Georgia
USAID cuts send pro-US opposition in country of Georgia into crisis
The Trump administration’s decision to gut the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and axe foreign aid has sent the anti-government opposition in the south Caucasus country of Georgia into crisis. American funding has long played a central role in sustaining the large network of non-profit and civil society organizations seeking to drive out the current ruling authorities for failing to adopt a decisively anti-Russian line.
For months, forces opposed to the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party have been protesting in the country’s capital city, Tbilisi. Their central demand has been the nullification of last October’s parliamentary elections, which delivered a majority to GD. Insisting that the vote was rigged, a claim for which no proof has been provided, they demand that the parliamentary vote be re-run so as to get the outcome they wish. These demonstrations followed on the heels of last spring’s anti-government protests, which centered around the GD government’s passage of a “foreign agents law.”
In the various waves of demonstrations, virulently anti-Russian, pro-EU, pro-US and pro-Ukrainian slogans have predominated. Crude banners directed against Putin have come alongside calls for “democracy,” “human rights” and the “European way”—the stock in trade of right-wing forces hoping to ingratiate themselves with the imperialist powers and vacuum up a few bits, however measly, from what falls off the table of the big players in the capitalist system.
The EU’s and Washington’s full backing for Israel’s war of extermination against the Palestinians has not caused Georgia’s opposition to skip a beat. And social and economic issues that impact the vast majority of the population have never found a place in this allegedly popular movement. In recent weeks, hundreds of Georgian miners have been staging protests in the capital against layoffs and unpaid wages. They have not, however, rallied behind the anti-government opposition.
The Trump administration’s attack on the post-war order is unmooring the pro-US and pro-EU layers in Georgia and across the post-Soviet sphere. Regardless of whether or not the White House successfully cuts a deal with the Putin government over the Ukraine war, Trump’s willingness to abandon Kiev and pursue such an agreement over the opposition of the EU powers signals the torching of the US’ longstanding alliance with Europe and the foreign policy that had long-cemented these ties—a ferociously anti-Russian line covered over with hollow babble about “defending freedom.”
For decades, the US has been meddling in Georgia and all the former Soviet countries with the express purpose of bringing to power governments that are avowedly hostile to Moscow. An entire social layer has been cultivated on this basis, and it is now at sea.
The axing of American imperialism’s soft power money through the shutting down of USAID has “left many of Georgia’s civil society actors reeling,” notes a March 10 article on the website Civil.ge, a pro-opposition news outlet. “Most programs that supported civil society engagement with governance are now shuttered,” it adds, resulting in the loss of about 2,000 jobs.
In an admission of the close relationship between Western funding and those on Georgia’s streets demanding that the government give up power, the author laments that “the fines they get almost daily from the police for closing traffic will feel much more painful to them.”
The volumes of money in question are not small, particularly for a country with a population of just 3.7 million and an annual GDP only slightly over $30 billion. According to a March 8 article on the website GEOPolitics titled, “As USAID Dies, Many of Georgia’s ‘Vibrant’ CSOs Face Extinction,” the size of US expenditures relative to the number of people in the country is so large that Georgia “has been one of the largest per capita recipients of US Assistance.” Between 2012 and 2023 American overseas development money spent on the tiny south Caucasus nation amounted to $1.92 billion.
USAID, next to the US State Department, is the primary administrator of these monies, according to the official website ForeignAssistance.gov. Not a single dime is spent on poverty or human welfare.
Of all the money delivered in 2023—$149,075,515—just two grants totaling $22,161 are identified as having to do with “Health,” and the explicit purpose of one of them is listed as “redacted.” A few hundred thousand dollars are dedicated to supporting things like English classes, teacher training and environmental protection. There was, however, $4500 allotted to something having to do with the racialist, gender-obsessed post modernist sociologist bell hooks (who for some reason also rejects basic English grammar and does not capitalize the first letter of either of her names). One program having to do with to “gender-based violence” had a balance of -$50.
The top recipient of US State Department money is the “Foreign Military Financing Program,” which got $35,000, followed by USAID’s “Promoting Rule of Law in Georgia.” It received $8,990,900. What then comes is a laundry list of imperialist “soft power” operations dressed up with words like “self governance,” “information integrity” and “civic education.” For instance, the USAID Civic Education Program, which received $2,700,000 in 2023, is described as follows: “The purpose of the USAID Civic Education Program is to use civic education to prepare the next generation of Georgians to be civically engaged and know and exercise their democratic rights and responsibilities.” Translated into plain speak, this means funding anti-government movement.
The Georgian website GEOPolitics, which is run by the Gnomon Wise Research Institute (another outfit funded by US and European sources), explains that even when US money has been allotted to initiatives to be undertaken by the Georgian government itself, the non-governmental “civil society” community is at the center of these efforts. Washington uses employees from USAID-sponsored Georgian NGOs to implement the policies dictated to the Georgian government.
The halt of the flood of foreign aid money has left the country’s opposition demoralized. “After a hundred days of nonstop street protest, the winter of Georgian discontent fails to bear fruit,” observed Jaba Devdariani on the news outlet Civil.ge early last month. According to him, activists are walking away from the protests and even, it seems, leaving Georgia, a fact that reveals something about the socio-economic position of layers within the core of the anti-government opposition, as the vast majority of people do not have the money to decamp from their native land because they are politically depressed.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has praised the cuts to USAID and Trump’s attacks on the “deep state.” It is moving forward with attempts to tighten the political screws and further consolidate power by passing legislation banning opposition parties, placing further limits on the media, increasing fines and detention times for protesters and introducing treason into the country’s criminal code.
The government has also revised its “foreign agents law” to make it identical to the US’ 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act. The closeness of the two laws has created something of a problem for the opposition because it reveals the fact that the anti-democratic measures of the Georgian government are entirely in keeping with the policies of the American state. They have dealt with the issue by claiming that Georgia’s version is much worse than the US’.
Politically, the central issue is that Trump’s policies, domestic and foreign, have caused the mask to fall off. The “American way”—the peace, prosperity, and human rights promised to the former Soviet masses after the Stalinist bureaucrats dissolved the USSR and restored capitalism—has come to naught.
It is, and will become ever-more, difficult to appeal to popular frustrations over the Georgian government’s policies on the basis of the claim that there is some sort of global, democratic spirit floating in the ether, calling out for the Georgian people. The world’s oldest democracy is crushing dissent, kidnapping and detaining critics and deporting immigrants guilty of no crime to El Salvador’s most brutal prison. All of this is rubber-stamped by the Supreme Court and unopposed by the Democrats.
Despite the blow that it has experienced, Georgia’s opposition is not done seeking the support of their American benefactor. The country’s leading oppositionist, former Georgian president and top French diplomat Salome Zurabishvili, was invited to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. On the sidelines of the event, she met with now Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Zurabishvili was overcome with praise for the would-be dictator in the White House at an event sponsored by the Atlantic Council on January 21, the same day that Trump was issuing decrees gutting civil rights and preparing the mass firing of federal workers.
“I think that the America that he [Donald Trump] is describing, and the foreign policy of America that he is describing as of a strong America… America that is effective and active in action—that is the America that Georgia certainly needs,” Zurabishvili said.
In Washington, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, just approved the MEGOBARI Act with bipartisan support. The bill asserts American support for “democracy” in Georgia and targets the current government in Tbilisi.
Speaking on March 10 to Civil.ge, Tamara Chergoleishvili of the newly-formed Federalists, a “staunchly pro-US party” according to Civil.ge, berated oppositionists for “panicking” and counseled patience in the search for a new arrangement with the White House.
Politically, there is nothing holding back the Georgian opposition from allying itself with Donald Trump. Their commitment to democratic principles runs none too deep. Writing on March 24 in Civil.ge, Nina Gabritchidze opined that it was time for the opposition to give up its demand for the re-running of the last parliamentary elections, as it should not be under any obligation to recognize the result should it go against them.
“So, does the call for a new election imply that a vote—fair or not—can legitimize oppression? Should it be decided by a simple majority whether one still deserves to be treated as a human being? Should you quietly accept it if 51% of the voters decide—willingly or under pressure—to sacrifice your entire existence for a vague populist agenda?”
In short, based on the a priori assertion that voters’ will cannot find reflection in the balloting, there is no need for elections at all.
The immediate fate of the south Caucasus country, and the region as whole, in the present, rapidly shifting geopolitical situation remains to be seen. Will the Georgian opposition be completely cast aside by the White House as part of its scheming? Will the European powers pick up those who have been tossed overboard? Will Washington, having disciplined its Georgian subordinates, pivot and place them once again on the dole? Or will it simply mow them down in the drive to war against China and everyone else?
For all the talk on both sides of the political equation in Georgia about securing the country’s “freedom,” “interests” and “independence,” no such thing is possible in the world imperialist order, much less under the present circumstances. The dissolution of the USSR, of which Georgia was a part, by the Stalinists in 1991 opened up this country and the entire post-Soviet sphere to the predations of the leading capitalist powers. Georgia has been preyed upon ever since, an endless objection of machinations and scheming by the US and Europe.
Only a united struggle of the global working class against capitalism will resolve on a progressive basis the fate of Georgia and the planet.
This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting details how the Bulldogs will tweak the use of its early enrollees in Sugar Bowl practices this month.
College football has made roster management much more complicated these days. The latest is Georgia football’s annual December tradition of bringing in a horde of its latest signees for bowl practices.
That now intersects with the new 105-man roster management landscape, among other things.
While it seems like almost all of Georgia’s 29 signees will be early enrollees in January, there won’t be quite that many in Athens for Sugar Bowl practices. DawgNation has confirmed that several members of the 2026 class are expected to practice with the Dawgs for the first time on Saturday.
While the entire class of 2026 can ball, not all of them will get the call.
Bowdon High School’s Kaiden Prothro, who has been ranked by Rivals as a 5-star, shared a little bit about what that now looks like earlier this week. When asked about his short-term plans after his Red Devils won their fourth straight state title, Prothro said he wasn’t sure.
“I’m planning on enrolling early and then hopefully going for some bowl practices,” Prothro said. “If I can make it in time.”
Prothro would normally be a given, considering his elite size, frame, and skill set. But he wasn’t sure about that earlier this week.
“I have no idea,” Prothro said. “It is kind of weird. They have got to call you up or whatever. A spot has got to open up.”
If he got the call, Prothro said he would take advantage of those extra early reps.
“Just practicing with them would just be amazing at the next level,” he said. “Great coaching and [tight ends] coach [Todd] Hartley is a great coach. Coach [Kirby] Smart is going to coach you hard, but you are going to get better in practice. So obviously, I just want to get better and just see what my next step is.”
Georgia signed a pair of Carrollton Trojan seniors in this class. Both confirmed they would move to Athens today and practice with the SEC Champions on Saturday.
“I am one of those guys that got called up,” 3-star IOL Zykie Helton said after the 6A state title game. “I will be in Athens on Friday.”
“I’ll be there Friday,” Mosley said. “Going up there early. Getting experience. Learning the playbook so I’ll be set by the time [next] fall comes around.”
The 4-star WR walked out of the Carrollton locker room for the last time at 1 a.m. on Wednesday. He graduated and had his last day of high school on Thursday, and will be practicing with a program on Saturday that is hunting its third national title this decade.
“That’s what you want,” Mosley said. “Being an athlete, a turnaround like that comes with it. I just want the Georgia fans to know that they are getting a beast. They are getting a real beast.”
Buford ATH Tyriq Green told DawgNation he planned to practice in Athens on Saturday, too. He was quite excited to go from winning a Georgia state championship and a national high school title to strapping it up for a UGA practice this weekend.
Green said this might just be the best week of his life.
“I think so,” he said. “Last week of school. About to graduate, so everything is good.”
Graham Houston, his Buford High teammate, also signed with UGA. He’s the third-highest-rated OL in this UGA class, but he plans to move to Athens next month.
“I believe I am going on January 8th,” he said after the state title game.
Houston knew Green would be going up early. The AJC Super 11 selection has been an impact running back, safety and kick returner during his Buford career. “Ty Boogie” was also named MVP of the state title game after his 184 rushing yards and two scores on just 11 carries.
If there’s one thing to look for in terms of who gets the call with limited slots available, it will be elite talents like Green. Especially at a position like safety, where Georgia is banged up and could use more talented practice bodies.
“He could play any day,” Houston said while laughing. “He might play this year.”
While Green could likely help the Dawgs in some capacity at The Sugar Bowl, he’s not able to suit up for the game under NCAA rules. That hasn’t changed from the annual postseason protocol. DawgNation should not expect to see 20 or more of the new signees wearing a UGA jersey over athleisure attire on the sidelines at the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day this time.
DawgNation has been able to confirm that 5-star OT Ekene Ogboko will also be up for early bowl practices, but won’t make it until Christmas Day. 4-star Maryland LB Nick Abrams II is also expected to practice with the Dawgs on Saturday, among others.
Twitchy DL Valdin Sone, a 5-star prospect for 247Sports, was also set to be moving to Athens today for bowl practices this weekend.
The Intel this week suggests that 4-star RB Jae Lamar and 4-star WR Craig Dandridge could also be in Athens this weekend for bowl practices. Prothro is another strong candidate to join the team this month, too.
Have you subscribed to the DawgNation YouTube channel yet? If so, you will see special 1-on-1 content with key 2026 signees like Ty Green, Zykie Helton, Tyreek Jemison, Lincoln Keyes and Kaiden Prothro.
Have you seen this week’s “Before the Hedges” weekly recruiting special on YouTube yet? Check it out below.
SENTELL’S INTEL
(Check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)
ATLANTA — Georgia’s only private electric utility plans to increase power capacity by 50% after state regulators on Friday agreed 5-0 that the plan is needed to meet projected demand from data centers.
It would be one of the biggest build-outs in the U.S. to meet the insatiable electricity demand from developers of artificial intelligence. The construction cost would be $16.3 billion, but staff members say customers will pay $50 billion to $60 billion over coming decades, including interest costs and guaranteed profit for the monopoly utility.
Georgia Power Co. and the Public Service Commission pledge large users will more than pay for their costs, and that spreading fixed costs over more customers, could help significantly cut residents’ power bills beginning in 2029.
“Large energy users are paying more so families and small businesses can pay less, and that’s a great result for Georgians,” Georgia Power CEO Kim Greene said in a statement after the vote.
But opponents say the five elected Republicans on the commission are greenlighting a risky bet by the utility to chase data center customers with existing ratepayers left holding the bag if demand doesn’t materialize.
“The need for 10,000 megawatts of new capacity resources on the system in the next six years isn’t here,” said Bob Sherrier, a lawyer representing some opponents. “It just isn’t, and it may never be.”
The approval came less than two months after voters rebuked GOP leadership, ousting two incumbent Republicans on the commission in favor of Democrats by overwhelming margins. Those two Democrats won in campaigns that centered on six Georgia Power rate increases commissioners have allowed in recent years, even though the company agreed to a three-year rate freeze in July.
Protestors are escorted out of a Georgia Public Service Commission meeting on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025 in Atlanta. Credit: AP/Jeff Amy
Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson — the Democrats who will take office Jan. 1 — opposed Friday’s vote. But current commissioners refused to delay.
Electric bills have emerged as a potent political issue in Georgia and nationwide, with grassroots opposition to data centers partly based on fears that other customers will subsidize power demands of technology behemoths.
Georgia Power is the largest unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. It says it needs 10,000 megawatts of new capacity — enough to power 4 million Georgia homes — with 80% of that flowing to data centers. The company has 2.7 million customers today, including homes, businesses and industries.
Whether the company’s projections of a huge increase in demand will pan out has been the central argument. Georgia Power and commission staff agreed Dec. 9 to allow the company to build or acquire all the desired capacity, despite staff earlier saying the company’s forecast included too much speculative construction.
Members of the Georgia Public Service Commission listen to testimony on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025 in Atlanta. Credit: AP/Jeff Amy
In return, the company agreed that after the current rate freeze ends in 2028, it would use revenue from new customers to place “downward pressure” on rates through 2031. That would amount to at least $8.50 a month, or $102 a year, for a typical residential customer. That customer currently pays more than $175 a month, including taxes.
“So we’re taking advantage of the upsides from this additional revenue, but allow it to shift the downside and the risk over to the company. And I’m real proud of that,” Commission Chairman Jason Shaw said after the vote.
But “downward pressure” doesn’t guarantee a rate decrease.
“It doesn’t mean your bills are going down,” said Liz Coyle, executive director of consumer group Georgia Watch. “It means that maybe they’re not going up as fast.”
Existing customers would pay for part of the construction program that doesn’t serve data centers. More importantly, opponents fear Georgia Power’s pledge of rate relief can’t be enforced, or won’t hold up over the 40-plus years needed to pay off new natural-gas fired power plants.
In a Monday news conference, Hubbard likened it to a mortgage “to build a massive addition to your home for a new roommate, big tech.”
“If in 10 years, the AI bubble bursts or the data centers move to a cheaper state, then the roommate moves out, but the mortgage doesn’t go away,” he said.
Staff members say the commission must watch demand closely and that if data centers don’t use as much power as projected, Georgia Power must drop agreements to purchase wholesale power, close its least efficient generating plants and seek additional customers.
Many opponents oppose any new generation fueled by natural gas, warning carbon emissions will worsen climate change. Some opponents were escorted out of the commission meeting by police after they began chanting “Nay! Nay! Nay! The people say nay!”
“Increased natural gas output for the sake of these silicon billionaire kings seems like a lose-lose,” opponent Zak Norton told commissioners Friday.
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — One metro Atlanta organization is weighing both the potential benefits and risks following President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order Thursday aimed at expediting the reclassification of marijuana.
Atlanta News First spoke with Michael Mumper, executive director of Georgians for Responsible Marijuana Policy. He emphasizes this action is about research – not legalization – and said the science surrounding marijuana use remains unsettled.
“There are a lot of results, research that says that it has benefits and a lot that says it has harms,” Mumper said. “We need to dive into those much more before we rapidly expand marijuana access. This research will allow us to dig deeper into the real benefits and harms of marijuana.”
He adds that this action will also reduce paperwork for researchers and change how the drug is regulated by both the FDA and the DEA.
This order makes marijuana a schedule three classification under controlled substances, putting it in the same category as some steroids. Drugs that can be used in different situations based on the type and severity of pain.
Mumper shares his deep concern after this decision on Capitol Hill.
“Most important message to the public is that it normalizes marijuana as a product for consideration,” Mumper said. “For us, that’s a bit premature and dangerous because youth are still being harmed at alarming rates.”
The move does not change Georgia law and does not fully legalize the use of cannabis.
In Georgia, multiple efforts to legalize or decriminalize marijuana at the state level have failed. Under current state law, patients may access low-THC oil strictly for medical use if they have one of the qualifying medical conditions approved for treatment.
“Will be pressure on states to expand medical marijuana programs,” Mumper said. “But our argument has always been we have to stick to the science.”
President Trump has also directed his administration to work with Congress to “ensure seniors can access CBD products they have found beneficial for pain.”
Copyright 2025 WANF. All rights reserved.
Augusta funding cuts leave nonprofits in a tough spot
Councilwoman sends MPD letter seeking clarity on crime data, federal cooperation
Looking back on Bills’ last trip to Cleveland
Records in Texas AG Ken Paxton’s divorce case are unsealed
4 Takeaways From Alabama’s Comeback, Oklahoma’s Collapse in CFP First-Round Game
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Trump administration touts ‘most secure border in history’ as 2.5 million migrants exit US
How the reparations loan for Ukraine fell apart at the eleventh hour
Trump’s push to end transgender care for young people opposed by pediatricians
Takeaways from an eventful 2025 election cycle
Judge tosses Trump-linked lawsuit targeting Chief Justice Roberts, dealing setback to Trump allies
-
Iowa5 days agoAddy Brown motivated to step up in Audi Crooks’ absence vs. UNI
-
Iowa7 days agoHow much snow did Iowa get? See Iowa’s latest snowfall totals
-
Maine4 days agoElementary-aged student killed in school bus crash in southern Maine
-
Maryland5 days agoFrigid temperatures to start the week in Maryland
-
Technology1 week agoThe Game Awards are losing their luster
-
South Dakota6 days agoNature: Snow in South Dakota
-
New Mexico3 days agoFamily clarifies why they believe missing New Mexico man is dead
-
Nebraska1 week agoNebraska lands commitment from DL Jayden Travers adding to early Top 5 recruiting class