Georgia

To avoid Ukraine 2.0, the US must support the Georgian people

Published

1 year ago

December 7, 2024

To avoid Ukraine 2.0, the US must support the Georgian people

Teenagers, parents, footballers, politicians and even the president have taken to the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia every night to express their objection to the October parliamentary elections and the Georgian government’s recent announcement it was suspending the country’s European Union accession. Old folks are out there too.

In one video, young men kindly surround a “babushka” to prevent her from getting pummeled by water cannons. Black-clad “robo cops” without any identifying insignia are brutally attacking peaceful protesters, kicking their heads in when they are already on the ground and unconscious.

These security forces have a particular appetite for journalists, such that several of my friends are in the hospital with broken noses and concussions.

I moved to Georgia in 2014, at a time when democracy was having a moment. There had been a peaceful transfer of power from Mikheil Saakashvili’s regime to the Georgian Dream coalition. Democratic reforms were being implemented. The country established a ministry dedicated to integration into the EU and NATO. It was a safe haven for democratic activists from autocratic regimes.

Now it has itself become an autocracy.

Democracy was always Georgia’s primary asset. The West’s relationship with the country was forged on shared values, not oil or trade. Without democracy, Georgia’s partnership is of limited value. It is time for the U.S. and EU to dispense with the “concerned” embassy statements and lay down some consequences.

The first whiffs of democratic decline came not too long after I moved there. It started as it often does with illiberal measures, fueled by robust Kremlin information operations, targeting those in the country who are gay, transgender or ethnic minorities. The Georgia Dream coalition soon fell apart, with the more reform-minded parties leaving.

Key judicial reforms failed to pass, and attacks on media increased. A pivotal sign of decline was when the Georgia Dream party allowed Sergei Gavrilov, a member of Russia’s parliament, to speak from the podium in Georgia’s parliament. Protests erupted, followed by a violent police response.

Rather than unify Georgians around their Western allies and shared democratic values, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine led to Georgia Dream leaders insulting American and European diplomats, lawmakers, and officials, labeling them the “global war party” and accusing them of pushing Georgia into a “second front” with Russia.

Georgia has since become a sanctions-evasion route for Russia, including for repurposed machinery supporting the war, and Georgia Dream has resumed flights to and from Moscow. The Georgian people, however, took to the streets to support their brothers and sisters in Ukraine, and Ukrainian flags hang from apartments across the capital.

In addition to cozying up to Moscow, Georgia Dream has forged new partnerships with China, Iran and other autocratic regimes.

This year, the government turned its focus on the strongest democratic element in Georgia — civil society — and passed a Russia-modeled “foreign agents law” to restrict their activities. In addition, Georgia Dream passed an anti-gay “propaganda” law that restricts free assembly and speech and an “offshore assets” law to enable the country’s de facto leader oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili to more opaquely move his wealth. To tilt the electoral playing field, the party refused to follow the law on appointing the head of the election commission — installing a loyalist instead — and ignored required EU electoral reforms.

Before the polls opened on Oct. 26, the integrity of the elections was already in doubt. The campaign period was riddled with intimidation, vote buying, and raids of and legal threats against civil society and election monitoring organizations. Georgia Dream and the Kremlin — in lockstep — scared voters with threats of war if they voted for the opposition. And Georgia Dream campaigned on the promise to have Nuremberg trials for its critics and ban all opposition parties.

I’ve observed elections around the world for decades, and many elections in Georgia, and election day was filled with serious irregularities — multiple voting, ballot stuffing, lack of secrecy, intimidation and statistical impossibilities (like 107 percent of men voting in certain districts). The results also did not match the findings of reputable international exit polls, which showed an opposition victory. While we will never know exactly how much of the result was affected by the violations, we can say with certainty that the elections failed to meet democratic standards.

Georgia Dream officially sat parliament last week. This was an illegal act, as there are election cases pending in the constitutional court and the president is required to approve (she refused). One of Georgia Dream’s first actions was to abort plans to join the EU, despite overwhelming public support for EU membership.

These leaders have made their intentions crystal clear. They have flipped the script as to who are the country’s friends and foes. The U.S. must respond accordingly and defend the Georgian people by not recognizing the election results (and illegal parliament) and demanding an independent (not Georgian) investigation of electoral complaints. Financial sanctions and travel bans should be enacted against Ivanishvili, his affiliates, and Georgia Dream leaders as well as the security forces attacking citizens. The U.S. should call upon Georgian officials, diplomats and police to follow the constitution and refuse Georgia Dream’s orders. The EU has significant leverage and should use it, namely by ending visa free travel for Georgia Dream’s leadership.

While we must isolate Georgia Dream, we cannot abandon the Georgian people. U.S. and EU support for civil society and independent media should be increased. And we must continue to stand in solidarity with peaceful protestors. After all, they’ve been successful before — in 2003, the people’s Rose Revolution restored democracy and threw off the shackles of a corrupt regime.

Laura Thornton lived 25 years overseas working for democracy-promotion organizations from Thailand and Cambodia to Georgia. She is senior director for global democracy at the McCain Institute.

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Georgia

Georgia Men Defeat Florida State; Women Take Down Florida State and Arkansas

Published

9 hours ago

January 11, 2026

Press Room

Georgia Men Defeat Florida State; Women Take Down Florida State and Arkansas

Georgia vs Arkansas vs Florida State

January 10, 2026
Athens, GA — Gabrielsen Natatorium
SCY (25 Yards)
Full Meet Results
Team Scores Women
- #14 Georgia 170 — Florida State 116
- #14 Georgia 169 — Arkansas 124
- Arkansas 195 — Florida State 101
Team Scores Men
- #4 Georgia 183.5 — #10 Florida State 114.5

The Georgia Bulldogs swept Florida State and the women also took down Arkansas in their first dual meet of 2026. The Arkansas women beat Florida State in their dual, 195 to 101.

Women’s Meet Recap

The #14 ranked UGA women easily defeated Florida State and Arkansas in their double dual meet on Saturday, outscoring Florida State by more than 50 and Arkansas by more than 40.

Despite earning the overall win, the Georgia women did not take home either relay titles, but they had the fastest times in most of the individual events.

Freshman Kennedi Dobson continued to build on her strong NCAA season, taking home three event wins with the top times in the 1000 free, 200 back, and 500 free. In the 1000, she swam 9:29.05, a new personal best time and the 3rd fastest time in the country this season.

She also swam the 200 back and 500 free double, which sees only the 200 breast come in between, setting a new best time in the 200 back of 1:53.66 and in the 500 free, she swam 4:39.48 for the win.

The only other Georgia swimmer to set the fastest time in multiple events was Ieva Maluka. She won the 200 fly in 1:56.29, a new season best time. She also had the fastest time in the 200 IM, touching in 1:58.11, but the Bulldogs exhibitioned the last event to allow Arkansas and Florida State to score more points.

Charlotte Headland and Elizabeth Nawrocki split the breaststroke events for Georgia. Headland swam the 100 breast in a personal best 1:00.50, building on her progression this season. She came into the year at 1:01.39, and has dropped three times since then.

Nawrocki, a freshman, swam 2:11.48, just missing her personal and season best of 2:08.44 This swim was still more than a second faster than the 2:13.00 she started college with.

Marie Landreneau won the women’s 200 freestyle for Georgia, touching in 1:44.46 to beat teammate Shea Furse‘s 1:46.77 by a little over two seconds.

Finally, senior Olivia Della Torre won the 100 fly in 53.09, just off her season and personal best of 52.95 from the UGA Fall Invitational.

Arkansas bested Florida State in their dual meet, due, in part, to the strong performance from Harriet Rogers. Rogers won both the 50 and 100 free, swimming 22.23 in the 50 and 48.77 in the 100 to earn the top spots.

Holly Robinson won the 200 IM with her 2:03.06 coming in as the fastest non-Georgia swimmer, so she won the event, picking up nine points for the Razorbacks.

Arkansas also won the 400 free relay. Tammy Greenwood led off in 49.69. Rogers swam 48.38. Delaney Harrison was 3rd in 49.54, and Viola Petrini swam 49.73.

They also had the top two divers at the meet with Lotti Hubert earning the top spot on the 1 meter board in 314.75, leading three other Razorbacks to take the top four overall spots in the event. The 3 meter went to Maria Jose Sanchez in 348.00, more than 20 points ahead of 2nd place Kayleigh Clark from Florida State.

Florida State won one individual event and one relay. They started the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay with their team of Alice Velden (24.50), Martina Fanunza (28.07), Maryn McDade (22.95), and Mary Leigh Hardman (22.20) swimming 1:37.72 to beat the Georgia ‘A’ team by half-a-second.

Velden also won the 100 backstroke in 53.76, missing her season best of 52.40 by about a second.

Men’s Meet Recap

The men’s meet was just a dual meet between Georgia and Florida State, and the Bulldogs came out on top, scoring 183.5 points to Florida State’s 114.5.

Georgia won both relays, starting with the top time in the 200 medley relay where they swam 1:24.38 to come in just two tenths ahead of Florida State. Luca Urlando led off for Georgia, splitting 21.10 to earn the Georgia team a near seven tenth lead. Elliot Woodburn was 23.94 on the breaststroke, Ruard Van Renen split 20.18 on the butterfly, and Tane Bidois was 19.16 on the freestyle.

Florida State’s relay consisted of Max Wilson (21.77), Tommaso Baravelli (23.72), Michel Arkhangelskiy (19.91), and Sam Bork (19.20), and they touched in 1:24.60.

The 400 freestyle relay was made up of Van Renen (43.26), Tomas Koski (42.81), Bidois (43.04), and Luke Sandberg (43.21) swimming 2:52.32 to win the event by more than two seconds.

Luca Urlando won three events for the Bulldogs, swimming 1:39.59 in the 200 fly to win by almost four seconds over teammate Drew Hitchcock. He also won the 100 fly in 45.27, coming in more than a second ahead of Florida State’s Michel Arkhangelskiy‘s 46.72

Urlando also swam the 200 IM for the first time this season, touching in 1:42.95, the 15th fastest time in the country this season.

Georgia freshman Sean Green won two events, swimming 8:57.64 in the 1000 and 4:19.57 in the 500.

Hayden Meyers and Ruard Van Renen split the backstroke events. Van Renen won the 100 back in 44.68 and Meyers won the 200 back in 1:41.66.

Florida State picked up event wins in both distances of breaststroke and the 50 and 100 freestyles. Michel Arkhangelskiy won the 50 free in 19.64 and he won the 100 free in 42.92, off his season best times in both.

Tommaso Baravelli won the 100 breast for the Seminoles in 53.63, coming in more than half-a-second ahead of teammate Liam O’Connor‘s 54.26 in 2nd.

Mathias Christensen won the 200 breast in 1:57.15, just 17 hundredths ahead of Georgia’s Cale Martter, who swam 1:57.32.

Up Next

Georgia will race Tennessee on January 24th in Knoxville.

Florida State will host Florida on January 30th.

Arkansas will race kansas on January 23rd in Kansas.

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Georgia

Alabama linebacker to transfer to Georgia Tech

Published

21 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Georgia Tech

Pro Football Focus graded Noah Carter Alabama’s third-best tackler this season.

Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton runs against Alabama linebacker Noah Carter during the first half of a Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Atlanta. (Mike Stewart/AP)

A third Alabama player is transferring to Georgia Tech for the 2026 season.

Noah Carter, a 6-foot-4, 243-pound linebacker, intends to transfer to Tech, On3 reported Saturday. Carter spent two seasons with the Crimson Tide.

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Chad Bishop is a Georgia Tech sports reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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Georgia

Arsenal lead hunt for Georgia Stanway with England midfielder to leave Bayern in summer

Published

1 day ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Arsenal lead hunt for Georgia Stanway with England midfielder to leave Bayern in summer

Arsenal are among the leading candidates to sign Georgia Stanway this summer after Bayern Munich confirmed the England midfielder would leave the German club when her contract expires.

According to sources, the north London club are understood to be one of a number of teams interested in acquiring the 27-year-old on a free transfer, but Renée Slegers’ team are leading the running having tracked Stanway’s progress and are eager to add a world-class midfielder to their squad.

Stanway helped England win back-to-back European titles as well as being part of a Bayern Munich team that have won three consecutive Frauen Bundesliga titles since she arrived in the summer of 2022.

Bayern’s director of women’s football, Bianca Rech, praised her “commitment and character”, adding in a statement on Saturday: “As the first English player at FC Bayern Women, Georgia Stanway not only made history but also stole our hearts. We talked a lot and openly about her future, and when she told us that she now wanted to try something new, her reasons were completely understandable.”

Stanway posted on social media that she had made lifelong friends at the German club and told the club: “I will give everything for the club and its sporting success until my very last day, just as I have for the past three and a half years. And I want to say goodbye to the club and the fans at the end of the season with as many titles as possible.”

Aston Villa are set to sign the France midfielder Oriane Jean-François from Chelsea for £450,000 in a club-record fee for a sale by the London side. It is understood that the deal is agreed and the 24-year-old’s move should be finalised in the coming days. The former Paris Saint-Germain player has been with Chelsea since 2024.

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