Amazing that the West: completely obsessed with imaginary "Foreign Interference" from Russia and China, are all in favour of foreign interference when it's the one doing it...suddenly having foreigners interfere in your country becomes the mainstay of "European Values" and "Civil society."
Georgia defies EU and backs law targeting ‘foreign agents’
Brussels warns new curbs on civil society flout “European values” as protests grow in Tbilisi.
MAY 14, 2024 2:02 PM CET BY GABRIEL GAVIN
TBILISI — Georgian MPs approved controversial plans to brand hundreds of NGOs and media outlets as foreign agents on Tuesday, paving the way for the bill to become law despite growing domestic dissent and condemnation from the U.S. and EU.
In a vote, parliamentarians supported the proposals brought forward by the governing Georgian Dream party by 84 votes in favor and 30 against, after weeks of contentious debate that saw several brawls break out in the assembly chamber and one senior lawmaker assaulted. Crowds gathered outside the graffiti-daubed parliament building with whistles, vuvuzelas and even hitting pots and pans in a bid to make themselves heard by the lawmakers inside.
Under the new rules, civil society groups receiving more than 20 percent of their income from abroad will be required to register as “organizations serving the interests of a foreign power,” a label that critics fear will be used to silence anti-corruption campaigners and others critical of the government.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has vowed not to sign the bill as part of a growing rift with the ruling party, but her veto can be overridden by a simple majority in parliament, paving the way for it to pass into effect in the coming weeks.
Speaking to POLITICO, Tinatin Bokuchava, the chair of the largest opposition party in parliament, the United National Movement, said that the vote would “focus minds on the urgent need for regime change in Georgia.”
“With elections to look forward to in October, I am confident that the unity seen on the streets of Georgia in recent weeks will prove a watershed moment in our nation’s history. Our place is in Europe,” she added.
Georgian Dream and the parliamentary press office did not responded to requests for comment.
Brussels gave Georgia EU candidate status in December, despite warnings that it was backsliding on key human rights issues and had failed to fully implement the reforms required by the European Commission — which included tackling political polarization. The EU has said the bill is “incompatible with European values” and could stymie the South Caucasus country’s bid to become a member of the bloc.
According to a letter seen by POLITICO, a dozen EU foreign affairs ministers on Friday urged the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, to “send an unequivocal message to Tbilisi that this legislation is incompatible with Georgia’s progress on its EU path” via an “oral update” on Georgia’s EU accession.
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“We kindly ask you to undertake this as a matter of priority and to make sure that this public assessment appears before the final vote at the Georgian parliament,” said the letter, which was signed by the foreign affairs ministers of Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden.
However, no such statement was made, with POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook reporting that Hungary, aided by Slovakia, obstructed an agreement.
Meanwhile, in the European Parliament, MEPs representing the EPP, S&D, Greens and Renew groupings have written to Borrell urging him to prepare “targeted” sanctions against Georgian Dream politicians who pushed the foreign agents law — including Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze — as well as the MPs who voted for it.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Copenhagen Democracy Summit, European Council President Charles Michel said that he had called Kobakhidze in recent days to urge him to “stick to the rule-of-law principles, to democratic principles, and also to meet the expectations of the population.” However, he added, “I’m not in favor of sanctions. I think at this stage the priority should be the dialogue, political dialogue.”
Tens of thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest against the bill, which campaigners have branded the “Russian law” given its similarity to rules used by Moscow to shutter civil society groups and suppress critics. Riot police used tear gas, shields and batons to disperse the crowds who gathered outside parliament, arresting at least 20 people in advance of the vote.
Guardian article - the one that arises in the parallel universe that is the MSM in the West.
The party was elected 12 years ago after those who drove the changes in Georgian politics in the early 2000s were blamed for antagonising Russia, leading to an invasion and full-scale war in 2008.
No mention of the promise of joining NATO being the precipitant of the invasion, and the experience of Georgia being mirrored in Ukraine.
Georgia should indeed be free to chart its own course but that when that course is being steered by the US, then that is not an act of freedom, and has often proved to be the recipe for disaster. I mean the very title of the article "US warns Georgia" gives the game away, by what right has the US to say anything at all to this country about what it does - Tbilisi is 5, 777 miles from Washington. But there'll not be a single comment in our media pointing this obvious problem out.
It looks for the moment that the US's "investment" of billions of dollars in interfering in the domestic politics of Georgia is going down the drain, but it won't stop the US continuing to interfere when and where it can.
Re: Video of the "tens of thousands" of protesters shows around one thousand, perhaps a bit more
We are told "tens of thousands" of Georgians have taken to the streets in recent weeks.
Well, on this video, it's likely that the tens of thousands are actually the same one or two thousand on each occasion.
I estimate the crowd at about 1-2 thousand at the most. The population of Georgia is a bit over three and a half million and Tbilisi contains more than a third of this population
This is another beat up, another US inspired disruption of normal demotic or indeed non-democratic processes in another country of absolutely no strategic or other interest to NATO or the US, except only to continue to try to undermine Russia's interests in its own back garden.
I only have to note that the protesters have been short changed, where are the cookies? No snipers either. Ms Nuland, your country is missing you already.
Re: Video of the "tens of thousands" of protesters shows around one thousand, perhaps a bit more
The fruadian had three or four articles on this yesterday so they were obviously under orders to push it. I rather fear this is only the first shot in the colour revolution but, as I mentioned elsewhere, I also think they may be using it to try and give Russia something else to think about while they scramble for some idea in Ukraine.
Funnily enough, as soon as I read "tens of thousands" in the fraudian article I thought there is no way that is right. None of the footage I'd seen had anywhere near that many people involved.
And still not one of those articles mentions that the U.S. has exactly the same law (although I haven't found anything about the differences, if they exist, between the Georgian and U.S. laws other than one is sanctified septic law and the other unholy Russian opression) ...no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party...So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
Having said that I found one article, of suspect origin it has to be said; they seem to be coming from an anti-Russia perspective and the comparisons with the two laws are played down always in favour of the U.S.
I just found out They are based at Colulmbia University so they are almost certainly favourable to the empire and pushing propaganda, but they do cover some of the (supposed) main differences; notably they claim the U.S. version is restricted to cases where foreign government or political entities are involved not just foreign funding.
Thanks, no doubt there is a difference, but we also know that the US is playing dangerous games in Georgia and it'll be the Georgians who will ultimately suffer. The EU getting in on the act too. The meddling of the west is just appalling, and sometime before too long it's going to come back to bite us. The boat people are a mere harbinger of the massive movements of people due to war, famine, global warming, over-population that will be arising in the next decades.
The picture on this page of the protest shows a good crowd, and 10,000 is probably a bit of an overestimate, but it'll be many thousand.
haven't bet their shirt on a quick victory in 404 but kept most of their military forces standing by for American trouble elsewhere.The last working-class hero in England.
Clio the cat, ? July 1997 - 1 May 2016 Kira the cat, ? ? 2010 - 3 August 2018 Jasper the Ruffian cat ? ? ? - 4 November 2021
on May 14, 2024, 2:13 pm