The US Embassy in Georgia hosted a reception in honor of American Independence Day, celebrated on July 4. Ambassador Robin Dunnigan, who will complete her diplomatic mission and leave Tbilisi at the end of July, delivered a speech about the United States' contribution to the development of democracy in Georgia. She made a special emphasis on the detentions of activists and opposition leaders in the country.
“Today, citizens who are political opponents of the government are in jail. Civil society representatives are persecuted for their advocacy for the rule of law, free media, and free and fair elections. And then there are ordinary citizens who are called ‘radicals’ because their views differ from those of government officials.
As our Vice President has said, you don’t get a democratic mandate by silencing or jailing your opponents, and you don’t get one by ignoring your core constituents on issues like who should be part of our common society,” said Robin Dunnigan.
At the same time, the diplomat is optimistic about the future partnership between Washington and Tbilisi thanks to the next generation of Americans and Georgians, who "constantly inspire" her. Dunnigan called for "always striving to protect and strengthen the freedoms that are dear to us" and raised a toast "to the strength of the promise of democracy, to our commitment to its defense, and to our optimism that we will succeed."
At the end of May, the founder and honorary chairman of the ruling party of Georgia, businessman and oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili refused to meet with US Ambassador Robin Dunnigan, who was supposed to convey a message from the presidential administration to him. Ivanishvili offered a meeting with the Prime Minister instead, but the ambassador was not interested in such an alternative. According to the founder of the "Dream", the only explanation for the request for a personal meeting with him could only be that such a meeting for the United States "has value for personal blackmail." The American side could use formal and informal sanctions against him as a subject of blackmail, Ivanishvili believes.
The Georgian Dream places the blame for the crisis in relations with the US on the Deep State. However, it is noteworthy that in this context, the ruling party of Georgia emphasizes a certain confrontation between the White House and the State Department. In particular, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze noted that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is under the influence of the Deep State, since he congratulated not the authorities, but only the people of Georgia on Independence Day. In contrast, Donald Trump sent a personal greeting to the country's President Mikheil Kavelashvili. Kobakhidze also noted that the conspiracy theory has an impact on US Ambassador Robin Dunnigan. This is how he explained her absence from the event on the occasion of Georgia's Independence Day, which she initially really wanted to attend.
