Color Revolution Threat In Georgia

Russai’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) warned in a press release on Monday that the US is plotting to orchestrate a Color Revolution in Georgia after mid-October’s parliamentary elections. The motivation is to punish the ruling Georgian Dream party for its pro-sovereignty policies, with the pretext being the alleged falsification of the vote, after which targeted sanctions and weaponized protests will follow. This is the standard Color Revolution modus operandi the world over.

In the Georgian context, there are three reasons why the US wants to punish the ruling party. First, it’s refused to sanction Russia despite immense Western pressure. Second, it also refused to open up a “second front” in NATO’s proxy war on Russia by recommencing hostilities over Abkhazia and South Ossetia. And finally, in connection with that, it promulgated FARA-like foreign agents legislation for registering related “NGOs” and individuals.

Unlike what the West has claimed, none of these policies nor Georgia Dream’s latest draft legislation for protecting traditional values from LGBT+ liberal-globalist propaganda is influenced by Russia or supposed proof that the party is controlled by the Kremlin. Each aligns with the country’s objective national interests. In the order that they were mentioned, sanctioning Russia would have resulted in devastating self-inflicted damage to the Georgian economy.

Opening up another a “second front” against Russia could then have led to devastating physical damage just like the last time that Georgia provoked a war with Russia in 2008. About that, the ruling party blamed former President Mikhail Saakashvili for that disaster, alleging that he was operating under the influence of unnamed foreign forces that many interpreted as an allusion to the US. They also proposed an official investigation into what happened back then, which could lead to charging him with treason.

As for Georgia’s FARA-influenced foreign agents legislation, this is meant to impede the West’s efforts to overthrow the democratically elected government via Color Revolution means. The ruling party also just promised to ban Saakashvili’s “United National Movement” (UNM) if they win a constitutional majority since they allege that it’s continuing to act under external orders. All of these moves are sensible, but it’s precisely for that reason that the US is against them since they’ll strengthen national sovereignty.

Georgia used to be a bonafide Western puppet state, but the UNM’s losses to Georgian Dream in the 2012 parliamentary and 2013 presidential elections began the gradual process of the people restoring control over their country. A snag occurred after Georgian Dream-endorsed President Salome Zourabichvili, a French-born member of the diaspora with French citizenship who used to serve as a French diplomat, broke with the party and pivoted towards West in recent years.

Nevertheless, the practical consequences have proven manageable since Georgian Dream still has enough seats in parliament to override presidential vetoes, but they lack the two-thirds majority required to impeach her. She’s therefore largely been relegated to a figurehead position. At most, she might try to inspire weaponized protests against Georgian Dream from her symbolic political perch, but that’s about the only threat that she poses.

Much more serious though is the one from the so-called “Georgian Legion”, an infamous Western-backed mercenary group operating in Ukraine that’s carried out war crimes against Russia. Some of them are highly trained operatives who have no compunction about waging war against their government. Founder Mamula Mamulashvili claimed in April that Russian intelligence penetrated Georgian intelligence with the innuendo being that this might have been done with a wink from Georgian Dream.

He then told the foreign agent-designated “Insider” three months later that 300 of his fellow mercenaries have been placed on Russia’s most wanted list, which he claims Moscow couldn’t have done without Tbilisi’s help, thus reaffirming the artificially manufactured notion that they’re Russian puppets. It’s unclear how true that claim is, but the ruling party might have recognized this foreign-backed group as a serious threat to national security and hoped that Russia would eliminate many of them in Ukraine.

Although small in number, the “Georgian Legion” could have an outsized impact on any forthcoming Color Revolution just like the similarly small Azov Battalion did during “EuroMaidan”. Such regime change campaigns rely on provocateurs who hide within crowds of protesters to deter the police from using appropriate force in response to their attacks. Nobody from Georgia outside of the armed forces and security services is as highly trained in warfare as some “Georgian Legion” members are.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze also revealed in late July that Georgian Dream founder and former premier Bidzina Ivanishvili was the target of an assassination plot earlier this summer by the same forces that tried to kill Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Donald Trump. He added that it was “organized and financed by former high-ranking officials of the Georgian government and former employees of the security agencies who are in Ukraine” in a likely allusion to the UNM and the “Georgian Legion”.

This insight enables observers to better predict how any upcoming Color Revolution in Georgia might unfold. Zourabichvili and her foreign patrons could extend false credence to unproven claims of fraud during mid-October’s parliamentary elections in order to bring masses of UNM supporters and their foreign-backed “NGO” allies into the streets. The “Georgian Legion” could then hide within the crowd while targeting the police and trying to storm buildings like the parliament.

The last Color Revolution attempt just this spring saw protesters do precisely that, targeting the police and trying to storm the parliament, but the “Georgian Legion’s” lack of participation in these provocations doomed them to failure. The odds might change if they take part in the upcoming unrest that SVR just warned about, which their leader might justify on faux “nationalist” pretexts after his allegation that Georgian Dream is colluding with Russia’s security services to endanger his mercenaries.

This segues into the narrative that’ll likely be employed for explaining the West’s double standards towards the post-electoral violence that might soon break out there. By smearing Georgian Dream as “Russian puppets” due to their pro-sovereignty policies, urban terrorists can then be rebranded by the Mainstream Media as “freedom fighters”, and all those who oppose their crimes can then be accused of “sympathizing with Russia”. This is exactly what happened to Viktor Yanukovich during “EuroMaidan”.

He too was smeared as a “Russian puppet”, which in turn saw the Mainstream Media unite around rebranding Azov’s urban terrorists as “freedom fighters”, which they’re still regarded as to this day. Just like his ouster led to Ukraine immediately entering into a proxy war with Russia over Donbass, so too would the Georgian Dream’s ouster immediately lead to Georgia enter into another hot war with Russia over Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The timing is such that it could occur right before the US elections.

That’s coincidental though since Georgia’s mid-October parliamentary elections are the so-called “trigger event” for catalyzing this sequence of events, but it still serves the American elite’s interests. The Democrats might hope that this could either divide Russia’s forces and thus facilitate some Ukrainian gains or push the world towards the brink of war and thus coerce Russia into concessions for the sake of peace. Either way, it could be spun by them to boost their electoral prospects against Trump.

That said, the Georgian security services might preemptively thwart this scenario or successfully stop the planned Color Revolution, thus foiling the US’ regime change plans. In that case, Georgian should brace itself for becoming the West’s next pariah state, especially if the ruling party bans the UNM and possibly even the “Georgian Legion” too. The West never forgives those few of its former puppets who regain their sovereignty, and Georgia would certainly be targeted once again sometime afterwards as revenge.