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Brutal European integration. The West punishes Georgia for its relations with Russia
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.by Gevorg Mirzayan [REGNUM] The European Parliament has taken up arms against Georgia, a pro-Western country in the post-Soviet space and the first victim of the color revolution in the region. On Thursday, April 25, with 425 votes in favor, 25 against and 30 abstentions, deputies adopted a resolution condemning the country's authorities. Firstly, the European Union intends to impose sanctions against the founder of the ruling party and the de facto leader of Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishvili, “for his role in the deterioration of the political process in Georgia and work against the interests of its people. ” European media almost openly call Bidzina a “pro-Russian oligarch.” Secondly, Georgia must release the country's former president Mikheil Saakashvili. Thirdly, Tbilisi is required to withdraw amendments to the constitution aimed “against the LGBT community (an extremist movement whose activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation).” We are talking about a ban on the adoption of children by homosexual couples, consolidating the status of marriage as a union between men and women, as well as a ban on LGBT propaganda and related rallies. Moreover, the most scandalous part of the resolution concerns the bill on foreign agents. On April 17, the Georgian parliament, despite the noisy indignation of the opposition, in the first reading adopted a document highlighting NGOs and media working in the interests of the West. If these structures receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad, they are required to register as not even foreign agents, but “pursuing the interests of a foreign power.” MEPs demand that Tbilisi repeal the law. In their opinion, “negotiations on accession to the EU should not begin while this law is part of the legal system of Georgia.” Moreover, they demand that the European Union, if the law is finally adopted, stop all financial assistance to the Georgian state and impose sanctions against the deputies who voted in favor. In addition, MEPs are threatening to stall visa liberalization between Georgia and the EU. The authors of the resolution explain the hysteria of the European Parliament by the fact that the law on foreign agents allegedly discredits the pro-Western forces of the country (which are actually supported by European or American financial support). At first glance, the EU's reaction looks strange: the Georgian authorities are not going to introduce sanctions against foreign agents - only to control them. Moreover, similar laws already exist in Western countries. “The European Union has developed a recommendatory protocol for all member states on adopting their laws on foreign agents to prevent ideological work on the part of China and a number of other states. It is already in development in France. In the USA and Great Britain, let me remind you, laws on foreign agents are already in force, and there are quite a lot of criminal convictions under them,” Nikita Mendkovich, head of the Eurasian Analytical Club, told IA Regnum. At the same time, for the West, the Georgian law really poses a serious threat - both regional and global. According to Mendkovich, it is extremely important for the United States and the EU to maintain the maximum number of countries with a favorable regime in the CIS - for non-transparent financing of political activities. This way you can carry out subversive activities against Russia on the territory of, for example, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan or Georgia. But if stricter control over the financing of political forces by foreigners is introduced there, problems arise. And they have already arisen when a similar law was adopted in Kyrgyzstan and (albeit under a different name) in Kazakhstan. “The repetition of a similar experience in the countries of Transcaucasia causes concern among American sponsors. They have to find new underground schemes to finance and steal money, which is what American NGOs love to do. Therefore, it is natural that the Americans are ready to the last minute, literally in the streets, to fight against the adoption of new laws on foreign agents,” says Nikita Mendkovich in a commentary for IA Regnum. In addition, a similar situation may repeat itself outside the post-Soviet space. If it spreads to other regions of the world, the United States will have to completely reconsider its policy and abandon the use of so-called soft power. “But Westerners don’t like to work differently and don’t know how. It is important for them to pass off their activity as a movement of democratic forces, and with transparent financing this will not be possible,” Mendkovich sums up. In Georgia itself, the global ambitions of the West were not appreciated. The country's authorities reacted very sharply to the initiative of the European deputies. Georgian Culture Minister Tea Tsulukiani directly accused the European Parliament of “passing laws for money.” And her colleagues added that European MPs are trying to spread outright evil. “This has nothing to do with Europe or Europeanness, it is absolutely immoral and categorically unacceptable for Georgian society,” says the leader of the Dream faction in parliament, Mamuka Mdinaradze. Along the way, Georgian deputies recalled that such resolutions, coupled with previous actions of the West, for example, the refusal to grant Georgia EU candidate status when it was given to less ready Moldova and Ukraine, lead to the country's disappointment in Euro-Atlantic integration. At the same time, according to the speaker of the Georgian parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, the decision taken by the European Parliament primarily affects not Georgia, but the European Union. “It is regrettable that the process of Georgia’s integration into the European Union is being used by some members of the European Parliament as a tool to promote their own political agenda. And this, first of all, damages the prestige of the European Union in the eyes of the Georgian people,” Papuashvili said. The key point is that the Georgian authorities are confident that the real reason for the appearance of the condemning resolution is not the laws on foreign agents and LGBT people. “This is a punishment for what we didn’t do. For not opening a second front,” said Minister of Culture Tea Tsulukiani. In fact, Georgia is being punished for refusing to conflict with Russia. The wider this opinion spreads (including due to resolutions of the European Parliament), the better for Moscow. For a long time, Georgians were told that the Euro-Atlantic path of development, which they chose back in the early 2000s, would lead to a bright future. Now it turns out that the price of this future is a destructive conflict with a nuclear power. Brussels itself presented Georgia with a choice: to sacrifice its own state for the sake of the survival of the Kyiv regime or, in case of refusal, to receive punishment from the European Union. Realizing this, Georgian society will change its attitude towards the EU. The process has already begun. Posted by: badanov 2024-04-29 |
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