Biden Faces First Main Foreign Policy Test within Georgia

The Georgian government’s Tuesday raid on the opposition party’s headquarters and arrest of its innovator, Nika Melia, threatens to cripple the only real democracy in the Southern Caucasus and can be an early foreign plan check for the Biden management, which has however to take any cement action aimed at keeping Georgia’s pro-Russian government in charge of its crimes.

Melia, head of the pro-western United Nationwide Movement, had been arrested on Tuesday after federal government forces aligned with the pro-Moscow ruling Georgian Wish celebration raided the movement’s workplaces. The arranged assault is just the most recent attempt by Georgian Desire to ruin its pro-United states opposition and additional align the united states with Russia. The celebration is bankrolled and managed by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire with strong ties to Moscow and, at once, the largest personal shareholder of Russian gas giant Gazprom.

Georgia’s continued backslide into authoritarianism threatens to erode its longstanding alliance with america and puts the Biden administration in a tense diplomatic plight since it seeks to create good on promises to safeguard democracies throughout the world. American congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle have roundly criticized Georgian Dream’s actions and needed new sanctions on the country’s leaders. The Biden STATE DEPT., however, has refrained from going for a firm position on the problem, instead calling for both sides to stay calm.

“We ask all sides in order to avoid actions which could further escalate tensions also to take part in good faith negotiations to solve the existing political crisis,” STATE DEPT. spokesman Ned Price said in a statement on Tuesday.

The crisis, however, is quickly worsening. Giorgi Gakharia, the country’s embattled prime minister, abandoned any office the other day as Ivanishvili along with other Georgian Dream leaders demanded that Melia be arrested on trumped-up charges which are widely viewed as politically motivated. Gakharia has been replaced by Irakli Garibashvili, a co-employee of Ivanishvili who also offers close ties to Russia.

Georgian opposition parties, meanwhile, have refused to accept the official results of parliamentary elections held last October, claiming widespread fraud and voter intimidation. Since then, Georgian Dream has continued to arrest political opponents and violate agreements meant to reduce its persecution of pro-western opposition leaders.

Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, said the crisis will show if the Biden administration backs up its anti-Russia rhetoric with action.

Russia’s recent arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny was the “first test” for Biden’s STATE DEPT., McFaul said on Twitter. The coup in Myanmar was the next. “Georgia is currently third. In words, Biden has pledged to accomplish more to advance democracy and human rights. Now you have to complement those words with deeds.”

Giga Bokeria, a prominent leader in the Movement for Freedom-European Georgia Party, a pro-American faction, likewise told the Washington Free Beacon that the existing crisis represents a tipping point.

“It’s crunch time now for Georgia’s future,” Bokeria said. “The oligarch who for a long time has gradually tried to erode a pro-American, pro-Western consensus in Georgian politics by persecuting pro-Western opponents and promoting pro-Putin forces in the country, has raided any office of the largest pro-Western opposition party, arrested its leader, and appointed a fresh prime minister known to be near pro-Putin forces.”

Leaders on the home Georgia Caucus said the raid constitutes an unacceptable assault on the country’s fledgling democracy.

“Years of effort by the Georgian visitors to build a stronger and much more prosperous democracy are increasingly being gravely threatened by excessive force and undemocratic actions,” Reps. Gregory Meeks (D., N.Y.), Gerry Connolly (D., Va.), and Adam Kinzinger (R., Ill.) said in a joint statement on Tuesday. Meeks may be the chairman of the home Foreign Affairs Committee. Connolly and Kinzinger cochair the House’s Georgia Caucus.

“We encourage the leaders of Georgian Dream to de-escalate the problem and use the United National Movement along with other opposition parties to create Georgia’s push for a wholesome democratic future back on the right track,” the lawmakers said. “We fear that failure to utilize minority parties will impede the progress created by Georgia to foster stronger relations with europe and NATO.”

Senators Jim Risch (R., Idaho), ranking person in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.), chairwoman of the Senate subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, demanded that Melia and a large number of other political prisoners be immediately released.

“The corrupt usage of Georgia’s police and judiciary to execute politically-motivated actions jeopardizes what remains of Georgia’s democracy and its own Euro-Atlantic path,” the senators said in a statement. “We demand the immediate release of most political prisoners.”