A US-funded Georgian NGO holding a bag of nacho chips for Twitter. March 9, 2023

Note from Edward: Your still-marooned-in-Tbilisi correspondent will be filing intermittent reports about the “situation” in Georgia. These reports will be paywalled as a Thank You to all of our devastatingly handsome & elegant & beguiling subscribers. If you enjoy Edward Slavsquat, and would like to receive hot scoops from Georgia, maybe it’s time to treat yourself to a paid subscription? You’ve been very hard on yourself recently and we all know you deserve a paid subscription to Edward Slavsquat.

TBILISI, GEORGIA - After several days of completely organic protests in Tbilisi, on March 9 the ruling party in the land of Kartvelians, Georgian Dream, withdrew legislation that would have compelled foreign-funded media outlets and other paragons of virtue to register as “agents of foreign influence.”

The US Embassy in Georgia celebrated the capitulation with a triumphant press release:

We welcome Georgian Dream’s decision to withdraw both draft laws on “foreign influence.”
We urge the ruling party to officially retract these bills and not pursue further this type of legislation, which is incompatible with Georgian and European values …

A day later, citing Georgian Dream’s incompatibility with “European values and principles,” a group of leading “civil society organizations” announced they were suspending cooperation with Georgia’s parliament on “open government” initiatives.

Edward Slavsquat

Georgian Maidan: Fake it till you make it?

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