Georgian Protests Try to Reverse Russian Pivot

The Caucasus nation’s ‘existential choice’ between Russia and the West.

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Happy Monday! It’s literally our job to stay up-to-date on the news, so maybe that’s why Declan kept sending us play-by-play updates of the ongoing rap battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar over the weekend.

Editor’s Note: My note was intended more as a public service announcement—don’t get on Kendrick’s bad side.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • Israeli government officials on Sunday raided the offices and seized the equipment of the Qatari news outlet Al Jazeera, hours after the government ordered the outlet closed on the grounds that it posed a national security threat. “It’s time to remove the Hamas mouthpiece from our country,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
  • The Canadian government on Friday charged three Indian men for their alleged involvement in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an Indian-born Sikh nationalist whose murder last year Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested was orchestrated by “agents of the government of India.” The CBC reported that the three men were members of an Indian criminal gang and that police were actively investigating their connection to three other murders in Canada, among which one victim was an 11-year-old boy. Canadian investigators said they are looking into possible connections between the three men and the Indian government.
  • The Justice Department unsealed an indictment on Friday alleging that Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife accepted nearly $600,000 in bribes from oil companies owned by the Azerbaijani government and the Mexican bank, Banco Azteca. In the 54-page, 14-count indictment, federal prosecutors say Cuellar attempted to influence policy to strip funding to Armenia–a rival neighbor to Azerbaijan—and sought to change federal money laundering laws. Cuellar and his wife pleaded not guilty in court on Friday and were released on a $100,000 bond.
  • Politico reported Saturday that the Biden administration has approved $60 million in military aid to Haiti to help the effort to quell gang violence that has recently crippled the island nation. The assistance reportedly includes small arms and armored vehicles sent to the Haitian National Police and other countries supporting Haiti. Kenyan security forces are expected to deploy to the Caribbean country by the end of this month. 
  • U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Friday that it paused construction of a floating pier off of Gaza for the delivery of humanitarian aid, citing “unsafe conditions” caused by stormy weather. The pier will be further assembled in Israel’s Port of Ashdod until it is safe to install in Gaza. “Once in place, the temporary pier in Gaza will allow for the delivery of additional humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in need,” CENTCOM said. As many as 1,000 U.S. troops are involved in building the pier, which officials had hoped would be completed by the end of last week. The project came under mortar fire by terrorists late last month. 
  • Virginia state police on Saturday arrested at least 25 anti-Israel protesters who had set up an encampment at the University of Virginia (UVA). University administrators called in the state police after what UVA President Jim Ryan called protesters’ “repeated and intentional refusal to comply” with university policy and “physical confrontation and attempted assault” of university police. As part of the ongoing protests across the country, demonstrators disrupted the University of Michigan’s graduation, and some students walked out of their own Indiana University graduation to join the protests on Saturday. Police have arrested or detained some 2,300 people on more than 40 campuses since April 18.
  • Republican National Committee (RNC) chief counsel Charlie Spies resigned last week after less than two months in the position. A spokeswoman for the RNC said that Spies’ departure stemmed from “potential time commitment conflicts.” However, NBC News reported on Saturday the longtime Republican election lawyer—who formerly worked with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and has criticized election fraud conspiracies—was “pushed out” of the position he accepted in early March to head the RNC’s legal team.
  • Mystik Dan—led by trainer Ken McPeek and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr.—won the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, narrowly edging out Sierra Leone and Forever Young in the first three-horse photo-finish ending since 1947.

Protests Rock Georgia

Demonstrators hold European and Georgian flags during a rally in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 3, 2024, against the parliament's reintroduced "Foreign Agent Bill." (Photo by Nicolo Vincenzo Malvestuto/Getty Images)
Demonstrators hold European and Georgian flags during a rally in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 3, 2024, against the parliament's reintroduced "Foreign Agent Bill." (Photo by Nicolo Vincenzo Malvestuto/Getty Images)

The last time we wrote about protests in Georgia—the country, not the state, in case there’s any confusion—we explained how Georgians turned police sirens into the soundtrack for a street rave. Just as they did last year, Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream (GD), this spring advanced a Russian-style security law designed to squash civil society organizations, sparking renewed demonstrations over the last month with tens of thousands of Georgians taking to the streets, and yes, continuing their dancing. 

Protesters and opposition groups say GD is continuing to pivot away from the European Union (EU) and America and toward Russia and a more authoritarian system of government. As GD leaders become more vocally hostile to the U.S. and turn to repressive laws to help maintain their power, Georgians are calling for the West to impose sanctions on government leaders before elections this fall.

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  1. Kittcomm

    I’m afraid Georgia is screwed. Its location and small size means that is easy pickings by the Putin empire. Further evidence that the emperor’s ambitions go well beyond Ukraine.

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    Cheerio

    I have attended rallies and memorials (where community or groups gather to hear speeches, sing, pray, remembrances and light candles) --Take Back the Night, Rally to Restore Sanity, Memorial gatherings for Flight 103, Pearl Harbor, the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings, 9/11 (many of those), talks by priests and nuns and young men who witnessed or were persecuted in war torn/or uprisings in reaction to extra governmental terror in places like Central America and African nations.

    But the only actual protest I actively took part in was as a high school freshman. We had a walkout because the administration was forcing us to stay in school two weeks longer at the end of the year to make up for a teacher's strike that occurred in the previous Fall. There was no justice in forcing two weeks of summer freedom from us as it was not our fault the school district and the teachers had reached such an impasse.

    My mother, being from Germany, was very upset when I went to the talks. She was concerned about me sharing my contact information-- that the government would get this and ruin my life. Now she came here in 1950 (but only 7 years old) but perhaps the McCarthy Hearings made an impression on her.

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    Theirnscott

    I've never been to a protest. If Trump gets elected again, I suspect that will change.

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  4. Brsansom

    I joined protests when George Bush was about to invade Iraq. There was a clear to the protests and a chance they could have a real effect on the president’s decision. I thought the invasion was a terrible mistake and I still do. We stood with a church group. All kinds of people were there —all ages and professions. We were civil and serious about what they were doing.

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    2sequoia

    LUK: yes, back in the 70’s.

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    BV

    I have not attended any protests, and it's interesting because this topic keeps coming up on my mid-size private college campus, where many in our administration are breathing a sigh of relief that we have had very muted activity (although still sweating the 2 weeks to graduation), while others in the admin. and faculty are fretting that our lack of activity on Gaza/Israel is somehow a reflection of student apathy and a "failure" on our part to produce an engaged student body. I tried in my small way to push back on that characterization of our students. I mean it may be true that many of our students are apathetic (as are most 18-21 year olds about issues that are far beyond the scope of their daily experience), or it may just be that they are not highly engaged in this particular issue, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they don't care or don't have thoughts or feelings about it or other matters of importance. Maybe like me they are conflicted, and are able to see that the issue is enormously complex, and that there is a reason that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most intractable conflicts of the modern era. Or maybe they also see that protesting our College's investment portfolio or contracting policies isn't the best way to bring about change.

    I would rather have a campus student body that votes, that participates in volunteer work, that pursues their careers with integrity and ethics, than a student body that protests in loud and reductionist, and not particularly effective, protests.

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    Chuckgold

    LUK,
    When I was young it was the Vietnam War. At the time I supported the war against Communism and accepted what our leadership told us. I didn't protest. I was already a member of the military (ANG).

    I did join our church in an annual pro-life demonstration at the Capitol in St. Paul two or three times in the late seventies/early eighties.

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  8. Terence T

    LUK: I participated in college protests over the war in Iraq. They were entirely sedate affairs. All scheduled with beginnings and ends. No one really had the idea to occupy anything or get violent. I even remember being friends with college republicans on the other side. Better times, I guess.

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  9. JG

    Is this the fruit of Bidens "America's back" return to normalcy he keep talking about? I thought trump's stupid isolationist policies were bad, but it's really hard to imagine how someone can be so consistently wrong about foreign policy for half a century.

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    Rccater

    LUK: I was one of the organizers of a protest against the war in Vietnam at my high school in Bryan, Texas, in 1969. It consisted of participants wearing black armbands to school that day. Aside from a few scuffles in the halls it was peacefull, although I ended up getting expelled over it.

    I had researched the history of Vietnam and the events leading up to our involvement, and I thought the war was a mistake. It didn't seem like our government could say what victory there might look like, and I felt it was wrong to send our troops to fight without a clear goal.

    I participated in large anti-war demonstrations in Austin in '70 and '71. It was fun, exciting, and a great place to meet hippy chicks (I met the girl who became my wife at one). I got tear-gassed a couple of times but I don't remember it being especially violent.

    I was also eligible for the draft in '70 and '71 which had a way of focusing my attention; I had friends who had been drafted and sent over there. I drew high numbers in the draft lottery both years and wasn't called up. I enlisted in the USAF in '76 and served four years

    These days I avoid large crowds and tear-gas. I still think our getting involved in the war in Vietnam was a mistake. The way our returning troops were treated was a disgrace.

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      Theirnscott

      I think we're close to the same age. I graduated high school in Louisiana in 1969 and immediately joined the Navy. I got out the same year you joined the Air Force. The only tear gas I ever encountered was the mandatory tear gas chamber in boot camp.

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