‘Our Public Didn’t Buy Russian Propaganda’ - Georgian Journalist

24 December 2019 19:49

Putin's propaganda has failed so far in Georgia despite the fact that Russia is spending huge money on propaganda.

Editor-in-chief of Tbilisi-based magazine Tabula is glad Georgian society rejected Kremlin’s endeavors to demonize Western liberal democracy and the country’s Western orientation.

Tamara Chergoleishvili recalls how the seemingly unrelated Orthodox Congress sparked mass anti-government rallies back in June 2019. It was then that a Russian Communist MP made “a statement in religious disguise” by allowing himself to sit in the parliamentary speaker’s chair in his absence. This action was too much for the Georgian public who took to the streets in the aftermath to protest against Bidzina Ivanishvili’s orientation towards Moscow.

Putin's propaganda has failed so far in Georgia despite the fact that Russia is spending huge money on propaganda.

In this respect, the journalist draws parallels with Ukraine which is all too familiar with Kremlin’s methods.

We are subjected to all components of Russia's hybrid warfare: starting from the open military aggression and military confrontation ending with propaganda, subversive operations, terroristic acts and so forth.

What makes Chergoleishvili proud is the fact that despite all this, Russia failed to break Georgian people.

Looking ahead to 2020, the Tabula editor-in-chief predicts the fall of the Georgian Dream government whose leader is an oligarch and simultaneously the most powerful person in Georgian politics. It is billionaire Ivanishvili who has been appointing prime ministers ever since his party took power in 2012 and following his one-year stint at the helm of the cabinet.

Chergoleishvili notes Ivanishvili lost face after breaking his promise to the protesters following a violent dispersal of the demonstration on June 20 that resulted in three people – including a teenage girl – losing eyesight. This inevitably led to “international isolation” for the Georgian Dream leader, the journalist believes.

The success of 2020 is going to be his defeat and return of Georgia's path towards the consolidation of liberal democracy by ensuring proportional elections and the balanced government because Georgians are tired of one-man rule.