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Georgian Lawmakers Throw Punches over Foreign Agent Legislation

&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">In the East European country of Georgia&comma; formerly part of the Soviet Union&comma; chaos instantly erupted inside the parliament as lawmakers threw fists of fury over proposed legislation regarding foreign funding of organizations operating in the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">On Monday &lpar;April 15&rpar;&comma; short video clips of the incident spread over YouTube&comma; Rumble&comma; and other social media sites&period; The clips showed a member of Georgia’s ruling party addressing the session to advance a controversial bill when he was assaulted by an opposition lawmaker and punched in the face&period; The parliament broke into chaos as a scuffle erupted between the lawmakers from different parties&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class&equals;"wp-block-embed&lowbar;&lowbar;wrapper">&NewLine;<amp-youtube layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"1080" height&equals;"608" data-videoid&equals;"h9aKG7VnYBs" title&equals;"Chaotic Scenes in Georgian Parliament&colon; Lawmakers Brawl Over Foreign Agent Bill"><a placeholder href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;watch&quest;v&equals;h9aKG7VnYBs"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i&period;ytimg&period;com&sol;vi&sol;h9aKG7VnYBs&sol;hqdefault&period;jpg" layout&equals;"fill" object-fit&equals;"cover" alt&equals;"Chaotic Scenes in Georgian Parliament&colon; Lawmakers Brawl Over Foreign Agent Bill"><&sol;a><&sol;amp-youtube>&NewLine;<&sol;div><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Reporting on the incident&comma; the BBC wrote&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><em>Opposition leader Aleko Elisashvili punched MP Mamuka Mdinaradze during a debate over a controversial law&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The legislation in question has been dubbed as the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Foreign Agent Law” and it would require all organizations&comma; including media companies&comma; to disclose details of funds received from foreign countries or nationals&period; In case such organizations receive more than one-fifth of their funding from abroad&comma; the legislation would require them to register as entities pursuing the interests of a foreign power&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Georgia’s ruling coalition of parties&comma; led by the Georgian Dream party&comma; supports the legislation while the opposition has accused the ruling coalition of furthering Russia’s interests in the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">A year ago&comma; the same legislation was introduced in the Georgian parliament&comma; leading to public protests and riots by its opponents&period; Owing to the uproar&comma; the Georgian parliament withdrew the legislation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">On his Rumble channel&comma; The New Atlas&comma; independent commentator Brian Berletic called it America’s second front against Russia&period; As Berletic put it&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><em>The US seeks to stir up trouble in Georgia again to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;extend” Russia as explained in detail by the RAND Corporation’s 2019 paper&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Extending Russia&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-rumble-com wp-block-embed-rumble-com"><div class&equals;"wp-block-embed&lowbar;&lowbar;wrapper">&NewLine;<iframe class&equals;"wp-embedded-content" sandbox&equals;"allow-scripts" security&equals;"restricted" title&equals;"Georgia Protests&colon; US Seeks to Open 2nd Front Against Russia" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;rumble&period;com&sol;embed&sol;v29rt5f&sol;&num;&quest;secret&equals;m2&fjlig;xHJ0Dq" data-secret&equals;"m2&fjlig;xHJ0Dq" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" frameborder&equals;"0"><&sol;iframe>&NewLine;<&sol;div><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The United States and the European Union have repeatedly expressed strong criticism of the legislation&comma; arguing that it clashes with their values&period; Mainstream media in the West have dubbed the legislation as Georgia’s &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Russian style foreign agent law&comma;” the term Germany’s <em>Deutsche Welle <&sol;em>used for it and cited critics’ concern that it would be used to crackdown on dissent&period; <em>Russia Today<&sol;em>&comma; on the other hand&comma; wrote that the legislation actually requires transparency from NGOs that are financed from abroad&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili&comma; who politically aligns with the European Union&comma; has stated that she would veto the bill if it was passed by parliament&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The leftist-globalist push for allowing unchecked foreign funding in Georgia applies to Ukraine by multiple connections&period; In March 2022&comma; <em>The Gateway Pundit<&sol;em> published an investigation that financially linked George Soros&comma; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky&comma; Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky&comma; and Burisma Holdings – the natural gas company in Ukraine that hired Hunter Biden while his father Joe Biden was the Vice President of the United States&period; The report of the investigation wrote&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><em>After Zelensky’s victory&comma; Kolomoisky &comma; who had spent the last few years living between Israel and Switzerland&comma; returned to Ukraine to keep up his relationship with the new president&comma; nominating over 30 lawmakers to Zelensky’s newly established party and maintaining influence with many of them in parliament&comma;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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