Caucasus

What is going on? Is Dr. Michael Carpenter a mini-John Bolton in the making?
The timing of the recent protests was to be expected. They sound as if Joe Biden is about ready to use Georgia for his “doomed” presidential campaign in much in the same vein as John McCain attempted to do back in August 2008. The explanation of what happened during the protests depends on who you are listening to, and how you well you are able to separate fact from the carefully-crafted rhetoric.

Upwards of 10,000 protesters attempted to storm Georgia’s parliament building on June 20. The crowd swarmed the building during what at first glance appeared to an anti-government rally. They demanded the resignations of top officials, allegedly in response to a speech made by a member of the Russian Duma. It now continues on a daily basis, however, with less violence.

Who said religion and politics don’t mix? Religion is one of the failsafe of any politician – lie and cheat and abuse people, and if you say that your actions are motivated by religion, everything will be forgiven. Trump was even sent to us to save Israel!

It is bad enough that the Lugar Lab in Tbilisi, an alleged front for public health research has been feathered on about every Russian TV channel over its role in viral and bacterial (germ) warfare, but now Georgia faces a new round of recriminations. Such news is starting to get reported in the Georgian media as well, as the body count from what may be more than a seasonal flu.

It takes little imagination to understand that a perfect storm must be brewing when a shift in US foreign policy and a contested presidential election in another country occur at the same time. Add to the mix a dispute over who will be accepted as the next ambassador to that country and you have a geopolitical “accident” waiting to happen.

Once European authorities turned their back on pursuing any sort of integration with Turkey, Ankara has noticeably stepped up its foreign policy efforts in the eastern direction, that has long been the focus of Turkish policies anyway. We’re speaking about Syria, Iraq and Transcaucasia.