US Acting Assistant Secretary stays to meet opposition
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Friday, November 20
Georgian opposition parties, disappointed that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo didn’t hold a meeting with them scheduled on his agenda, decided to welcome him with a silent rally with ‘live chain’ on Rustaveli avenue. They had two messages - to show respect for the Secretary of State's visit and to draw attention to the ‘rigged’ parliamentary elections in Georgia that they didn’t recognize.
On November 18, when Pompeo was holding meetings with Georgian officials and civil society, the opposition issued the statement, related to the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Georgia. They underscored that his arrival coincided with a time when "significant threats and new opportunities have emerged for our country, the region and the entire Euro-Atlantic area."
According to the statement, Putin's Russia and other totalitarian regimes pose a significant threat to peace in the region and the security of a free world. The Secretary of State's visit sends a clear message that the US remains in the region and stands by its partners, protecting the sovereignty and freedom of friends:
“Political breakthroughs now require a demonstration of security dynamics, which will take the US-Georgia bilateral cooperation to a new level, such as the deployment of US military infrastructure in Georgia and the transition to NATO membership.”
On the state of the democratization process, opposition wrote that Putin's Russia is fighting for the sovereignty of free countries, even though the erosion of the democratic system in these countries.
“That is why what Ivanishvili is doing in Georgia is of particular concern. Election fraud, politicizing the judiciary and political prisoners, persecution of political opponents, obstruction of Western investment and refusal to build the international port of Anaklia - these are signs of Georgia's democratic regression.”
