11/1/24
The United States and European Union are threatening consequences for Georgia after its citizens voted “the wrong way” – for peaceful relations with Russia and traditional moral values.
Farcically, this is while the U.S. heads into presidential elections that are mired in chaos and recriminations over vote rigging and buying of votes by oligarchs and big businesses.
Welcome to Western-style democracy where if you vote the way the powers-that-be want, it’s a fair election. If you vote the wrong way, it’s a rigged, flawed result that should be ignored or, worse, overturned.
Such was the heated reaction from Western states to the electoral victory of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party last weekend in the South Caucasus nation. The party campaigned on a strong, clear platform for pursuing peaceful neighborly relations with Russia.
GD also declared support for traditional social and moral values, rejecting the Western pseudo-liberal agenda of promoting gender-bender LGBTQ+ identities, which was espoused by the Western-backed Georgian opposition parties.
At the end of the day, Georgian Dream won a stunning victory, taking nearly 54 percent of the vote, translating into obtaining 90 out of a total of 150 parliamentary seats. Four opposition parties, which touted closer integration ties with NATO and the EU and acclaiming LGBTQ+ rights, won less than 38 percent of the vote.
The Georgian people are to be commended for asserting their democratic rights in the face of massive Western interference in the election. Western money and NGOs amplified the opposition parties. If they had won, the new pro-Western administration would have turned Georgia into a second war front against Russia in conjunction with the NATO-backed Ukrainian regime. Georgian and Ukraine have been at the center of the Western policy of expanding NATO around Russia’s borders. Both countries were declared future members of the military bloc as far back as 2008, although NATO membership is a red line for Russia.
Fortunately, Georgian voters were aware of the geopolitical stakes and rallied to the cause of prioritizing peaceful regional relations and rejecting the notional security privileges of NATO.
Western recriminations were fast and furious after the result. Western media reported that “Western pollsters” claimed that there were voting irregularities. What were Western pollsters doing in Georgia in the first place? Such entities sound more like a plant to stir post-election trouble.
As it turns out, there were indeed incidents of vote buying, ballot stuffing, and intimidation at polling stations. But videos showed that the incidents were agitprops organized by the Western-sponsored opposition parties.
However, thankfully, such malfeasance was relatively minor and did not invalidate the overall final result. Georgia’s Central Election Committee declared the process to be free and fair. The authorized election invigilating body has given its verdict, and that should be the end of it.
Disgracefully, the defeated opposition parties, who behave more like fifth columnists than patriotic representatives, have refused to recognize the result as legitimate. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili demeaned her constitutionally designated office of political neutrality by accusing Georgian Dream of “stealing the election.” She was afforded a prominent interview on CNN to peddle her treasonous slander that Russia interfered in the election to hamper the opposition.
Moscow vehemently repudiated accusations of interference. It pointed instead to the abundant evidence that Western states had vigorously tried to enhance the vote for opposition parties touting a common agenda.
At this early post-election stage, it is not clear if the opposition parties will persist in threats to hold street protests denouncing the new legislature. Certainly, one can well imagine that Western powers and entities will only be too glad to assist and amplify such civic disturbances – if they are not already inciting them.
Georgian Dream leader Irakli Kobakhidze applauded citizens for voting for a peaceful future. He indicated confidence that the opposition protests will fade into futility because, he said, they do command the support of citizens.
History shows that such confidence might be misplaced, or, at least, should not be complacent.
There is an ominous echo of the U.S.-led coups in Georgia during the 2003 Rose Revolution and the Maidan Revolution in Ukraine in 2014.
Georgia was one of the first in a series of so-called color revolutions that occurred in the post-Soviet regions. The fingerprints of the CIA, USAID, Soros Foundation, and other Western imperialist agencies are all over these movements. There is no doubt they were orchestrated with the help of Western media to foment regimes hostile towards Russia with the ultimate objective of destabilizing Russia itself.
The color revolutions have been a disaster for targeted countries. The Georgian Rose Revolution led to the despotic, corrupt regime of Mikhail Saakashvili who is currently in jail for abuse of power.
In Ukraine, the Orange Revolution in 2004-2005 led to the Maidan movement of 2014 that culminated in a NeoNazi regime, which destroyed that country in a proxy war with Russia at the behest of its NATO masters. It is estimated that 600,000-700,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in nearly three years of conflict. Millions of Ukrainian citizens have been displaced or fled their country. The nation has huge debts to Western capital, and its natural resources are owned by Wall Street.
As for Georgia, it has escaped the same fate – so far. The truth is that Georgia was subjected to a second color revolution in the run-up to this latest election. To be clear, a second color revolution is not on the way in Georgia; it is already underway. The question is: can the Georgian nation of four million defeat it definitively?
The United States and European Union are huffing and puffing about the latest Georgian election, hinting that they will not recognize the new government and that there will be “consequences.” The fact is the Western despotic powers were threatening consequences in the weeks before the vote on October 26. Georgians took courage and refused to be intimidated by Western threats or bribes. Such courage bodes well for their future independence and development. But vigilance is the watchword.