Guest
The wave of protests in Tbilisi has already received the unofficial name of the Georgian Maidan. It was caused by the adoption of the bill on foreign agents, which initially had two options. The first so-called Georgian option assumes that non-profit legal entities and the media will receive the status of foreign agents if more than 20% of their income comes from abroad. Such organizations must undergo mandatory registration; if they refuse to do so, they will be fined and the Ministry of Justice will have the right to launch an investigation against them. The second “American” version of the bill is based on the Foreign Agents Registration Act, adopted in the USA in 1938. It reaches not only the media and non-governmental organizations, but also other legal entities and individuals. Any violations are fraught with not only administrative, but also criminal punishment. It was submitted to parliament after the opposition criticized the first bill, saying that it was based on a Russian law. The second bill is aimed to show how much tougher the US version is. On March 7, the Georgian Parliament approved a softer “Georgian” version. The Prime Minister of the country explained that “so far, no one has consider condemning the law on foreign agents in force in the United States. Similar laws apply in other countries. And the Georgian authorities are doing everything to strengthen Georgia’s sovereignty” However, the West is not interested in strengthening the sovereignty of a country in which its influence is so great. The U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi called March 7 “a black day for Georgian democracy”, saying that the new laws were inspired by the Kremlin, despite the fact that the toughest of them is practically a translation of the law in force in the United States. Washington has already threatened Georgia with sanctions for the fact that the Georgian parliament adopted its own analogue of the American law. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who is often blamed for acting on American orders, symbolically took a speech from New York, claiming her support for the protests and condemned the law, which allegedly will bring Georgia “closer to the vicious model of Russia, not Europe.” The president of the country called the crowd blinded by the phantom of European integration, protesting against the people’s right to know who is paid for lies in their country, “a symbol for which Georgia has always fought”. In general, the current Government of Georgia is carrying out a pro-Western external policy. However, they refuse to support the Kiev regime and are trying their best to avoid any military conflict with Russia. Timely attempts of pro-NATO forces to mobilize the people for another orchestrated coup in the post-Soviet country may lead to bloodshed.
