{"id":50483,"date":"2024-05-14T18:39:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T18:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/14\/georgias-parliament-gives-final-approval-to-foreign-agents-measure\/"},"modified":"2024-05-14T18:39:11","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T18:39:11","slug":"georgias-parliament-gives-final-approval-to-foreign-agents-measure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/14\/georgias-parliament-gives-final-approval-to-foreign-agents-measure\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia\u2019s Parliament Gives Final Approval to \u2018Foreign Agents\u2019 Measure"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/14\/multimedia\/14georgia1-jmpt\/14georgia1-jmpt-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Georgia\u2019s Parliament Gives Final Approval to \u2018Foreign Agents\u2019 Measure\" title=\"Georgia\u2019s Parliament Gives Final Approval to \u2018Foreign Agents\u2019 Measure\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Parliament of Georgia gave final approval on Tuesday to a contentious bill that has <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/02\/world\/europe\/georgia-protests.html\" title=\"\">prompted a series of tense protests<\/a> in the capital, Tbilisi, spurred by fears that the legislation could push the country back into the Kremlin\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">President Salome Zourabichvili has <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Zourabichvili_S\/status\/1786396284149964910\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">promised<\/a> to veto the bill. But Georgian Dream, the governing party in Georgia since 2012, has enough votes to override her veto.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Both the opposition and the government have presented the passage of the innocuous-sounding bill, titled \u201cOn Transparency of Foreign Influence,\u201d as a momentous step in the history of Georgia, a mountainous country of 3.6 million saddled in the middle of the Caucasus Mountains.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/rustavi2.ge\/en\/news\/281656\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">draft law<\/a> would require nongovernmental groups and media outlets that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from foreign sources to register as \u201corganizations carrying the interests of foreign power\u201d and provide annual financial statements about their activities. Georgia\u2019s justice ministry would be given broad powers to monitor compliance. Violations would incur fines equivalent to more than $9,300.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Government officials and lawmakers from the ruling party said that the draft law would strengthen the country\u2019s sovereignty by making nongovernmental organizations, which have occupied a central role in Georgia\u2019s highly polarized political life, more transparent to the public.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the vocal pro-Western opposition has <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/30\/world\/europe\/georgia-foreign-agent-bill.html\" title=\"\">denounced the legislation<\/a> as a stealthy effort to convert Georgia into a pro-Russian state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">American officials have made no secret that the bill could rupture Georgia\u2019s relationship with the West.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Speaking on Tuesday at a news briefing in Tbilisi, James O\u2019Brien, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, said the U.S. could impose sanctions if the bill is passed into law in its current form.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf the law goes forward out of conformity with E.U. norms and there is undermining of democracy here and there is violence against peaceful protesters then we will see restrictions coming from the United States,\u201d Mr. O\u2019Brien in televised remarks. \u201cThose tend to be financial and travel restrictions on the individuals responsible for those actions and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. O\u2019Brien, who came to Georgia to discuss the situation, said that Irakli Kobakhidze, Georgia\u2019s prime minister, indicated during their meeting that the law could still be modified. He also said that the U.S. could review about $390 million of assistance it intended to spend in Georgia \u201cif we are now regarded as an adversary and not a partner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Over the past month, thousands of people have been protesting the bill in Tbilisi and other cities across Georgia. As the crowds swelled, the police began to use heavy-handed tactics to disperse them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Riot police officers used tear gas, pepper spray and fists against protesters when some of them surrounded the Parliament building. Some protesters have been beaten in tense confrontations, including Ted Jonas, an American Georgian lawyer who has been living in the country since the early 1990s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey dragged me about 30 meters on the sidewalk, beating and kicking me the whole way,\u201d Mr. Jonas said in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ted.jonas.1\/posts\/pfbid02oei3oZTtx6X9rUASPpoMrutknYgkMCXiKwVm9yAuvHTatn2tcGW3YXyV7khj6hT8l\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a post<\/a> on Facebook. \u201cI ended up with a bloody nose, bruises from kicking or fists on my head, jaw, right eye socket and somewhat on the left.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Tuesday, thousands of protesters came to the Soviet-era Parliament building on the main Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. After the lawmakers passed the law, some protesters tried to break into the building\u2019s courtyard, but were quickly pushed away by masked police officers. The crowd kept shouting \u201cRussians\u201d to officers and \u201cNo to the Russian law!\u201d The police said in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/police.ge\/ge\/shinagan-saqmeta-saministros-gantskhadeba\/16272\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a statement<\/a> that 13 protesters were arrested on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Protesters labeled the bill a \u201cRussian law,\u201d arguing that it mimics a similar measure in Russia. Passed in 2012, the Russian \u201cforeign agents\u201d law was also portrayed by the Russian government as a transparency measure, but it quickly developed into a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/12\/02\/world\/europe\/russia-foreign-agents-law.html\" title=\"\">heavy-handed tool<\/a> to stifle and stigmatize anti-Kremlin advocacy groups and media organizations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe have so many pro-Western N.G.O.s and they are against the West, they are pro-Russian,\u201d said Luna Iakobadze, 26, a protester, referring to the government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The government of Georgia has been denying accusations that the bill has anything to do with Moscow. Government representatives insisted they were committed to pursuing the country\u2019s widely popular aspiration to join the European Union.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But in a recent speech, Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the Georgian Dream party, presented the West as an enemy, not a friend. Speaking at a pro-government rally at the end of April, Mr. Ivanishvili <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.interpressnews.ge\/en\/article\/131174-bidzina-ivanishvili-we-still-have-to-fight-for-freedom-and-sovereignty-in-order-to-fulfill-ilia-chavchavadzes-admonition-that-we-should-embrace-ourselves\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> that NATO and the European Union were controlled by a \u201cglobal war party\u201d which sees \u201cGeorgia and Ukraine as cannon fodder.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey first had Georgia enter a confrontation with Russia in 2008,\u201d said Mr. Ivanishvili, referring to a brief war fought between Moscow and the government in Tbilisi. \u201cIn 2014 and 2022 they put Ukraine into an even more difficult situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Ivanishvili, a reclusive oligarch who made a fortune in Russia before returning to Georgia in the early 2000s, accused Western elites of trying to foment a revolution against his party because it refused to actively oppose the Kremlin following its invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But some protesters said Moscow was the natural center of gravity for Mr. Ivanishvili and his party, which has ruled Georgia for almost 12 years and intends to strengthen its grip over the country\u2019s politics at the upcoming elections in October.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis is their only way to stay in power, to be with Russia,\u201d said Ilia Burduli, 39, a lawyer, at one of the rallies. \u201cThis is the only way to be in charge forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Kobakhidze, Georgia\u2019s recently appointed prime minister, depicted activists who oppose the bill as arrogant and clueless people who were brainwashed to believe that the bill was tied to Russia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cA self-confident person without knowledge and intelligence is worse than a Russian tank,\u201d Mr. Kobakhidze said on Friday in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KobakhidzeOfficial\/posts\/pfbid02z3YjT3xjiB7DCgiJoDfdifKRRZHf3PUPskoJcJmfP3Sv1eHTsmcMq8YprRTsU2Fpl\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a post<\/a> on Facebook.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some commentators have <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/lefteast.org\/unrest-georgia-foreign-influence-transparency-law\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">echoed<\/a> the government\u2019s reasoning, saying that the Western-financed nongovernmental organization sector makes an outsize impact on Georgia\u2019s political life despite not being democratically elected. But they also said that the new law would not address that problem.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Tuesday, the Kremlin\u2019s spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov appeared to support the government\u2019s push to adopt the bill. Speaking with reporters, he said that it constitutes \u201cthe firm desire of the Georgian leadership to protect its country against overt interference in its internal affairs,\u201d according to Tass, a state news agency in Russia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">European Union representatives have said that it renews questions about Georgia\u2019s democratic record.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Over the past few years, the West has been walking a tightrope in Georgia: on the one hand, it tried to encourage the popular pro-Western aspirations of the Georgian people, on the other, it tried hard not to alienate the governing party and push it into the Kremlin\u2019s hands. In December, the European Union granted Georgia candidate status, a move widely seen as an effort to prevent the country from sliding into the Kremlin\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the balancing act has grown only more difficult since Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, which pushed many former Soviet states to pick a side. The invasion also presented Georgia and some other countries with a lucrative opportunity to help conduct trade between Russia and the West that has become restricted because of sanctions and other measures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe Georgian Dream thinks that the focus of attention for the West is elsewhere, their focus on Georgia has weakened, so the price they would have to pay for adopting this law might not be too high,\u201d said Mikheil Kechaqmadze, an analyst of Georgian politics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey don\u2019t want to do European integration,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cBy introducing the law they want to subvert it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/14\/world\/europe\/georgia-parliament-foreign-agents-bill.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Parliament of Georgia gave final approval on Tuesday to a contentious bill that has prompted a series of tense protests in the capital, Tbilisi, spurred by fears that the legislation could push the country back into the Kremlin\u2019s orbit. President Salome Zourabichvili has promised to veto the bill. But Georgian Dream, the governing party [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/14\/multimedia\/14georgia1-jmpt\/14georgia1-jmpt-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19295,10094,1146,33,50589,7773,3321],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50483"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50483"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50485,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50483\/revisions\/50485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}