echoed in the reporting in the far West, the latter often described as an expression of the democratic attitude of the vast majority of the Georgian people.

According to Tagesschau on May 12, 2024, for example, the demonstrators were “expressing their displeasure with the plans of their pro-Moscow government”.

However, a chronology of events and a balanced analysis of what happened based on this cannot be found in the opinion-dominating media. Of course not, one might add.

Without anticipating, it can already be stated at this point: The behavior of the USA, the UK and the EU must have strongly encouraged the Georgian parliament to adopt the “NGO law”.

It is no coincidence that the official Georgian name for the law cannot be found anywhere in the Western media. Amnesty International writes of an “anti-NGO law”, the Tagesschau reports on a “controversial NGO law” and the TAZ headlines “Against the ‘Russian’ law“.

The sober and factual title under which the Georgian parliament discussed and ultimately passed the law is simply and extremely apt: “On the transparency of foreign influence”.

That is the core and essence of what this law is about. It regulates what has applied in a much stricter form in the USA since 1938. Non-governmental organizations in EU member states also have to observe rules in their activities.

No elected politician who represents the interests of his country in a democratically elected parliament can have anything against the registration of non-commercial legal entities and media if more than 20 percent of their income comes from abroad. The state registration of organizations that pursue the interests of foreign powers and the declaration of their income is also in the democratic interest of any state.

And only someone who has completely lost sight of political realities can talk about a “Moscow-friendly law”. After all, there are currently not even diplomatic relations between Moscow and Tbilisi.

In summary, the following can be said about this law: anyone who is serious about the sovereignty of their country is obliged to regulate the activities of non-governmental organizations along the lines of Georgia in order to prevent unwanted foreign influence. This is what it is all about: preventing or at least controlling unwanted, uncontrolled foreign influence.

According to Georgian law, it is also possible to set up so-called NGOs in Georgia, which receive all of their income from the household. However, this income and therefore its origin must be declared. Initiators, sponsors and beneficiaries thus become transparent, which may open up further insights.

A presidential veto against a law that fundamentally contributes to the national sovereignty of her country raises questions.
A law at the second attempt

This law was first discussed by parliament in spring 2023. Even then, the legislative process was accompanied by huge demonstrations. As if by magic, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators appeared on the streets of the capital in March 2023 to protest against the adoption of the law against “foreign agents”, as ZDF reported at the time. And even then it was a “Russian” law, because according to ZDF, Moscow activated paid political forces in parliament to push the law through.

Under pressure from the street, the Georgian parliament pulled the emergency brake and withdrew the bill.
The President of Georgia – a power factor for the West in the Caucasus
Salome Zurabishvili, President of Georgia since 2018

President Salome Zurabishvili, who repeatedly and vehemently opposed the law and ultimately tried to prevent its adoption with her veto, has a very interesting biography. Her career allows us to draw conclusions as to why the French-born and current Georgian president vetoed the defense of national interests. On the other hand, the career of this French-born Georgian president is an eloquent example of Western power projection.

Born in Paris in 1952 as a descendant of influential Georgians who fled to France in 1917, she joined the French diplomatic service in 1974 after studying political science and completing postgraduate studies with Zbigniew Brzezinski. She worked for her country in the USA, Chad, the UN, NATO and the OSCE. From 2001 to 2003, she was Head of the Department of International and Strategic Affairs at the French Secretary General for National Defense.

In 2003, she became France’s ambassador to Georgia. There she obviously found a brother in spirit in President Mikhail Saakashvili. It is very unusual when a president of a host country does everything in his power to ensure that his foreign ministry is taken over as minister by an ambassador of a foreign country. This is exactly what happened in 2004.
Foreign Minister Zurabishvili with the then US Secretary of State Colin Powell (2004)

In order to be able to hold this office, Salome Zurabishvili first had to obtain Georgian citizenship. However, she did not renounce her French citizenship.

During her one year as foreign minister, she very successfully imposed an anti-Russian policy on Georgia. She set the goal of preparing the country for accession to the European Union by 2008. Apparently, she overburdened both the politicians and the country as a whole with her intensified policy of orientation towards the West, as the parliament ensured her replacement as early as 2005.

She remained in the country and became President of Georgia in 2018. However, a special law had to be passed beforehand, according to which her candidacy for the presidency with two citizenships was only permitted once she had applied to renounce her French citizenship.

The wording is very interesting. The author did not find any clear statements that Salome Zurabishvili actually gave up her French nationality.

Against the background of this political biography, the Georgian president’s vehement opposition to the law “On the transparency of foreign influence” is hardly surprising.
Concerted action by the media and politicians

The above-mentioned ARD report from May 17, 2024 corresponds with the activities of German and European politicians on the ground to prevent the adoption of the Georgian law.

While ARD downplays the accuracy of the information and thus the significance of the NGOs in its style and tone and casts doubt on the statements of the Chairman of the Georgian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, SPD politician Michael Roth is simultaneously trying to exert direct and personal influence on the legislative process in Georgia.
The SPD politician Michael Roth

However, Michael Roth, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag, is not seeking contact with his counterpart quoted above. On the contrary. Roth, who traveled to Georgia together with top politicians from the Baltic states, neither announced his visit to the Georgian authorities nor did he meet with official representatives of the country. He and his Baltic entourage only sought contact with the demonstrating force of the NGOs.
Parallels with Ukraine 2014
Kacha Kaladze, Mayor of Tbilisi

The mayor of Tbilisi and Secretary General of the ruling party “Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia”, Kakha Kaladze, describes the overall situation surrounding the protests against the legislative project in the following words:

“The events at the demonstrations against the draft law “On the transparency of foreign influence” in the center of Tbilisi are similar to those that took place in Ukraine in 2014. It is an attempt to stage a “revolution of sponsors”.

Concluding

With the final adoption of the law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence” on May 28, 2024, the Georgian parliament has not just passed another law. It has laid the foundations for Georgia to be able to determine its policies independently and sovereignly. It created the basis at least for controlling the political Western vanguard active in Georgia, the NGOs. The next few months will show whether Georgia will be able to go its own independent way in the long term.

Parliamentary elections will be held in the fall. The ruling party “Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia” is far ahead in the polls. According to the same polls, most opposition parties are below the five percent mark – a strong indication that the protests against the NGO law were not originally Georgian in origin and do not represent Georgian interests.

It seems that Georgia has learned (its) NGO lesson.