Georgia
Why the “Russian law” is so dangerous for Georgia
There is an apparent attempt to distance Georgia from the geopolitical area which is supported by the vast majority of Georgians and put this Eastern European country in isolation under the claws of Russia. The stakes could not be higher.
May 5, 2024 –
Grigol Julukhidze
Mariam Gubievi
–
Hot Topics
Georgian women protest on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi
Photo: k_samurkas/Shutterstock
The ongoing protests of Georgian society under the slogan “Yes, to Europe, no to Russian law” have become massive and large-scale. Opposition to the draft bill introduced by the ruling Georgian Dream party was first voiced in March 2023. As a result of last year’s huge demonstrations and public unrest, the ruling party withdrew the so-called foreign agent law. The issue was assumed to be closed. Yet, on April 3rd 2024, the executive secretary of the ruling party, Mamuka Mdinaradze, stated that the draft law would be reintroduced and explained last year’s failure as “poor communication” with the Georgian society – the name of the bill was changed to the “transparency of foreign influence” law.
The reaction of Georgia’s strategic partners – the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union – was immediate. The general context was as follows: if Tbilisi adopts this law, it will damage Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations and cause devastating consequences for its freedom and democracy. As a result, sanctions could even be applied to billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgian Dream MPs, and members of the government.
What the law is about?
Many people are still asking why this draft law is dangerous for Georgia. We will try to explain briefly and simply.
Article 1: Purpose and Scope of the Law
The purpose of the law is the transparency of financing, which is a banal manipulation. There is already legislation in Georgia which regulates the manner of disposal of grants, the transparency of spending and finances: the law “On Grants” and the law “On Lobbying Activities”. If the real goal of the Georgian Dream was transparency, it would have introduced minor changes to the above-mentioned laws.
Article 2: Agent of Foreign Influence
An “organization carrying out the interests of a foreign power” is defined as any media outlet or non-entrepreneurial legal entity that receives more than 20 per cent of its annual income from abroad. This does not matter what you do or where your funding comes from. (Of course, Russian “black money” reaches Georgia not through bank transfers but through cash exchanges, which make them untraceable). It is also manipulative to compare the Georgian bill with the American Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA. For example, the Russian propaganda television (RT) has an obligation to register in the US federal register because Russia is a hostile state for America, and the British one (BBC) does not as the UK is not hostile. There is no similar red line in Georgia. For example, a non-governmental organization which helps persons affected by blindness in Akhaltsikhe City and receives funding from Belgium is obliged to register as a “carrier of influence of a foreign country”.
Article 4: Registration of the Entity as an Agent of Foreign Influence
No self-respecting person wants to wear this dreaded label (“agent of foreign influence”). In cases of voluntary registration refusal, the draft law requires compulsory registration. This means that such non-governmental organizations must either cease to operate or continue to work under the label of “foreign agent”.
Article 8: Monitoring
A letter (even anonymous) submitted by a citizen to the ministry of Justice which contains a proper reference (denunciation) to a specific organization that might be carrying out the interests of a foreign power can lead to the definition of this entity as a foreign agent. The law gives the Ministry of Justice the authority, without any warrant or evidence, based on the “denunciation” of any person, “to obtain the necessary information, including personal data”.
As Ted Jonas analyzes in his article titled “US FARA vs. Georgian Foreign Agents Law: Three Major Differences”, the US FARA exempts from the definition of foreign agent all the following persons and organizations:
- Humanitarian aid organizations;
- Persons and organizations engaged in the following activities: Religious, Scholastic, Academic, Scientific, Fine Arts;
- Media organizations with foreign ownership whose policies are not directed by a foreign power;
- Allies of the United States
- Lawyers representing clients in legal proceedings.
The Georgian law does not exempt any of these persons or activities. Accordingly, under the Georgian law, unlike in the United States, the following are considered “foreign agents”:
- Georgian organizations which receive funding from allies of Georgia, like the US, the EU, Japan, and many other friendly countries;
- Humanitarian aid organizations who provide help to the 650,000 Georgians who live below the country’s poverty line;
- Georgian scientific, academic and artistic organizations which receive foreign funding;
- Georgian religious organizations which receive foreign funding;
- Media organizations that receive foreign funding, even if their policies are not directed by a foreign power;
- Non-profit entities with foreign funding representing clients in Georgian court and administrative proceedings.
Current situation
Following the first passage of the contentious “foreign influence” bill by parliament, which Brussels and Washington have warned will undermine Tbilisi’s long-standing European aspirations, tens of thousands of Georgians staged a protest. By a vote of 83 to 23, the measure passed its second reading in parliament on May 1st. The day before, police had forcibly dispersed a protest against it, assaulting and arresting numerous people while using tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets. Ursula von der Leyen denounced the violence and urged Georgia to continue its path towards Europe.
Von der Leyen posted on X, saying, “I am following the situation in Georgia with great concern and condemn the violence on the streets of Tbilisi.”
I am following the situation in Georgia with great concern and condemn the violence on the streets of Tbilisi.
The Georgian people want a European future for their country.
Georgia is at a crossroads. It should stay the course on the road to Europe.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) May 1, 2024
Later in the evening, hundreds of protestors attempted to block the side entrance to the legislature, and police responded by using water cannons, pepper spray and tear gas from inside the parliament building’s courtyard. In a statement, the parliament stated that the attack on the facility had “activated the red level of security due to the parliament building, which poses a threat to the lives and health” of people within. According to the interior ministry, police employed “special means provided by the law – pepper spray and water cannons – in order to restore law and order”.
According to Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, western politicians and diplomats have been “slandering” the measure, which aims to “boost transparency of NGO’s foreign funding in accordance with European values”. He charged Georgian civic organizations with attempting to utilize western funds “at least twice in the last three years” to launch revolutions.
What’s at stake?
At a sizable pro-government gathering in Tbilisi on April 30th, billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, delivered a conspiracy theory-laden speech. In front of tens of thousands of spectators outside the parliament on Monday night, Ivanishvili made the suggestion that the Georgian government was effectively opposing a covert worldwide plot that was led by western nations. He denounced the “global party of war,” claiming it was to blame for the August 2008 war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He also proposed that a “foreign agency” had chosen Georgia’s leaders between 2004 and 2012.
He went on to say that the reelected government would “be able to deliver a strict political and legal verdict to the collective National Movement” following the legislative elections in October. In recent years, Georgian Dream has labeled almost all of its opponents as enemies of the state, ranging from prominent democratic watchdog organizations to opposition MPs and political parties. The main task for Ivanishvili was to portray the West and NGOs as the main sources of instability. He repeated almost all the narratives from the Kremlin playbook. From Ivanishvili’s speech and the actions of the ruling party, we can assume that the Georgian Dream is going “all in” and no longer interested in the country’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration. Relations with the West will become more and more precarious while “cooperation” with Russia more intense.
The stakes could not be higher. There is an apparent attempt to distance Georgia from the geopolitical area which is supported by the vast majority of Georgians and put this Eastern European country in geopolitical isolation under the claws of Russia. The draft law has already left the margins of “controversial legislative initiative” and serves as a cursor for the country’s future. The final reading and passage of the law is scheduled for May 17th. If the law is fully adopted and implemented, the fate of Georgia will become closely attached to Russia. If not, Tbilisi can hope for a brighter future closer to the EU.
Grigol Julukhidze is the director of the Foreign Policy Council, a think tank in Tbilisi. He specializes in security studies and propaganda research. He is also a lecturer at Ilia State University.
Mariam Gubievi is a junior researcher at the Foreign Policy Council in Tbilisi.
Georgia
A Georgia Wildlife Haven Forged by Fire and Peat Nears UNESCO Recognition – Inside Climate News
FOLKSTON, Ga.—The world’s smallest heron hops from blade to blade in a patch of tall grass, testing its footing above the dark water as it searches for an evening meal.
“This was already worth the trip out today,” Joshua Howard said earlier this month from a gray flat-bottomed tour boat just a few yards away. The tiny creatures, called Least Bitterns, are secretive birds, not easy to spot.
With one quick movement of its neck, which seems to take up most of its body, the tiny heron plunges into the water and comes up with a fish. Howard and his guide continue down the swamp between walls of Spanish moss-adorned cypress trees and alligators, hoping to find more of the birds and wildlife that call the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge home.
By July, the vast swamp Howard has visited since childhood and still tries to reach at least once a week could be internationally recognized as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site.
The Okefenokee, on the Florida border in southeast Georgia, hosts the largest blackwater swamp in North America, a slow-moving wilderness roughly five times the size of Atlanta. It began forming hundreds of thousands of years ago, as the Atlantic Ocean retreated and left behind Trail Ridge, a long, low fossilized beach dune, and a shallow depression that trapped water between the ridge and higher uplands to the west.
The Okefenokee is a blackwater swamp, meaning its dark waters are stained by tannins released from decaying vegetation and cypress trees. Beneath the dense canopy, the water takes on the color of steeped tea, reflecting cypress trunks and drifting lily pads like dark glass.
The refuge was established in 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, following a series of visits from Cornell biologist Francis Harper. Harper had come to admire both the swamp’s landscape and its people, but it was his wife—who had once tutored Roosevelt’s children—who ultimately helped push the president toward protecting the land.
The refuge’s latest conservation effort now depends partly on another layer of federal and international politics. The Okefenokee’s UNESCO nomination comes amid renewed uncertainty over the United States’ relationship with the organization.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump moved to again withdraw the United States from UNESCO, though the withdrawal would not take effect until December—months after a decision on the Okefenokee nomination is expected. The United States also remains part of the World Heritage Convention, the international agreement governing World Heritage Sites.
In addition, World Heritage designations have continued in the United States during previous periods when the country was formally withdrawn from UNESCO, including under both Trump and President Ronald Reagan. The Okefenokee effort has also received support from prominent Republicans, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, who served as Trump’s agriculture secretary.
Still, regardless of shifting politics around UNESCO, the landscape at the center of the nomination remains largely unchanged.
Today, the Okefenokee stands as a protected wilderness of blackwater channels, peat and dense wetland forests, supporting a rich array of wildlife and plant life.
A great blue heron and a barred owl perch among Spanish moss in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Credit: Ryan Krugman/Inside Climate News
As Howard floated through the swamp at the refuge’s eastern entrance for about an hour and a half, he saw nearly 200 alligators, owl fledglings, hawks, herons and more. What he somewhat incredulously called an “above average” number of encounters was partly driven by drought conditions that pushed animals toward remaining water, though abundant wildlife sightings are far from unusual.
Across the swamp, an estimated 15,000 alligators inhabit the blackwater alongside almost 250 bird and 64 reptile species. Black bears and bobcats move through the uplands, and there are rumors of Florida panthers wandering the refuge. It is also a stronghold for endangered species, including red-cockaded woodpeckers, wood storks and eastern indigo snakes.


To fully experience the Okefenokee, visitors often paddle deep into the backcountry by canoe or kayak, traveling through areas inaccessible to motorboats. Along the way, they pass open prairies filled with lilies, wildflowers and carnivorous plants, including the Okefenokee giant pitcher plant, which can grow more than four feet tall and traps insects inside its tubular leaves.
Some visitors spend nights on raised wooden platforms scattered throughout the swamp, with multi-day trips carrying paddlers far into the blackwater wilderness. Yet even with those routes, only about 5 percent of the Okefenokee is currently accessible to humans.
Despite being one of the best-preserved wetlands in North America, and especially on the eastern seaboard, the Okefenokee has repeatedly faced pressure from industry and development. Before it became a wildlife refuge and federally designated wilderness area nearly a century ago, logging companies cut through vast cypress forests, disrupting habitats and the natural systems that shaped the swamp.
Later, the Suwanee Canal Company attempted to drain the Okefenokee to clear the way for development. The company planned to carve a canal through Trail Ridge and connect the swamp to the Suwannee River, but water repeatedly flowed back into the basin. The project ultimately collapsed, driving the company into bankruptcy before the canal could be completed.
More recently, the Okefenokee has faced renewed pressure from a high-profile mining dispute near Trail Ridge and continued development across the Florida border. Yet the swamp’s beauty and biodiversity continue to draw roughly 800,000 visitors each year—and now the attention of UNESCO.
The Okefenokee was first placed on the United States’ tentative UNESCO World Heritage list in 1981, but the nomination stalled for decades. In 2023, the Department of the Interior authorized work on a formal nomination, a push driven in large part by advocates including Kim Bednarek, executive director of Okefenokee Swamp Park.
The nonprofit, which runs tours and educational programs near and in the refuge, helped lead the campaign and raise money for the years-long nomination process. To qualify, researchers and advocates had to demonstrate the swamp’s “outstanding universal value,” the central standard for World Heritage designation.
The nomination was formally submitted in January 2025. Later that year, scientists with the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which advises UNESCO on natural sites, visited the swamp as part of the evaluation process. Advocates are now awaiting a recommendation from the organization ahead of a final decision expected this July at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting in Busan, South Korea.
UNESCO’s standard of “outstanding universal value” is reserved for places considered significant not just to one country, but to humanity. Advocates and scientists argue the Okefenokee qualifies because of its biodiversity and the remarkable condition of its peatlands, which have remained largely intact for thousands of years and are a natural carbon sink.
Peatlands form when organic material builds up faster than it decomposes. In the Okefenokee, still blackwater, low oxygen levels and acidic conditions—created largely by tannins from cypress trees—slow decay enough for layers of plant matter to accumulate over thousands of years.
“We do not have a similar peatland in the world in the subtropics,” said Hans Joosten, one of the world’s leading peatland experts. According to Joosten, the swamp’s location—sandwiched between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic—provides the humidity and rainfall needed to sustain this rare subtropical peatland.
An inch of peat can take more than 50 years to form. In parts of the Okefenokee, those layers reach more than 15 feet deep, storing an estimated 124 million tons of carbon and forming one of North America’s most significant peat systems.
Many of the estimated 15,000 Alligators in the Okefenokee are tagged as part of research initiatives. Credit: Ryan Krugman
The swamp’s Muscogee Creek name, often translated as “land of the trembling earth,” reflects what lies beneath its surface. Deep peat can shift, swell and occasionally rise toward the top, where visitors may see methane bubbles break through the blackwater or floating mats of peat drifting at the surface. Those peat mats can become platforms for new plant growth, reshaping the swamp as they move and settle.
The biodiversity hotspot is supported by another cycle, one much faster than peat formation. The swamp is frequently reshaped and renewed through natural wildfires. The fires clear dense vegetation and invasive species, return nutrients to the soil, and maintain the open conditions needed for fire-dependent ecosystems like the longleaf pine, one of the most endangered forest types in North America.
“To be put on the same list as places like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone would just be amazing,” Howard said with a Southern drawl as he floated along the remnants of the Suwannee Canal.
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Howard, tall and broad with silvering hair and an easy smile, had arrived at the swamp after a long day working as a school administrator in Charlton County. “You want to know why I think this place deserves to be on that list?” he asked. “Because when I got here this evening, I was stressed and now I am not.”
Howard has been coming to the swamp for almost 50 years and has spent the last seven serving as president of Friends of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, a nonprofit that helps raise money for its preservation. While the group is not directly involved in the UNESCO bid, Howard said its members strongly support the designation.
If approved in July, the designation would make the Okefenokee Georgia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site and the first national wildlife refuge in the country to receive the status.
For Bednarek, the recognition would do more than honor the swamp’s ecology. It could fundamentally change how the Okefenokee is seen internationally. National wildlife refuges typically operate with far less tourism, funding and global visibility than national parks.
“They have this iconic brand that refuges don’t,” Bednarek said. UNESCO World Heritage status, she said, functions differently. “It’s a global brand that people travel far and wide to see.”
For now, though, the Okefenokee remains what it has long been: a slow-moving wilderness of blackwater, peat and cypress.
As dusk settled over the swamp, Howard’s guide cut the boat motor and the sounds of insects and distant birds filled the blackwater again. Methane bubbles continued rising quietly to the surface, signs of the trembling earth beneath the water.
In July, delegates in South Korea will decide whether the Okefenokee receives World Heritage status. But the swamp itself will keep moving at its own pace.
About This Story
Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That’s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.
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Georgia
LIVE UPDATES: Georgia Baseball vs Liberty – Regionals Game Two Updates and Scores
Live updates from Athens, Georgia as the Bulldogs take on Liberty in game two of the Athens Regional.
The Georgia Bulldogs are back in action this afternoon as they are set to take on the Liberty Flames for game two of the Athens regional. The Dawgs are coming off a dominant victory over Long Island =, in a game that concluded earlier this morning following a rain delay.
With a win, the Bulldogs will advance to face the winner of a matchup between Liberty and the victor of Boston College and Long Island. First pitch for that game is scheduled to take place this Sunday at 5 p.m. As action continues in Athens, stay tuned with Bulldogs on SI for more updates from today’s game.
Georgia Bulldogs vs Liberty Flames Live Updates:
Editor’s Note**: This article will be updated periodically as action continues throughout today’s game
Top of the First (UGA at Bat)
- Tre Phelps singles to left center field for his first hit of the afternoon.
- Daniel Jackson homers to right center field. Georgia leads 2-0.
- Rylan Lujo flies out to right field.
- Brennan Hudson is walked on a 3-1 count.
- Kenny Ishikawa flies out to right field.
- Ryan Wynn grounds out to second base to retire the side. Georgia leads 2-0.
Bottom of the First (Liberty at Bat)
- Tanner Marsh singles to the pitcher.
- Riley DeCandido strikes out swinging.
- Tanner Marsh steals second to put a runner in scoring position.
- Jordan Jaffe singles to right center field. Tanner Marsh scores. Georgia leads 2-1.
- Jaxon Sorenson is walked on a full count. Jaffe advances to second.
- Nick Barone reaches first on a fielder’s choice. Sorenson is tagged out at second. Jaffe advances to third and scores on a throwing error. Game is tied 2-2.
- Nick Barone is tagged out trying to steal second to retire the side. Game is tied 2-2.
Top of the Second (UGA at Bat)
- Jack Arcamone flies out to right field.
- Kolby Branch is walked on a full count.
- Ryan Black fouled out to the catcher.
- Tre Phelps is walked on a full count. Branch advances to second.
- Daniel Jackson is walked. Tre Phelps advances to second. Kolby Branch advances.
- Rylan Lujo grounds out to third to retire the side. Game is tied 2-2.
Bottom of the Second (Liberty at Bat)
- Easton Swofford grounds out to shortstop.
- Landon Scilley is walked on a 3-1 count.
- Kyle Hvidsten is walked on a 3-0 count. Scilley advances to second.
- Josh Campos lines out to right field.
- Tanner Marsh strikes out swinging to retire the side. Game is tied 2-2.
Top of the Third (UGA at Bat)
- Brennan Hudson flies out to right field.
- Kenny Ishikawa homers to right field. Georgia leads 3-2.
- Ryan Wynn homers to center field. Georgia leads 4-2.
- Nick Arcamone singles to right field.
- Kolby Branch pops up to shortstop.
- Ryan Black flies out to right field.
Bottom of the Third (Liberty at Bat)
- Riley DeCandido flies out to left field
- Jordan Jaffe grounds out to the pitcher.
- Jaxon Sorenson flies out to center field to retire the side. Georgia leads 4-2.
Top of the Fourth (UGA at Bat)
- Tre Phelps grounds out to shortstop.
- Daniel Jackson strikes out swinging on a full count.
- Rylan Lujo singles to left field.
- Brennan Hudson singles through the right side. Lujo advances to second.
- Kenny Ishikawa is walked on a full count. Hudson advances to second, Lujo advances to third.
- Ryan Wynn reaches first on a fielder’s choice. Ishikawa is tagged out at second to retire the side. Georgia leads 4-2.
Bottom of the Fourth (Liberty at Bat)
- Nick Barone grounds out to shortstop.
- Easton Swofford strikes out swinging.
- Landon Scilley grounds out to shortstop to retire the side. Georgia leads 4-2.
Top of the Fifth (UGA at Bat)
- Nick Arcamone strikes out swinging.
- Kolby Branch strikes out looking on a 1-2 count.
- Ryan Black singles to first base.
- Tre Phelps grounds out to third base to retire the side. Georgia leads 4-2.
Bottom of the Fifth (Liberty at Bat)
Top of the Sixth (UGA at Bat)
Bottom of the Sixth (Liberty at Bat)
Top of the Seventh (UGA at Bat)
Bottom of the Seventh (Liberty at Bat)
Top of the Eighth (UGA at Bat)
Bottom of the Eighth (Liberty at Bat)
Top of the Ninth (UGA at Bat)
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Georgia
Storms, flooding possible across Southeast Georgia, Northeast Florida today
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Storm activity is expected to fire up around midday, starting inland from the Gulf sea breeze. From there, storms will track eastward at 20-25 mph, and that faster movement is actually good news for flooding concerns.
Some minor, temporary flooding is possible through tonight, especially in low-lying areas and spots that typically flood during heavy rain events.
The best chances for stronger storms and heavier rainfall will be north and near I-10 during the afternoon and evening hours.
The Weather Prediction Center has placed roughly the northern two-thirds of the area under a marginal risk of excessive rainfall.
What to expect through the night
Rain chances will stay elevated into the evening but should taper off after midnight. However, inland Northeast Florida could see a late round of showers or storms develop due to enhanced west coast sea breeze.
Gusty winds and frequent lightning can’t be ruled out. Always have your indoor plan ready to go for shelter access.
Cooler temperatures, patchy fog round out the forecast
High temperatures will run below average, topping out in the mid-to-upper 80s. Overnight lows will range from the upper 60s to near 70 degrees across inland Southeast Georgia, with mid-70s expected closer to the Atlantic coast.
Patchy fog is expected early this morning and again Sunday morning. Brief periods of dense fog are possible, so drivers should use caution on the roads during those early morning hours.
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