{"id":1481267,"date":"2024-08-02T18:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T22:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1481267"},"modified":"2024-08-02T18:45:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T22:45:00","slug":"us-suspends-aid-to-georgia-over-foreign-influence-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/us-suspends-aid-to-georgia-over-foreign-influence-law\/1481267\/","title":{"rendered":"US Suspends Aid To Georgia Over Foreign Influence Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

US Suspends Aid To Georgia Over Foreign Influence Law<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Adam Morrow via The Epoch Times,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The United States is pausing more than $95 million in aid to Georgia, a small country in the South Caucasus region, over the latter\u2019s recent adoption of legislation aimed at combating perceived foreign influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter anti-democratic actions by the Georgian government, I announced a comprehensive review of bilateral cooperation between the United States and Georgia,\u201d U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a July 31 statement<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of that review, the United States is pausing more than $95 million in assistance that directly benefits the Government of Georgia,\u201d he added.<\/em><\/p>\n

The punitive move by Washington comes two months after Georgia\u2019s parliament passed an anti-foreign influence law, which officially took effect on Aug. 1.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The law requires organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as \u201corganizations pursuing foreign interests.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was championed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, which says such legislation is needed to protect the country from malign foreign influences operating under the guise of \u201ccivil society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Proponents of the law also say it\u2019s necessary to safeguard Georgia\u2019s national sovereignty and combat \u201cpseudo-liberal values\u201d imposed by foreign\u2014particularly Western\u2014entities.<\/p>\n

Blinken said in the statement that \u201cThe\u00a0Georgian government\u2019s anti-democratic actions and false statements are incompatible with membership norms in the EU and NATO.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In the weeks leading up to its ratification, large demonstrations erupted in Tbilisi, Georgia\u2019s capital, where protesters who opposed the law often clashed with police.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, several Western institutions and countries\u2014including the EU, the United States, Britain, and France\u2014had urged Georgia\u2019s leadership to scrap the legislation.<\/p>\n

In May, Josep Borrell, the EU\u2019s foreign policy chief, warned that the law\u2019s ratification would \u201cnegatively impact\u201d Georgia\u2019s EU membership bid.<\/p>\n

Critics of the law have derisively termed it the \u201cRussian law,\u201d comparing it to legislation allegedly used by Moscow to suppress dissent.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moscow, for its part, denies any association with Georgia\u2019s \u201cforeign agents\u201d law or its recent ratification by the country\u2019s parliament.<\/p>\n

In past remarks, Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili has claimed that a U.S.-led \u201cglobal war party\u201d was seeking to draw Georgia into a conflict with Russia.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Russia won a brief war with Georgia\u2014initiated by the latter\u2014over the small but strategically vital regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.<\/p>\n

Washington, meanwhile, has warned Georgia\u2019s ruling party that its \u201canti-Western rhetoric\u201d risked setting the country \u201con a precarious trajectory.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Georgian pro-democracy activists protest against a “foreign influence” bill outside the parliament in Tbilisi on April 15, 2024. (Vano Shlamov \/ AFP)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Threats and Blackmail\u2019<\/h2>\n

After the law\u2019s ratification, Washington imposed visa restrictions on several ruling party officials, claiming they were \u201ccomplicit in undermining democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

In June, the State Department unveiled a first tranche of restrictions on ruling party officials, lawmakers, police officers, and certain private individuals.<\/p>\n

It also announced plans to conduct a \u201cfull review of our relationship with the government of Georgia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not long afterward, the Pentagon \u201cindefinitely postponed<\/a>\u201d scheduled U.S.-Georgia joint military drills, which had been initially slated for June.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Georgian Dream responded by accusing Washington of engaging in \u201cthreats and blackmail,\u201d describing the raft of U.S. restrictions as a \u201cgross attempt to restrict Georgia\u2019s independence and sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brussels, meanwhile, responded to the law\u2019s ratification by suspending<\/a> Georgia\u2019s EU membership bid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe adoption of this [anti-foreign influence] law \u2026 froze Georgia\u2019s integration in the European Union,\u201d Pawel Herczynski, the EU\u2019s envoy to Georgia, said in remarks to the local press.<\/em><\/p>\n

He further announced that Brussels had frozen 30 million euros of military aid (roughly $32.4 million) previously earmarked for Georgia\u2019s armed forces.<\/p>\n

In his July 31 statement, Blinken condemned Georgian Dream\u2019s \u201canti-democratic actions and false statements,\u201d which, he said, were \u201cincompatible with membership norms in the EU and NATO.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, however, that the United States would continue funding assistance programs aimed at \u201cstrengthening democracy, rule of law, independent media, and economic development\u201d in Georgia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will remain committed to the Georgian people and their Euro-Atlantic aspirations,\u201d <\/strong><\/em>Blinken said.<\/p>\n

According to the secretary of state, Washington has provided Georgia with over $6.2 billion in aid since the country achieved independence after the Soviet Union fell in 1991.<\/p>\n

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze described the latest punitive measures by Washington as \u201ccounterproductive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of blackmailing and threatening, we should have a healthy conversation about improving relations,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> he told the Georgian press on Aug. 1.<\/p>\n

But Kobakhidze also struck a conciliatory note, calling for a \u201creset\u201d in relations between Tbilisi and Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationship needs a reset,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are absolutely ready for it.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe main thing is to see the next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nFri, 08\/02\/2024 – 14:45<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/us-suspends-aid-georgia-over-foreign-influence-law<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Suspends Aid To Georgia Over Foreign Influence Law Authored by Adam Morrow via The Epoch Times, The United States is pausing more than $95…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1481268,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1481267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbimBl-6dlp","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/08\/image20289929_1-AJwp4j.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1481267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1481267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1481267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1481268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1481267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1481267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1481267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}