Protesters chant as they demonstrate against the 'foreign influence' law, outside the Georgian Parliament in Tbilisi, on Saturday. AFP
Protesters chant as they demonstrate against the 'foreign influence' law, outside the Georgian Parliament in Tbilisi, on Saturday. AFP
Protesters chant as they demonstrate against the 'foreign influence' law, outside the Georgian Parliament in Tbilisi, on Saturday. AFP
Protesters chant as they demonstrate against the 'foreign influence' law, outside the Georgian Parliament in Tbilisi, on Saturday. AFP


Georgia's foreign-funded NGO law should be none of Europe's business


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May 23, 2024

Many, if not most, countries adhere to the principle of non-interference in others’ internal affairs. China and Russia stressed this in their recent joint statement. It is one of the six “fundamental principles” of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, it has traditionally been the policy of the Arab League, and it was “reaffirmed” as a principle by the foreign ministers of the G77 group at a meeting at the UN in 2022.

Western countries such as the US and the UK don’t use the exact same words – it would be hard for them to do so after their history of disastrous interventions, Iraq and Libya in particular – but they don’t like outsiders interfering in their domestic discussions either. Witness the outrage after then president Barack Obama intervened in the debate over Brexit by saying in 2016 that the UK would be at “the back of the queue” for a trade deal with the US should Britain leave the EU. The previous year, the Democratic Party was in a ferment when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech to the US Congress in which he criticised the Obama administration’s approach to Iran.

This very weekend, the government of Spain reacted with fury when Argentine President Javier Milei attacked Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his wife at a far-right rally in Madrid. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albares, stated that Mr Milei had broken with all diplomatic customs. “Mutual respect and non-interference is an unbreakable principle of democracy,” he said.

So this makes it all the more astonishing that the foreign ministers of Latvia, Estonia, Iceland and Lithuania turned up in Tbilisi last week and not only took part in a protest rally against Georgia’s democratically elected government, but three of them sat on the rostrum in the front of the crowd as well. Far from batting an eyelid, a host of western leaders joined in the criticism of the Georgian government.

Foreign ministers of three countries raise their hands as they join protesters rallying against the 'foreign influence' law outside Georgian Parliament in Tbilisi last week. AFP
Foreign ministers of three countries raise their hands as they join protesters rallying against the 'foreign influence' law outside Georgian Parliament in Tbilisi last week. AFP
It is a reasonable assumption that the Georgian NGOs that western and EU leaders are so worried about are receiving their foreign funding from, mainly, the US and the EU

Quite apart from being extraordinarily rude and undiplomatic, this was a blatant expression of interference in Georgia’s internal affairs. Can one possibly imagine Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attending a march against US President Joe Biden in Washington, or an Indonesian foreign minister protesting against the government of a neighbouring country in its capital? It’s unthinkable. Yet these European ministers had no qualms about this display of the utmost disrespect towards the Georgian Dream coalition government, which since 2012 has won every general election – in polls that US-based Freedom House describes as “regular and competitive”.

What they are objecting to is a recently passed bill that they claim could stand in the way of Georgia’s eventual accession to the EU. The law stipulates that NGOs and independent media that get more than 20 per cent of their funding from foreign sources would have to register as “organisations serving the interests of a foreign power”. (The bill has been vetoed by President Salome Zourabichvili but is expected to pass again and become law.) Now 20 per cent is a considerable proportion, and one would have thought it would be easy for groups wishing to avoid this label to shave a bit off the outsider funding, and make do with 19 per cent, perhaps. But the fact that there is such an outcry suggests that many of these NGOs feel they can’t survive without the foreign funding.

And why would any country find that acceptable? Shouldn’t civil society groups be organic, and spring from the country they are in? If ordinary Georgians aren’t supporting these NGOs, or not enough to keep them going, are they genuine expressions of what Georgians actually want? Why are they so necessary? Shouldn’t the laws of the market apply to them too – if they can’t sustain themselves, they go bust. I’d go so far as to say that any NGO with a domestic political agenda should be banned from receiving any foreign funding at all, because it’s not for foreigners to meddle in a country’s internal politics – that is the principle of non-interference. This is a view held widely around the world, certainly in Malaysia, where I live, and where accusations of foreign funding are hugely damaging and always hastily denied.

The Speaker of Georgia’s Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, has explained on social media the rational for the legislation, and denies it is meant to copy a Russian law that some have interpreted as an attempt to shut down internal opposition. “Georgia has to deal with dramatic foreign challenges mostly on its own,” he wrote.

The late US senator Bob Dole had to register as a 'foreign agent' for his work for other countries, under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act. AP
The late US senator Bob Dole had to register as a 'foreign agent' for his work for other countries, under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act. AP

“One of these challenges is unaccountable foreign money, which freely flows into Georgia’s political system, including the radical groups. The new legislation on transparency of foreign influence is to deal with this challenge. The legislation has precedents in the West, is constitutional, proportional, and within the limits of democratic governance. Simply calling this law ‘Russian’ does not make it undemocratic, and, moreover, does not justify attacks on the Georgian government.”

There are indeed precedents in the West. Britain recently introduced the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, to enable “transparency of foreign influence in UK politics”. In the US, under the Foreign Agents Registration Act the former senator Bob Dole has had to register as a “foreign agent” for his work for other countries. It sounds a little sinister, and also a bit demeaning for a man who stood for both the presidency and the vice presidency for the Republican Party. But that’s the law.

We don’t have the figures to hand. But it is a reasonable assumption that the Georgian NGOs that western and EU leaders are so worried about are receiving their foreign funding from, mainly, the US and the EU. And what the latter are saying is that when they are pushing their agenda, it should not have to be declared – presumably because their agenda is self-evidently “good”. (Naturally the same would not apply to China or Russia.) Accountability is apparently not necessary in their case.

So the story is completely back to front. I don’t believe that US and EU leaders are defending the path to European integration in Georgia – for since when has that involved the right to receive unlimited, undisclosed foreign funding? Neither is it about democracy; there is a general election due in October, and if voters don’t like this law they can kick the government out.

I think the truth is that the EU and western organisations and individuals are demanding they have the right to interfere in Georgian politics – because that’s what this is – without ordinary Georgians knowing about it.

And if that’s an expression of “European values”, I’ll take “Asian values” instead any day of the week.

SPECS

Nissan 370z Nismo

Engine: 3.7-litre V6

Transmission: seven-speed automatic

Power: 363hp

Torque: 560Nm

Price: Dh184,500

West Indies v India - Third ODI

India 251-4 (50 overs)
Dhoni (78*), Rahane (72), Jadhav (40)
Cummins (2-56), Bishoo (1-38)
West Indies 158 (38.1 overs)
Mohammed (40), Powell (30), Hope (24)
Ashwin (3-28), Yadav (3-41), Pandya (2-32)

India won by 93 runs

Monster

Directed by: Anthony Mandler

Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington 

3/5

 

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Leeds United 1 Manchester City 1
Leeds:
 Rodrigo (59')
Man City: Sterling (17')

Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moreno (Leeds)

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Xpanceo

Started: 2018

Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov

Based: Dubai, UAE

Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality

Funding: $40 million

Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)

Results
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Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana

Stars: 3

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Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

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England

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur

Italy
AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus

Spain
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A feature film

At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.

A documentary

A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.

Books, letters and archives

Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
 

'Midnights'
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MATCH INFO

Newcastle 2-2 Manchester City
Burnley 0-2 Crystal Palace
Chelsea 0-1 West Ham
Liverpool 2-1 Brighton
Tottenham 3-2 Bournemouth
Southampton v Watford (late)

Profile of VoucherSkout

Date of launch: November 2016

Founder: David Tobias

Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers

Sector: Technology

Size: 18 employees

Stage: Embarking on a Series A round to raise $5 million in the first quarter of 2019 with a 20 per cent stake

Investors: Seed round was self-funded with “millions of dollars” 

Day 5, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance

Moment of the day When Dilruwan Perera dismissed Yasir Shah to end Pakistan’s limp resistance, the Sri Lankans charged around the field with the fevered delirium of a side not used to winning. Trouble was, they had not. The delivery was deemed a no ball. Sri Lanka had a nervy wait, but it was merely a stay of execution for the beleaguered hosts.

Stat of the day – 5 Pakistan have lost all 10 wickets on the fifth day of a Test five times since the start of 2016. It is an alarming departure for a side who had apparently erased regular collapses from their resume. “The only thing I can say, it’s not a mitigating excuse at all, but that’s a young batting line up, obviously trying to find their way,” said Mickey Arthur, Pakistan’s coach.

The verdict Test matches in the UAE are known for speeding up on the last two days, but this was extreme. The first two innings of this Test took 11 sessions to complete. The remaining two were done in less than four. The nature of Pakistan’s capitulation at the end showed just how difficult the transition is going to be in the post Misbah-ul-Haq era.

German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

MATCH INFO

England 19 (Try: Tuilagi; Cons: Farrell; Pens: Ford (4)

New Zealand 7 (Try: Savea; Con: Mo'unga)

Islamophobia definition

A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.

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The bio

Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.

Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.

Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.

Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Rating: 4/5
The biog

Born: near Sialkot, Pakistan, 1981

Profession: Driver

Family: wife, son (11), daughter (8)

Favourite drink: chai karak

Favourite place in Dubai: The neighbourhood of Khawaneej. “When I see the old houses over there, near the date palms, I can be reminded of my old times. If I don’t go down I cannot recall my old times.”

Updated: May 23, 2024, 4:00 AM