🇮🇷🇬🇪Over the past two years, Georgia’s ruling party Georgian Dream has quietly deepened ties with Iran. Not rhetorically. Practically. Through trade, business access, and political signaling that matters far more than speeches. 1/9

🇬🇪Nicolás Maduro was one of the first to recognize Georgia’s disputed October 2024 elections. Let that sink in. When Venezuela 🇻🇪endorses your election while democratic partners withhold recognition, it is highly revealing of the Georgian Dream regime.

🇬🇪Peaceful protesters beaten, journalists assaulted, political prisoners jailed, opposition crushed, and WW1-era chemical agents used against civilians in the streets. This is not Europe🇪🇺. Georgia is not a democracy. This is authoritarian rule in real time. 1/12

🇬🇪Peaceful protesters beaten, journalists assaulted, political prisoners jailed, opposition crushed, and WW1-era chemical agents used against civilians in the streets. This is not Europe🇪🇺. Georgia is not a democracy. This is authoritarian rule in real time. 1/12

🇬🇪When the foreign minister of an EU member state feels compelled to reassure the mayor of Tbilisi that Europe must never sanction Georgian Dream’s leaders, it tells you everything about what the regime fears most. Not elections. Not protests. Its personal sanctions.

🇬🇪BBC has confirmed that Georgian Dream used a WW1 chemical agent, Bromobenzyl cyanide, against peaceful protesters. People suffered chemical burns, respiratory distress and long-term injuries. www.bbc.com/news/article...?

🇬🇪🇳🇴Norway’s MFA has given a clear and principled response to the appeal from Kreba • კრება / Association of Georgians in Norway about Georgia’s democratic crisis. All cooperation and political contact with Georgian Dream’s leadership is suspended. The MFA states: 1/5

A very important study on Russia sanctions evasion by the Georgian Dream regime (a Russian proxy in Georgia). fpc.org.uk/dealing-with...

🇬🇪Over the past three years, Georgia has transformed from a fragile democracy into a Russian-aligned kleptocracy. The ruling party, Georgian Dream (GD), isn’t just authoritarian-it’s financially desperate. Everything it does now revolves around one thing: cash. 1/18

🇬🇪A year ago, I stood in Tbilisi and saw it with my own eyes – the opposition won the 2024 election. Edison exit polls showed Georgian Dream losing badly. Yet GD fabricated a 54% “victory,” has since arrested the very politicians who defeated them, and now prepares to ban their parties altogether.

It’s been hard 24h for Georgians. Grave mistakes were made. Yesterday, Georgia lost a battle against Russian takeover - but the fight for freedom &democracy continues. If there’s one thing yst proved, it’s that resistance hasnt disappeared. They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds. 1/12

🇬🇪Georgia’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) might sound like a graft-busting agency, but under Razhden Kuprashvili it has become a political weapon. Georgian Dream is using it to wage a repressive crackdown on civil society, silencing NGOs and opposition voices. 1/13

🇺🇸🇬🇪 Oklahomans! In 2020, Sen Mullin warned that Georgia’s ruling party was tied to Russia, Iran, and hostile actors. Today, as a US Senator, he is blocking the bipartisan #MEGOBARIAct- thus protecting the very regime he once called a threat. What happened? 1/7

🇺🇸🇬🇪 Oklahomans! In 2020, Sen Mullin warned that Georgia’s ruling party was tied to Russia, Iran, and hostile actors. Today, as a US Senator, he is blocking the bipartisan #MEGOBARIAct- thus protecting the very regime he once called a threat. What happened? 1/7

🇬🇪Georgia’s paradox: a government despised by its people, yet firmly in power. Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream survives not through popularity, but by fusing repression, economic dependency, and rigged institutions. 🧵In this thread I try to explain this paradox. 1/16

🇬🇪Georgia’s paradox: a government despised by its people, yet firmly in power. Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream survives not through popularity, but by fusing repression, economic dependency, and rigged institutions. 🧵In this thread I try to explain this paradox. 1/16

🇬🇪Georgia is suffocating under Putin’s Trojan Horse Georgian Dream. Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream has turned a pro-European nation into a captured state. The West is still looking away. It’s time to act - and sanctions are the key. 1/16

22 Georgian online media outlets have united in this fight, and you can all support them: From Abroad: www.gofundme.com/f/help-media... Campaign: sinatle.media Donation from Georgia: TBC Bank: #GE76TB7548536080100013 Bank of Georgia: #GE06BG0000000609779465 Recipient: “ხალხის წყარო”

🇬🇪Why is Georgian Dream surviving despite mass protests, backlash, and international condemnation? The answer isn’t repression alone. It’s money. 🧵A thread on how Bidzina Ivanishvili’s fortune and Russian inflows saved his regime - and why it’s still may crack. 1/16

🇬🇪Georgia is undergoing a political transformation - but not towards the future we all want. The extremist ruling party, Georgian Dream, has evolved into a demagogic, anti-Western machine, deploying propaganda and laws that echo the darkest chapters of the 20th century. 1/17

Before Bucha, there was Abkhazia. On August 14, 1992, Russia 🇷🇺 and Russian-backed forces attacked Georgia 🇬🇪, starting a war that led to the ethnic cleansing and displacement of over 200,000 Georgians and an ongoing occupation — the same imperialist crimes seen in Ukraine today.

🇬🇪Georgia is not drifting into authoritarianism. It is being steered there. My new Substack: terjehelland1.substack.com/p/georgias-d...

🇬🇪Georgia is undergoing a political transformation - but not towards the future we all want. The extremist ruling party, Georgian Dream, has evolved into a demagogic, anti-Western machine, deploying propaganda and laws that echo the darkest chapters of the 20th century. 1/17

🚨NEW: Latest for @bylinetimes.bsky.social with Josimar's Paul Brown, on how an Israeli tycoon, a shady Miami investment group, and a UK firm controlled by enablers of the Georgian regime became embroiled in a £1bn legal spat between powerful Russian business interests. 1/13 👉 shorturl.at/8hHYG

🇬🇪Just listened to @marikamikiashvili.bsky.social on Talk Georgia - an insightful, sharp, and deeply inspiring voice. Few Georgians have done more to inform and engage Western audiences about what’s really happening in Georgia than Marika. Highly recommended. 👏🇬🇪 👇 www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2fO...

🇬🇪I’ve just sent a letter to APF (L’Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie) urging them to cut ties with Tea Tsulukiani, a central architects of Georgia’s dictatorial crackdown. She’s not just a participant. She’s a key enforcer. Engaging with her legitimizes repression. Please help amplify.

🇬🇪A country once seen as the democratic bright spot of the post-Soviet space is now undergoing the fastest authoritarian regression in modern European history. 🧵Here’s a thread to keep you updated on what’s happening - and why it matters. 1/23

🇬🇪Democracy doesn’t collapse overnight - it dies in stages, often under legal cover. Georgia is a warning to the world: the tools of autocracy are now subtle, domestic, and dressed in law. And this is Putin’s other kind of war - the hybrid one. My Substack: terjehelland1.substack.com/p/do-not-for...

🇬🇪A country once seen as the democratic bright spot of the post-Soviet space is now undergoing the fastest authoritarian regression in modern European history. 🧵Here’s a thread to keep you updated on what’s happening - and why it matters. 1/23

🇬🇪Another must-read from now entry-banned journalist @willneal.bsky.social. Read and amplify his investigation for Byline Times, exposing how Georgia is morphing into a pro-Putin mafia state—systematically dismantling democracy while courting autocratic backers. bylinetimes.com/2025/02/26/g...

🇧🇬🇺🇦In March 2025, a voice on the phone said: “We will bring you to your knees, swine.” Weeks later, his family was chased on a Bulgarian highway. 🧵This isn’t fiction. It’s the true story of Svet DiNahum - a writer punished for exposing Russian lies. 1/24

The NY Post is many things. A champion of liberal internationalism? Not one of them. Still, they ran my piece on 3 scenarios for how russia’s war ends — and the only path to durable, lasting peace no one dares to name. #ArmUkraineToWin nypost.com/2025/05/30/o...

there is the beautiful theory that academics want to stand for better things & then there is the sordid reality that (especially German) academics continue *directly* collaborating with key perpetrators in #Georgia. Here my open letter to @ralfmichaels.bsky.social of the @maxplanck.de who is...

🇬🇪Nika Melia is now behind bars. Zurab Japaridze was jailed before him. Their “crime”? - Refusing to legitimize a Georgian Dream-controlled “investigation” - a Soviet-style committee weaponized to target the opposition. 1/2

🇬🇪 Giorgi Bachiashvili, ex-confidant of Bidzina Ivanishvili, was kidnapped in the UAE - a country with which Georgia has no extradition treaty. He was picked up by Georgian Airways, owned by Tamaz Gaiashvili, a known enabler of dictator Ivanishvili. 1/2

🇬🇪 The skilled and respected investigative journalist Will Neal, who lives in Georgia, is now being denied entry into the country by Georgian Dream. I encourage everyone to look up his excellent journalism.

🇧🇬🇺🇦In March 2025, a voice on the phone said: “We will bring you to your knees, swine.” Weeks later, his family was chased on a Bulgarian highway. 🧵This isn’t fiction. It’s the true story of Svet DiNahum - a writer punished for exposing Russian lies. 1/24

🇬🇪Another must-read from now entry-banned journalist @willneal.bsky.social. Read and amplify his investigation for Byline Times, exposing how Georgia is morphing into a pro-Putin mafia state—systematically dismantling democracy while courting autocratic backers. bylinetimes.com/2025/02/26/g...

🇬🇪🇬🇧A must-read investigation by @willneal.bsky.social in Byline Times: How Hunnewell Partners, a UK firm tied to Georgian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, allegedly facilitated Kremlin-linked financial schemes through London’s elite circles. bylinetimes.com/2025/03/31/m...

🇬🇪 The skilled and respected investigative journalist Will Neal, who lives in Georgia, is now being denied entry into the country by Georgian Dream. I encourage everyone to look up his excellent journalism.

🇳🇴On the 17th of May, Norway celebrate the signing of the constitution in 1814. We celebrate with big children parades with many dressed up in their special outfit (bunad). Gratulerer med dagen, Norge - Happy Birthday, Norway!

Key findings from the latest report from Georgian civil society organizations on the Georgia crackdowns in November-February: [Report in Georgian: cutt.ly/6rz3ADOy] - 77.7% of respondents reported experiencing violence and mistreatment by police. 🧵 1/9

🇬🇪From shovels to shadows: The Soviet legacy behind Georgia’s authoritarian drift. ... my op-ed at NE Global. www.neglobal.eu/from-shovels...

🇬🇪Georgian Dream continues to impose laws that ensure Georgia will never become an EU🇪🇺 member as long as they remain in power - just as Putin🇷🇺demands of them. civil.ge/archives/681...

🇵🇸If you haven’t seen Louis Theroux’s The Settlers, start with the Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land". If that doesn’t move you — you might as well be made of stone. www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Qv...

🇬🇪SANCTION BILL: The U.S. Congress has just passed a historic bill that strikes at the heart of Georgian Dream’s regime. It labels GD as pro-Kremlin, mandates sanctions, freezes aid, and declares the government unfit to lead a Western-aligned Georgia. 🧵This changes everything. 1/8

🇬🇪As the U.S. ramps up sanctions against Iran, Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, is quietly strengthening ties with Iran, Russia, and China, potentially positioning Georgia as a backdoor conduit for sanctioned regimes. An Iran–Georgia sanctions evasion thread ... 1/9

🇬🇪 Georgia: where targeted sanctions could actually work - if the West doesn’t wait. Read Marika’s take on why this is the case.

🇬🇪As the U.S. ramps up sanctions against Iran, Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, is quietly strengthening ties with Iran, Russia, and China, potentially positioning Georgia as a backdoor conduit for sanctioned regimes. An Iran–Georgia sanctions evasion thread ... 1/9