Geopolitics. Generous with compliments. Dedicated to helping others. Consultant. Communication. Rhetoric. Politics. Media. https://buymeacoffee.com/terjehelland https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/TerjeHelland ENcouncil.org
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🇺🇸🇬🇪 Oklahomans! In 2020, Sen Mullin warned that Georgia’s ruling party was tied to Russia, Iran, and hostile actors. Today, as a US Senator, he is blocking the bipartisan #MEGOBARIAct- thus protecting the very regime he once called a threat. What happened? 1/7
📞 If you live in Oklahoma: call Sen. Mullin’s office at (202) 224-4721. Be polite, firm, and clear: Support the bipartisan #MEGOBARIAct. 🇺🇸 If you live elsewhere: share this, tag Oklahoma friends, and ask why your senator stands with 98 others—while Mullin blocks democracy. 7/7
This isn’t partisan. Democrats and Republicans alike- 98 senators- stand behind MEGOBARI. The only outliers are a handful shielding a pro-Russian regime. Mullin’s obstruction puts him out of step with America’s values and Oklahoma’s interests. 6/7
So why the reversal? Why was Georgian Dream “anti-American” in 2020 but now suddenly worthy of protection in 2025? Who benefits when Sen. Mullin buries a bipartisan bill to hold them accountable? Oklahoma deserves answers. 5/7
Here’s the kicker: in 2020, Mullin himself signed a letter warning about Georgian Dream. He said they pushed out American businesses. He said they were tied to Iran sanctions-busting. He said they endangered US national security. 4/7
Blocking MEGOBARI doesn’t just hurt Georgians fighting for democracy. It helps Moscow, Tehran, and Beijing. It undermines NATO, US security interests, and US allies in the Black Sea. This is not “just another bill.” It’s strategic. 3/7
The #MEGOBARIAct is simple: it holds Georgia’s ruling “Georgian Dream” accountable for democratic backsliding and Russian-style laws and human rights violations. It passed the House. It has the backing of 98 Senators. Only two remain reluctant. Mullin is one of them. 2/7
🇺🇸🇬🇪 Oklahomans! In 2020, Sen Mullin warned that Georgia’s ruling party was tied to Russia, Iran, and hostile actors. Today, as a US Senator, he is blocking the bipartisan #MEGOBARIAct- thus protecting the very regime he once called a threat. What happened? 1/7
🇬🇪Georgia’s paradox: a government despised by its people, yet firmly in power. Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream survives not through popularity, but by fusing repression, economic dependency, and rigged institutions. 🧵In this thread I try to explain this paradox. 1/16
☕️ If you value my threads, please consider supporting my work at buymeacoffee.com/terjehelland. Your support helps me continue informing and engaging on Georgia’s fight for democracy. Thank you! 🙏 16/16
For a deeper dive, read my Substack analysis: “Repression, dependency, and the survival of Georgian Dream” 🔗 terjehelland1.substack.com/p/georgias-p... 15/16
This is why sanctions must be strategic, not symbolic. Targeting Ivanishvili alone is insufficient. To weaken Georgian Dream, the West must sanction the fixers, donor-linked companies, corrupt judges and offshore networks that sustain the system. 14/16
This regime is not only authoritarian. It is expensive. Every ghost job, bribe, propaganda channel, and security operation drains the Georgian taxpayer. Citizens pay the bill. Ivanishvili and his enablers pocket the profit. 13/16
Repression is growing. Reports from Amnesty, HRW, and the US State Dept. show escalating human rights violations: arbitrary arrests, beatings of protesters, surveillance of activists, intimidation of journalists. 12/16 www.amnesty.org/en/location/...
As Natia Mezvrishvili showed in her Beyond the Ballot Box analysis, Georgia’s elections aren’t stolen on election day. They are stolen years in advance through legal manipulation, surveillance, and institutional capture. 11/16 substack.com/inbox/post/1...
And then there are elections themselves. By 2024, GD had captured the judiciary, ombudsman, and election administration. The infamous “corridor of fear” greeted voters outside the polls with regime loyalist and surveillance. Ballot secrecy was a myth. 10/16
This dual logic of fear and benefit is Georgian Dream’s survival formula. Most Georgians dislike the party, but many comply because resistance is costly while compliance is rewarded. 9/16
But there’s also benefit. Ahead of elections, pensions rise. Farmers get subsidies. Food parcels appear in villages. Utility bills are written off. People know these are bribes - but survival often wins over principle. 8/16
Fear tightens the grip. Civil servants risk dismissal if they attend opposition rallies. Activists face harassment and lawsuits. Protesters meet police batons, fines, or prison. 7/16
This is not capitalism or a free economy. It is a patronage economy where taxpayer money is siphoned into inflated contracts, ghost jobs, and political handouts. It keeps Georgian Dream afloat, but drains the country’s future. 6/16
The economy is central to this system. Public contracts, subsidies, and privatizations overwhelmingly flow to GD-linked companies. Entrepreneurs know: loyalty means survival, defiance means exclusion. 5/16
A Georgian Dream created librarian in a village without a library - will do anything to keep the status quo. Positions don’t exist to serve the public. They exist to lock families into loyalty networks where dissent risks survival. 4/16
It looks less like a democracy and more like a neo-feudal pyramid. Ivanishvili sits at the top. Beneath him: ministers, governors, mayors, civil servants - their jobs secured not by merit, but by obedience. 3/16
Polls are clear: Georgians distrust the government, dislike Ivanishvili, and want a European future🇪🇺. And yet, since 2012, Georgian Dream has ruled without interruption. Why? Because the state has been rewired into a machine of loyalty and fear. 2/16
🇬🇪Georgia’s paradox: a government despised by its people, yet firmly in power. Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream survives not through popularity, but by fusing repression, economic dependency, and rigged institutions. 🧵In this thread I try to explain this paradox. 1/16
I explain in detail how Georgian Dream’s enablers keep Ivanishvili in power - and why sanctioning them is the key to breaking the regime. Read my full Substack analysis here: terjehelland1.substack.com/p/georgias-c... ☕️ If you value this work, please consider: buymeacoffee.com/terjehelland 🙏 16/16
Sanctions weaken the regime, not the people. Georgians have shown, time and again, their overwhelming support for Europe. Ensure that the enablers who profit from Georgia’s captivity are no longer left untouched – and no longer benefit from status quo. 15/16
That means: 🔹Freeze assets of GD-linked companies. 🔹Ban regime media from foreign financing and licensed shows. 🔹Bar GD firms from EU procurement. 🔹Cut offshore shelters. Remove Cartu Bank from SWIFT - Ivanishvili’s financial mothership. 14/16
Sanctioning Ivanishvili himself is not enough. The system is deliberately diffuse - designed to survive if one man is hit. The enablers are the scaffolding. Target them, and the whole structure begins to crack. 13/16
It doesn’t stop with individuals. Companies like Black Sea Group, Caucasus Road Project Ltd, Kartu Group, and Liberty Bank dominate tenders and subsidies. They don’t compete in a free market. They operate as the financial arteries of authoritarianism. 12/16
And then there’s Vano Chkhartishvili, an ex-minister turned oligarch. Offshore havens, shady privatizations, and contracts with blacklisted Chinese SOEs. Transparency Int. and Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency have already sounded the alarm. Still no EU or UK sanctions. 11/16
Ilia Tsulaia, head of Archi Development, bankrolls Georgian Dream and defended the Kremlin-style “foreign agents” law as “transparency.” His empire grew on state favoritism. His loyalty bought him fortune. This is state capture in practice. 10/16
Tamaz Gaiashvili’s Georgian Airways rushed to resume flights to Russia the moment Moscow lifted its ban - undermining EU sanctions while aligning perfectly with Kremlin policy. Ukraine sanctioned him. The EU and the UK has not. Why the hesitation? 9/16
Ucha Mamatsashvili, Ivanishvili’s cousin, manages offshore networks that shield the oligarch’s wealth. Ukraine has already flagged him for sanctions. He is a textbook Magnitsky case. Why has Brussels and the UK not followed? 8/16
These men are not neutral actors. They are pillars of state capture. Irakli Rukhadze runs both Imedi TV (propaganda) and Liberty Bank (debt traps for pensioners). His companies are anchored in UK/Netherlands jurisdictions - chokepoints the West can hit. 7/16
But propaganda and state capture doesn’t pay for itself. Behind the slogans lies a network of enablers: businessmen, bankers, and oligarchs who profit from Georgian Dream’s rule - and in turn keep Ivanishvili’s machine alive. 6/16
The pattern is familiar: control the narrative, crush dissent, and buy loyalty. Imedi TV, PosTV, and troll farms flood Georgia with propaganda. Critics are smeared, the West is vilified, and public space is saturated with lies. The goal isn’t persuasion - it’s exhaustion. 5/16
Georgian Dream once spoke of democracy and Europe. Now, that mask is gone. Today it mirrors the very authoritarian regimes it once opposed - part of Putin’s hybrid war, designed to deny Georgia its European future while shielding Ivanishvili’s billions. 4/16
Because the regime has been hardwired into the state itself. Courts follow political orders. Laws are weaponized. Elections are tilted. Opposition is criminalized. Protesters are beaten. This is not governance. It’s Russia’s Trojan Horse strategy in action. 3/16
Ask Georgians: Ivanishvili is despised. His “foreign agents” law, copied from Moscow, is rejected by the majority. His anti-Western rants fall flat. So why does Georgian Dream still control the country? 2/16
🇬🇪Georgia is suffocating under Putin’s Trojan Horse Georgian Dream. Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream has turned a pro-European nation into a captured state. The West is still looking away. It’s time to act - and sanctions are the key. 1/16
22 Georgian online media outlets have united in this fight, and you can all support them: From Abroad: www.gofundme.com/f/help-media... Campaign: sinatle.media Donation from Georgia: TBC Bank: #GE76TB7548536080100013 Bank of Georgia: #GE06BG0000000609779465 Recipient: “ხალხის წყარო”
bsky.app/profile/terj...
Georgia’s people still demand democracy, rule of law, and Europe. That’s the regime’s deepest fear - and the West’s greatest responsibility. ☕️ If you enjoy my threads, please consider supporting my work at buymeacoffee.com/terjehelland. 🙏 16/16
The key targets are clear: 🔹Ivanishvili himself and his overseas assets. 🔹His inner circle of business allies who profit from state contracts. 🔹Banks and companies in Georgia tied to sanctions evasion. 🔹Corrupt judges Squeeze these, and the regime’s lifeline breaks. 15/16
Here lies a paradox: Because Ivanishvili’s system is so dependent on money flows and his personal fortune, targeted Western sanctions could have an outsized impact. 14/16
Now the model is hitting limits: 🔹Russian inflows are dwindling. 🔹Internal purges expose fractures. 🔹Without natural resources or charisma, a personalized autocracy looks fragile. 13/16 civil.ge/archives/692...
But repression didn’t kill resistance. Protests widened cracks inside GD, triggered defections, and exposed Ivanishvili’s vulnerabilities. He rushed to repatriate assets under sanction threats - tying his fate even closer to Georgia🇬🇪. 12/16
Flush with cash, GD cracked down harder: 🔹Laws strangling foreign-funded NGOs & media. 🔹Massive fines on protesters. 🔹Business elites keep quiet, fearing losses. Pro-democracy forces were pushed to the brink. 11/16 www.transparency.org/en/press/dem...
Meanwhile, the EU’s interest in the Middle Corridor and energy projects emboldened GD. Leaders claimed: “Europe needs Georgia as much as Georgia needs Europe.” The regime felt untouchable. 10/16
Ivanishvili turned this windfall into a political weapon. Social spending soared: debt forgiveness, salary hikes, welfare for nearly 1/5 of voters. During elections citizens were warned: vote against GD, lose your benefits. 9/16
Georgia also became a sanctions gray zone: 🔹Car re-exports jumped from $0.5B (2021) to $2.4B (2024). 🔹Evidence of dual-use electronics transiting to Russia. 🔹Russian oil imports doubled, possibly resold to Europe. Profit > principle. 8/16
Tens of thousands of Russians🇷🇺 relocated to Georgia. In 2022 alone, they brought $2 billion+ into banks, bought real estate, and opened 11,000 firms. The economy boomed. GDP: 2022: 10.4% , 2023: 7.8% , 2024. 9.4% . 7/16
Then came Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While the Georgian people stood with Kyiv, Georgian Dream stood with Moscow - not out of ideology, but for profit. 6/16
But Georgia wasn’t just a profit play. For Ivanishvili, controlling the state meant a sovereign shield for his assets. That shield became essential after his battles with Credit Suisse and paranoia about Western “conspiracies.” 5/16
His wealth insulated him from electoral pressure. When Georgian Dream risked losing in 2018 and 2020, Ivanishvili simply poured in millions to flip the results. He became the “lender of last resort” for regime survival. 4/16
In Georgia, politics has always been about democracy and economics. Ivanishvili reshaped the system: not just a political boss balancing elites, but a Russia created billionaire oligarch with his own stake in the economy. 3/16
This thread draws on an excellent analysis by Jaba Devdariani & Tornike Zurabashvili: “How Money Saved Ivanishvili’s Regime”. Highly recommended reading ⬇️ 2/16 www.politicsgeo.com/article/168
🇬🇪Why is Georgian Dream surviving despite mass protests, backlash, and international condemnation? The answer isn’t repression alone. It’s money. 🧵A thread on how Bidzina Ivanishvili’s fortune and Russian inflows saved his regime - and why it’s still may crack. 1/16
🇬🇪Georgia is undergoing a political transformation - but not towards the future we all want. The extremist ruling party, Georgian Dream, has evolved into a demagogic, anti-Western machine, deploying propaganda and laws that echo the darkest chapters of the 20th century. 1/17
Before Bucha, there was Abkhazia. On August 14, 1992, Russia 🇷🇺 and Russian-backed forces attacked Georgia 🇬🇪, starting a war that led to the ethnic cleansing and displacement of over 200,000 Georgians and an ongoing occupation — the same imperialist crimes seen in Ukraine today.
🇬🇪Georgia is not drifting into authoritarianism. It is being steered there. My new Substack: terjehelland1.substack.com/p/georgias-d...
☕️ If you enjoy my threads, please consider supporting my work at buymeacoffee.com/terjehelland. Your support is a great motivation for me to continue informing and engaging. Thank you! 🙏 17/17
Targeted Western sanctions could fracture Georgian Dream’s unity and weaken its enablers. Without new sanctions, the regime’s grip will hold. The choice is simple - act now, or accept Georgia’s slide into permanent authoritarianism. 16/17
WARNING: The signs are clear: opposition parties, civil society, and independent media have been systematically weakened - financially strangled, legally harassed, and in some cases jailed. As of today, Georgian Dream faces little real challenge. 15/17
Yet, Georgians resist. Over 250 days of non-stop protests. They fill the streets and sing the EU anthem under police batons. Their fight is for more than EU candidacy - it’s for the basic right to live in a free, European democracy. 14/17
Georgia’s transformation hasn’t happened overnight. Each law, each propaganda push, each historical falsification is another brick in a wall separating Georgia from Europe. - The pace is steady. - The intent is clear. Under GD, Georgia will never become an EU member. 13/17
🇦🇲🇦🇿🇺🇸The U.S.-brokered peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a breakthrough for the South Caucasus - but it leaves Georgia looking increasingly sidelined. While neighbours move closer to the West, Georgian Dream’s anti-democratic turn deepens its isolation. 12/17
This is more than internal repression. By aligning narratives with Moscow, Georgia is becoming a hybrid satellite - a weak link in Europe’s security chain, destabilising the Black Sea region and emboldening other authoritarians. 11/17
The regime’s message is simple and relentless: “We protect Georgia from Western war plans.” “We defend tradition from foreign decay.” Here, “we” means Georgian Dream. It’s repeated until accepted, regardless of evidence - a textbook authoritarian tactic, fine-tuned demagoguery. 10/17
Media space is suffocated: 🔹Opposition TV channels sued for calling Parliament “illegitimate”. 🔹Foreign funding bans. 🔹Journalists fined, detained, and banned from Parliament. 🔹Independent outlets like Batumelebi have bank accounts frozen. 9/17
Also - history is rewritten to fit the narrative. Textbooks are altered. Saakashvili’s presidency is reframed as treacherous submission to foreigners. Even the 2008 Russian invation is rebranded to align with Kremlin talking points. 8/17
Propaganda is the glue holding it together. Georgian Dream mirrors Goebbels’ principles: 🔹centralized message control 🔹enemy vilification 🔹relentless repetition 🔹emotional simplification. Opposition = “foreign agents”. West = “global party of war”. 7/17
Party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili is betting that the West, distracted and cautious, will prioritise “geopolitical stability” over democratic values - and that authoritarianism here will carry no real cost. They gamble that the West’s focus is on crisis elsewhere. 6/17
The anti-Western turn is deliberate. When EU member states warned of democratic collapse, Georgian Dream didn’t recalibrate - it lashed out, accusing the West of “deep state” conspiracies and demanding relations be stripped of democratic principles. 5/17
It’s a legislative blitzkrieg: 🔹Restrictions on election monitoring and media coverage of courts 🔹Granting government power to block foreign funding for NGOs 🔹Criminalising unpaid protest fines with up to 60 days in jail 4/17
Since 2022, the party has passed at least 25 major laws that curtail freedoms: 🔹Foreign agent law criminalising independent NGOs and media 🔹Constitutional tools to ban opposition parties outright 🔹Blanket protest restrictions and expanded police powers 3/17 oc-media.org/explainer-th...
This is not an exaggeration. Georgian Dream’s tactics combine authoritarian governance, Russia-aligned revisionism, and Goebbels-style propaganda. There has been a near-total one party state takeover and the systematic dismantling of democracy. 2/17 politicsgeo.com/article/167
🇬🇪Georgia is undergoing a political transformation - but not towards the future we all want. The extremist ruling party, Georgian Dream, has evolved into a demagogic, anti-Western machine, deploying propaganda and laws that echo the darkest chapters of the 20th century. 1/17
🚨NEW: Latest for @bylinetimes.bsky.social with Josimar's Paul Brown, on how an Israeli tycoon, a shady Miami investment group, and a UK firm controlled by enablers of the Georgian regime became embroiled in a £1bn legal spat between powerful Russian business interests. 1/13 👉 shorturl.at/8hHYG
🇬🇪Just listened to @marikamikiashvili.bsky.social on Talk Georgia - an insightful, sharp, and deeply inspiring voice. Few Georgians have done more to inform and engage Western audiences about what’s really happening in Georgia than Marika. Highly recommended. 👏🇬🇪 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2fO...
🇬🇪I’ve just sent a letter to APF (L’Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie) urging them to cut ties with Tea Tsulukiani, a central architects of Georgia’s dictatorial crackdown. She’s not just a participant. She’s a key enforcer. Engaging with her legitimizes repression. Please help amplify.
🇬🇪A country once seen as the democratic bright spot of the post-Soviet space is now undergoing the fastest authoritarian regression in modern European history. 🧵Here’s a thread to keep you updated on what’s happening - and why it matters. 1/23
🇬🇪Democracy doesn’t collapse overnight - it dies in stages, often under legal cover. Georgia is a warning to the world: the tools of autocracy are now subtle, domestic, and dressed in law. And this is Putin’s other kind of war - the hybrid one. My Substack: terjehelland1.substack.com/p/do-not-for...
☕️ If you enjoy my threads, please consider supporting my work at buymeacoffee.com/terjehelland. Your support is a great motivation for me to continue informing and engaging. Thank you! 🙏 23/23
Democracy doesn’t collapse overnight - it dies in stages, often under legal cover. Georgia is a warning to the world: the tools of autocracy are now subtle, domestic, and dressed in law. And this is Putin’s other kind of war - the hybrid one. 22/23
The courage of ordinary Georgians is extraordinary. They are singing the EU anthem as tear gas rains down. They are marching for values the West claims to defend - democracy, liberty, the rule of law. They wave US flags. They deserve more than applause. 21/23
This is a test of the West’s resolve. Do we stand with a pro-European population resisting authoritarian rule - or do we reward a regime dismantling democracy at record speed? 20/23
Western support statements are not enough. What’s needed now: 🔹Individual sanctions on Ivanishvili and inner circle 🔹Targeted financial sanctions on enablers using Western banks 🔹Clear linkage between repression and EU/NATO pathways 19/23
The West must face this squarely. Georgian Dream’s authoritarian pivot is not just a domestic tragedy - it is a geopolitical gift to Moscow. And it is happening in plain sight. 18/23
At the center of this hijacking is one man: Bidzina Ivanishvili. A shadowy oligarch with ties to Russian finance and London shell networks, he controls Georgia’s state apparatus from behind the scenes. He is Georgia’s real power. 17/23
80% of Georgians support EU integration. This is not a divided country. It is a hijacked one - held hostage by a ruling elite that serves neither the people nor their aspirations. 16/23
More than 200 public employees have been fired simply for Facebook posts supporting EU membership. The government fears its own citizens - because it knows it does not speak for them. 15/23 civil.ge/archives/640...
For over six months, protests have gripped Georgia. Hundreds of thousands marched. Artists, students, civil servants - even business leaders - joined. The ruling party responded with beatings, surveillance, and mass arrests. 14/23
In November 2024, the self-proclaimed Prime Minister Kobakhidze formally suspended Georgia’s EU path until 2028. The message was unambiguous: Georgia’s leadership no longer seeks a European future. And the streets erupted. 13/23
This is not about isolated abuses. This is systematic: a legal framework crafted to make Georgia incompatible with EU membership. That’s no accident - it’s a strategy years in the making. Georgian Dream is guaranteeing that Georgia will not become a member of the EU. 12/23
Protest is no longer a right. Legislation passed in December 2024 introduced a series of bans: 🔹Face coverings at protests 🔹Use of fireworks or laser pointers 🔹Blocking roads (now criminal) Even symbolic acts can now lead to arrest. 11/23
Civil society is being dismantled with legal precision. New laws prohibit NGOs from receiving grants without government permission - and eliminate civil society participation in policymaking altogether. This is a deliberate move to isolate power. 10/23
Journalistic work has become dangerous. More than 70 journalists have been injured covering protests since 2024. Dozens face criminal investigations, including Georgia’s first female journalist political prisoner, Mzia Amaglobeli. 9/23
