INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
critics say resembles legislation in Russia used to crack down on independent media and the opposition.Introduced into parliament last month
aspirations to join the EU and push the country closer to Russia, which maintains control over the breakaway Georgian territories of
whether Russia may be involved.Why is Georgian Dream pushing the bill forward now? A protest against the "foreign influence" bill in Tbilisi
last spring amid mass anti-government demonstrations in Tbilisi, as well as warnings from Western officials over what they described as
Dream is pushing the bill forward to secure its grip on power ahead of the October parliamentary elections, even though the move might seem
pro-Western helped them stay in power for the past 10 years
And now, doing the opposite is helping them to stay in power
What role does billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili play?Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the created by him the Georgian Dream party
greets demonstrators during a rally in support of "Russian law" in Tbilisi.Shakh Aivazov / AP / TASSThe ambitions and fears of 68-year-old
that this ends, that there are no efforts for anyone to ad-lib on the side, and to do what they want without him being very much in the loop
Georgian Dream, which has increasingly sought to strike a balance between maintaining ties with the West and normalizing relations with
there will be something like a Kazakhstan or a Belarus scenario if the elections in October are not free and fair and Georgian Dream wins
that plenty of Turkish, Iranian, Azerbaijani, Chinese, and Arabic agents are working here, financing different cultural, non-cultural
law, Georgian Dream has enough seats in parliament to override such a move.Some analysts warn that the bill, which would introduce a set of
new financial regulations that foreign-funded entities must follow, could affect the outcome of the fall parliamentary elections, thus
hindering the political opposition and the work of independent monitors and media, many of whom rely predominantly on funds from foreign
It may make a good picture
