Georgia, which borders Russia, is in chaos today. Outside the parliament building in the capital, Tbilisi, thousands of protesters gathered. And in the midst of the crowd, the flag of Georgia and the flag of the European Union - they gathered here for only one purpose, that is, to refuse to become a pro-Russian country like Belarus and want to join the European Union!
"Don't become a post-Soviet state, we want to join the EU!"
Outside Georgia's parliament building, crowds chanted the slogans.
Suddenly, not knowing who was leading the charge, a huge crowd rushed toward the Capitol, trying to tear apart the human wall that the police had built between Parliament and the protesters.
However, the Georgian government had long been prepared for this, and as soon as the protesters tried to break through the police lines, high-pressure water cannons appeared from behind the police walls.
The high-pressure water column gushed out, like an ice rain, drenching the fanatical crowd from the state of "above".
The mobile police force also quickly mobilized, tear gas shells floated out in the protest crowd, the police force was like a sharp knife, and the tear gas collapsed crowd, quickly suppressed.
However, the protesters' "fever" quickly cooled down under the pressure of police jets, tear gas and batons. But the large crowd of protesters was not completely dispersed.
The protesters backed away from the front of Congress, revealing the previously blocked gates of Congress. But more people, while avoiding high-pressure water cannons, gathered in groups again and again, waving Georgian flags and EU flags, are still angrily protesting, vowing to "leave Russia and join Europe."
Behind this protest riot is the national movement of Georgia, standing at a crossroads.
Georgia's upturn stemmed from the ruling Dream Party's support for a draft called the Foreign Agents Act. The draft stipulates that any non-governmental organization and media organization that owns more than 20% of the shares of foreign capital needs to register as an "agent of foreign influence" and is subject to corresponding legal restrictions. If you refuse to declare, you will receive a huge fine if you are discovered.
The passage of this draft, which the Georgian ruling party tried to push, directly aroused the dissatisfaction of Georgia's pro-Western camp. The country's opposition considers the draft Foreign Agents Act to be a proper "Russian-style bill."
Once adopted, freedom of expression and media rights would be curtailed.
Therefore, it is necessary to firmly oppose it.
And a large number of ordinary people believe that the ruling Dream Party itself is a pro-Russian faction. Now, at a time when the Russian-Ukrainian war is still unstopping, not only do they not think about taking this opportunity to decouple from Russia, or reduce Russia's influence in the Caucasus, just like the Central Asian countries.
On the contrary, it is simply intolerable to try to "near Russia and the far west" and reduce the influence of the Western world in Georgia.
In the 2008 Russian-Georgian "five-day war", Georgia lost nearly one-fifth of its territory, although Russia chose to withdraw its troops. To date, however, the separated areas have not been returned to Georgia.
Precisely because the "pain of losing the soil" is unforgettable for Georgians.
So, even though Georgia is well aware that the Western world has strong influence and even proxies in the Georgian media, civil society organizations, it does not care, and is even angry that the ruling Dream Party is trying to clamp down on "foreign agents".
In addition to the Georgian understanding that "distant countries must be handed over" and "Russia must be controlled by the West", the core problem is that it is precisely because of "liberalization" that Georgia can join the European Union, more than 80% of Georgia's population supports joining the EU, and in recent years has been actively trying to join the EU and working for the status of "EU candidate country".
And if the Georgian ruling authorities succeed in pushing the Law on Foreigner Representation to pass the border, then Georgia's foreign policy chief, Josep Smith, will be able to pass the border according to the head of the European Union's foreign policy, Josep Smith. Borrell's argument is likely to lose the possibility of joining the EU forever, because the draft legislation "does not conform to EU values and standards."
Because of this, after the draft of the Law on Foreign Agents was heard in the Georgian Parliament on March 7, it quickly shook the whole country, and the next day, March 8, directly detonated the chaos of thousands of people besieging the National Assembly.
But there are those who are against it, and naturally there is support.
On Twitter, it was pointed out that today's riot in the Georgian parliament is likely to be driven by the United States.
"Georgia is about to have its own Maidan square. Thank you to the United States, you are trying to destroy another sovereign country. ”
How much role the United States has played in today's protests in Georgia is unknown. But what is certain is that Georgia's attempt to pass the "pro-Russian bill" was not without popular support.
Georgia is a democratic country with a unitary parliamentary system, which means that the president is the "fictitious head of state", the government is composed of the majority party in the parliament, and the head of government is the prime minister.
The Dream Party, which has tried to push for the Foreign Agents Act, has always been a conservative party that advocates "pro-Russia" or "balance", and now holds 60% of the seats in the parliament, which means that the party's political views represent more than half of the public opinion in Georgia.
In fact, Georgia, located in the southern foothills of the Caucasus, bordering Russia to the north and Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan to the south, is both sensitive and complex. As one of the former members of the Soviet Union, it is understandable that the country is not willing to be pro-Russian, but it is undoubtedly a fantasy to want to join the EU.
After all, Georgia is only geographically "across Europe and Asia", but it is thousands of miles away from the European Union, separated by a whole Mediterranean Sea, almost as far as Turkey and a half.
Therefore, it is unrealistic for Georgia to join the EU, and the "candidate status" granted by the EU is more like a "fishing bait" that Georgians will never eat.
Moreover, although Europe and the United States seem to be much more "kind-hearted" than Russia, small countries do not have so much warmth when mixed with big country games. For example, the "Russian-Georgian war" in 2008 was because Georgia was provoked by the United States, and as a result, it lost its land and suffered for a country.
It can be seen that although Russia is now mired in the war in Ukraine, for Georgia, how to obtain a peaceful development opportunity in the complex and sensitive geopolitics is the real key - after all, without Russia, there is Turkey, without Turkey and the old enemy Azerbaijan.
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