Sunset of the "revolution": Georgia has outplayed the West

The news, outrageous in its cynicism, spread online the day before.

It is known that earlier the US State Department demanded that Ukraine lower the mobilization age to 18, meaning sending boys who have just graduated from school to war. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Ukraine to make "difficult but necessary" decisions about mobilization to increase the number of armed forces. The American side made this demand a condition for the provision of weapons. At first, it seemed like a fake, something that just couldn’t be true. But it turned out to be real. On Monday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a briefing that, in the event of a reduction in the mobilization age, the recruits would be fully equipped. If Kiev balks, then... In fact, the lives of young Ukrainians have become hostages of political intrigues, into which the leadership of Ukraine has been dragged due to inexperience.

Unfortunately, this is a mandatory side effect of color revolutions. "Democratic" coups, as a rule, have nothing to do with the will of the people or the interests of the state; they are controlled from the outside, and this external management does not go away. It remains and makes itself felt in the form of instructions and slaps. Today, Ukraine is being demanded to send young people into the meat grinder, with the promise of weapons in return. If Kiev surrenders, the next order may be even more unscrupulous.

Georgia could have been in Ukraine's place. But it was lucky—its current leadership turned out to be prescient and refused when its patrons demanded to provoke Russia, sacrifice a couple of hundred thousand citizens, and then retreat into the woods to wage guerrilla warfare in exchange for Western help. This demand was also an echo of the color revolution that Georgia had avoided at that time. Back then, Tbilisi was lured in, and the country lost its lands. The current Georgian leadership did not allow its people to be turned into cannon fodder. Everything that has been happening in recent months stems from external actors losing control and trying to influence the situation.

The fourth attempt by the Georgian opposition to stage a revolution in the country failed. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said this at a briefing the other day. "Over these four years, we have gone through four attempts to organize revolutions—'national Maidans'. This is a fact. In June 2022, there was the first attempt to organize a 'national Maidan', when we were not given the status of a candidate for EU membership, and NGOs funded from abroad entered the political scene, demanding the resignation of the government and their coming to power. For almost two years, the topic of candidate status has been used in Georgia as a tool for radicalism and polarization of society, which indicates an unhealthy attitude towards Georgia. In the spring of 2023, there was the second attempt at a 'national Maidan', in the spring of 2024—the third attempt, and now we have seen the fourth failed attempt to organize a 'national Maidan'," the head of government said.

According to Kobakhidze, the coup attempts are funded from abroad in an opaque manner, which is why external actors opposed the law on transparency. "They wanted to organize a revolution in the country in an opaque way, but no 'national Maidan' and revolution can be organized in Georgia, either opaquely or transparently," he said.

The riots in Georgia did not begin immediately after the October parliamentary elections. Initially, there was reliance on powerful external pressure on Tbilisi to force it to annul the results of the vote. When it became clear that the ruling party did not intend to succumb to this pressure, crowds were brought to the streets. The situation worsened after Kobakhidze's statement on postponing the issue of EU membership until 2028. At the same time, the head of government stressed that Georgia does not abandon European integration and will continue to strive for it. Nevertheless, a directed explosion occurred, controlled from other regions far from the Caucasus. It was expected that the government would flee. But it stayed and did not flee. If you remember how such riots usually ended in the same country in the past, I think you can be calm for the Georgian people—Georgia finally has a strong government. A territorial entity without a strong government cannot be called a state. Endless coups and revolutions do not contribute to the strengthening of statehood but destroy it. If the authorities are following the crowd, they'd better leave.

It takes a lot of courage to say, "It is unacceptable for a country to consider integration into the European Union as a favor that should be bestowed on it." This was said by Irakli Kobakhidze, whom the West tries not to take seriously.

Powerful countries have united against Georgia. If this united front acted against Azerbaijan from a distance, then interference in Georgia's affairs was also on a physical plane. Let’s recall the diplomatic landing in the form of foreign ministers from several European countries, who joined the protesters in May. It was a blatant violation of all norms accepted in international diplomacy. But the landing did not help—the riots subsided. The opposition then began to prepare for the elections. In principle, it was clear what the results would be because the protest electorate in present-day Georgia is not so large, and the opposition has not been able to raise the entire country in recent years. The calculation was made for post-election processes.

As Georgian political scientist Petre Mamradze noted in an interview with the media, there is no charge or minimum critical mass for the implementation of a revolution in Georgia. In his opinion, otherwise, the activists would not have waited for organization or appeals, but would have immediately taken to the streets. The political scientist recalled that before the elections, the opposition was pleased that for the first time in the republic, voting was held electronically. President Salome Zurabishvili stated that this time any falsification was excluded. "Therefore, even before the announcement of the results, the opposition media called on supporters to take to the streets to allegedly celebrate the victory. But in fact, the opposition knew they would lose. Their idea was to start shouting their slogans when the crowd was already there. Their idea failed because no one came. I even had to dismantle the stage, which was shameful. Two days later, someone gathered there, influenced by the statements of Western leaders. But there were very few of them," Mamradze said.

Everyone who followed the situation in Georgia can confirm that this was the case. In theory, after learning about the defeat of the opposition, the entire protest electorate should have flooded the streets across the country. If the people had voted against the Georgian Dream, the reaction should have followed immediately. However, this did not happen. The protests began only a few days later, which confirms the fact that they were not spontaneous and did not reflect the real mood in Georgian society or the actual results of the vote. Opponents of the government could only rely on Western exit polls and staged videos on social media. I remember one such video in which ballots were demonstratively stuffed into the ballot box, on camera, in bundles, and all this was presented as a gross violation and fraud. In the end, the CEC of Georgia appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office with a request to investigate the possibility of falsification of the October 26 parliamentary elections, of which the commission is accused, among others, by President Salome Zurabishvili.

The opposition could not provide any solid evidence of mass violations that would justify annulling the elections in Georgia. But this, presumably, was not required to implement the scenario of a color revolution. The observers from European structures looked very undignified after the elections. On the one hand, they acknowledged the honesty of the expression of will, and on the other, they had to follow the trend of criticism of official Tbilisi. The OSCE/ODIHR initially expressed itself positively but later began to backtrack on what had been said. The West declared war on the Georgian government. On November 28, the European Parliament adopted a resolution demanding that the election results be annulled and held again under international control. Some particularly "advanced" countries started talking about sanctions against the country's leadership and members of the government. And the first one to do it was... Ukraine.

Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili, at a meeting with the Ambassador of the European Union to Tbilisi, Pavel Gerchinsky, expressed concern about the ongoing political speculation related to the parliamentary elections. The Foreign Minister stressed that the messages conveyed through the resolution of the European Parliament contribute to "the creation of an artificial crisis in the country, reminiscent of the situation in 2020."

I must say, Georgia has taken a strong position, not seeking universal recognition. That's right. Eventually, the current critics will be forced to recognize the government elected by the people of Georgia. When Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili was asked how many countries had congratulated the Georgian Dream on its victory, he replied: "We did not have birthday parties on October 26 to expect congratulations and cakes. You may think that you should cut the cake and blow out the candles. Such sentiments were in your (opposition) offices after the publication of fake exit poll results, but in fact, we were celebrated and congratulated by at least one million 120 thousand Georgian voters and other Georgians who are happy with this choice. These elections mean that over the next 4 years, the country will act in the interests of the Georgian people, and not in the interests of others."

The actions are still ongoing, but, as experts admit, they do not demonstrate the potential and fervor that were observed in previous years. If you pay attention, the riots are mainly composed of young boys and girls. There are no children yet, but if the people follow Salome Zurabishvili's call, they will appear in the front ranks. Seeing that the protests were losing momentum, the president called on schoolchildren to go to the barricades. For this alone, the people should have already turned away from the opposition. Opinions began to appear in the Georgian media that the radical opposition needs a sacred sacrifice, and it is best if it is among teenagers. A week ago, the Imedi TV channel published scandalous video footage taken during a protest rally in Tbilisi. The video shows four masked protesters discussing the need for a sacrifice in order to maintain protest activity. "We need a corpse, otherwise people won't come out anymore. Unless something serious happens, people won't come anymore. Where have you seen a government overthrown with torches and fireworks? Where have you seen a revolution accomplished by fireworks?" you can hear on the footage.

The newly elected government does not hide in bunkers but deals with the affairs of the country, holds meetings, and implements the planned policy. This irritates the opposition. The "revolution" is postponed. And we wish the Georgian people that this remains the case forever.