>Any sanctions announcement on Georgia that does not include Ivanishvili would be an enormous mistake. He bears ultimate responsibility for most of what has gone wrong in Georgia in recent years. Though he holds no elected position (he served for a year as prime minister in 2012), he has called the shots as âhonorary chairmanâ of Georgian Dream party, falsely accusing the West of conspiring to drag Georgia into a war against Russia and promising to outlaw the parliamentary opposition and put them on trial. In the October 26th parliamentary election, Ivanishviliâs party allegedly engaged in fraud, manipulation, and threats on their way to claiming 54% supportâa tally that few believe is credible.
>
>Ivanishvili is afraid of being sanctioned; he doesnât want to lose access to Western financial institutions, nor does he want the stigma that comes with being singled out in sanctions. When a Voice of America news report in September suggestedâprematurely as it turned outâthat he was about to be sanctioned, Kobakhidze days later ordered the governmentâs Anti-Corruption Bureau to back off an investigation into Transparency International, a civil society watchdog, evidently hoping that that note of caution would stall the imposition of sanctions.
>
>Under the Global Magnitsky Act and related authorities, the U.S. government has the capability to impose sanctions on Ivanishvili, Kobakhidze, and other leading Georgian Dream figures for undermining Georgiaâs democracy, gross human rights abuses (including the brutal crackdown on peaceful protestors), and corruption. Under Global Magnitsky, the sanctions could include the denial of visas to travel to the United States and the blocking of âall of the property and interests in property within U.S. jurisdiction of the designated individuals.â
>
>Also on the sanctions list should be all members of the Georgian Dream-dominated parliament who voted for Russian-style legislation that targets Georgian civil society and the media as well as the LGBTQ+ community. The precedent for such measures would be comparable sanctions imposed on members of the Russian parliament for their support for Vladimir Putinâs full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. And Washington should warn police and military officers involved in the crackdown on peaceful protesters that they will be targeted, too, under the Global Magnitsky Act.
>
>
MeatPiston on
Sorry best we can do is have our President praise foreign dictators.
sponsoredcommenter on
lmfao.
>Georgia is at risk of falling into Russia’s orbit. Let’s give them powerful economic incentives to speed that up.
4 Comments
Article Highlights
>
>Any sanctions announcement on Georgia that does not include Ivanishvili would be an enormous mistake. He bears ultimate responsibility for most of what has gone wrong in Georgia in recent years. Though he holds no elected position (he served for a year as prime minister in 2012), he has called the shots as âhonorary chairmanâ of Georgian Dream party, falsely accusing the West of conspiring to drag Georgia into a war against Russia and promising to outlaw the parliamentary opposition and put them on trial. In the October 26th parliamentary election, Ivanishviliâs party allegedly engaged in fraud, manipulation, and threats on their way to claiming 54% supportâa tally that few believe is credible.
>
>Ivanishvili is afraid of being sanctioned; he doesnât want to lose access to Western financial institutions, nor does he want the stigma that comes with being singled out in sanctions. When a Voice of America news report in September suggestedâprematurely as it turned outâthat he was about to be sanctioned, Kobakhidze days later ordered the governmentâs Anti-Corruption Bureau to back off an investigation into Transparency International, a civil society watchdog, evidently hoping that that note of caution would stall the imposition of sanctions.
>
>Under the Global Magnitsky Act and related authorities, the U.S. government has the capability to impose sanctions on Ivanishvili, Kobakhidze, and other leading Georgian Dream figures for undermining Georgiaâs democracy, gross human rights abuses (including the brutal crackdown on peaceful protestors), and corruption. Under Global Magnitsky, the sanctions could include the denial of visas to travel to the United States and the blocking of âall of the property and interests in property within U.S. jurisdiction of the designated individuals.â
>
>Also on the sanctions list should be all members of the Georgian Dream-dominated parliament who voted for Russian-style legislation that targets Georgian civil society and the media as well as the LGBTQ+ community. The precedent for such measures would be comparable sanctions imposed on members of the Russian parliament for their support for Vladimir Putinâs full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. And Washington should warn police and military officers involved in the crackdown on peaceful protesters that they will be targeted, too, under the Global Magnitsky Act.
>
>
Sorry best we can do is have our President praise foreign dictators.
lmfao.
>Georgia is at risk of falling into Russia’s orbit. Let’s give them powerful economic incentives to speed that up.
Better yet, we should intervene.