The United States and the European Union refraining from criticizing the foreign agents registry law recently adopted in Canada, while simultaneously blasting similar legislation adopted by Georgia, is essentially a “problem of double standards,” said Dr. Marco Marsili who holds research positions in major civil and military institutions in Portugal, the UK and Italy.
“It depends on the point of view of the proponents, the lawmakers, and of those who are their allies and assess the bill as just and fair, according to their geopolitical perspective,” Dr. Marsili explained. “Basically, it is a Manichaeans approach, according to which the world is divided into the good ones and the bad ones - figure out which are which according to a Western vision.”
Georgia merely seeks to protect itself from foreign influence exerted through funding from abroad of local NGOs and “any other public outreach activity like media outlets,” basically following the example of the Western powers, he noted.
Western powers, however, insist that “Georgian politics must be influenced through Western financial support to local agents” but at the same time “reject any Russian funding.”
"That is really bizarre - it's not just double-standard, but also non-sensical,” Dr. Marsili remarked.
Francis Boyle, a professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, also suggested that both Russia and Georgia are “entitled to have their own equivalents to the US Foreign Agents Registration Act,” considering that many of the foreign NGOs operating in these countries are “designed to destabilize the host governments and produce color revolutions.”
“All of these Western NGOs operate under the basic principle: he who pays the piper calls the tune!” he added. “Many of these foreign NGOs are shot through with Western intelligence agents and assets. So of course these foreign NGOs have to be regulated in order to preserve the sovereign independence of the host states under international law.”