The United States’ anger over the new foreign agents law recently adopted in Georgia stems from the fact that non-government organizations and media currently remain the only regime change tool at the West’s disposal in this Caucasus region country, says Arno Khidirbegishvili, general director and chief editor of the Georgian Information and Analytical Agency "GEOINFORM."
During the presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili, Khidirbegishvili explains, the West had many more options available: “the Saakashvili regime itself, president Saakashvili, [foreign] aid, credits, investments and all the rest.”
“Today, only the non-government organizations and media are left – that is, foreign agents and their funding. And so we – the government, that is – hit them where it hurts, the bullseye,” he tells Sputnik.
This is why the protests against the law in question started, Khidirbegishvili explains – Western powers realized that they were losing their hold on Georgia.
According to him, Western attempts to destabilize the situation in Georgia, which involve efforts to destroy Georgia's currency, may lead to armed clashes within the country.
That, in turn, could be used as a pretext for a military intervention by a “peacekeeping” NATO force, he suggests.
Meanwhile, Western pressure aimed at bringing Georgia to heel and turning it into a weapon against Russia only evokes outrage among the Georgian people, Khidirbegishvili adds.
“If the grand purpose of the United States and the foreign agents in Georgia, including their leader [Georgian] President Zurabishvili, was to somehow push Georgia towards Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union, then they succeed splendidly,” he quips.