White House ‘Deeply Troubled’ As Georgia Enacts Law To Thwart NGO ‘Interference’
Defying large domestic protests and condemnation from the United States and other Western governments, the Republic of Georgia’s parliament on Tuesday adopted a “foreign agents” law that would impede foreign nongovernmental organizations’ (NGOs’) ability to operate in the country — and put Georgia’s European Union and NATO ambitions in jeopardy.
Georgia’s president, Salome Zourabichvili, has vowed to veto the measure, but the parliament approved the law by a 84-30 margin, only needs 76 to override a veto. After the law’s passage, Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters:
“We’re deeply troubled by Georgia’s Kremlin-style ‘foreign agents’ legislation...we have been outspoken about our concerns with the legislation, which runs counter to democratic values and would move Georgia further away from the values of the European Union and, let’s not forget, also NATO.”
Under the Georgia law, which is modeled after one adopted in Russia, organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from outside the country would have to register as “agents of foreign influence,” under threat of fines. While Western governments officially scoff at the notion, NGOs have been a major vector of Western interference in foreign countries, up to and including regime change campaigns. NGOs played roles of varying significance in the so-called “Colour revolutions” in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.
Ironically reinforcing the idea that the law would thwart foreign interference, the German Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael Roth and Lithuanian legislator Zhigimantas Pavillionis visited the protest rally outside the parliament — conjuring images of late US Senator John McCain and Sen. Chris Murphy joining anti-government protesters in Kiev as the Ukraine revolution gained momentum.
Under the Georgia law, which is modeled after one adopted in Russia, organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from outside the country would have to register as “agents of foreign influence,” under threat of fines. While Western governments officially scoff at the notion, NGOs have been a major vector of Western interference in foreign countries, up to and including regime change campaigns. NGOs played roles of varying significance in the so-called “Colour revolutions” in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.
Ironically reinforcing the idea that the law would thwart foreign interference, the German Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael Roth and Lithuanian legislator Zhigimantas Pavillionis visited the protest rally outside the parliament — conjuring images of late US Senator John McCain and Sen. Chris Murphy joining anti-government protesters in Kiev as the Ukraine revolution gained momentum.
Under the Georgia law, which is modeled after one adopted in Russia, organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from outside the country would have to register as “agents of foreign influence,” under threat of fines. While Western governments officially scoff at the notion, NGOs have been a major vector of Western interference in foreign countries, up to and including regime change campaigns. NGOs played roles of varying significance in the so-called “Colour revolutions” in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.
Ironically reinforcing the idea that the law would thwart foreign interference, the German Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael Roth and Lithuanian legislator Zhigimantas Pavillionis visited the protest rally outside the parliament — conjuring images of late US Senator John McCain and Sen. Chris Murphy joining anti-government protesters in Kiev as the Ukraine revolution gained momentum.
In a vivid display of the intensity of feelings over the law, fists flew in parliament earlier this year.
