Zurabishvili: The America Trump Describes Is the One Georgia Needs
President Salome Zurabishvili, who attended the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States participated in the Atlantic Council event on January 21, where she discussed the current situation in Georgia and Russia’s influence in the country and expressed some of her expectations and hopes for US policy toward Georgia under the new administration.
She said that when she encountered several members of the new US cabinet, her “essential message” to them was that Georgia needs US attention “now more than ever,” describing the ongoing crisis in Georgia as “existential.”
Zurabishvili emphasized that U.S. policy toward Georgia “has always been bipartisan,” implying that she does not expect any changes regarding Georgia under the Trump administration. She also stressed the importance of not recognizing the current Georgian government, under which, she said, the country “no longer has any of the institutions.” She said “I don’t see any American government that can accept as a friend and partner country like that that is playing friends with sometimes the Chinese, sometimes Iran, sometimes some of the terrorist groups.”
“I think that the America that he [Donald Trump] is describing, and the foreign policy of America that he is describing as of a strong America… America that is effective and active in action – that is the America that Georgia certainly needs,” Zurabishvili said, reiterating that Georgia needs more actions than words.
President Zurabishvili said Georgia’s ruling party is trying to find “alternatives” to its traditional American and European partners in Russia, China, and Iran. “That’s a big mistake,” she said.
Zurabishvili said, “Russia is trying to recuperate its positions in the region,” suggesting that as Georgia’s European integration had accelerated, Moscow had increased its pressure on Bidzina Ivanishvili and Georgia’s ruling party. She argued that the GD’s rhetoric toward the country’s Western friends had become “more aggressive” after Georgia received EU candidate status.
Zurabishvili spoke about the Georgian Dream ruling party. In connection with the ongoing protests, she said that its infamous decision to leave the EU path was a “miscalculation” for the GD itself. She said that the GD, seeing small protests after the elections, thought it could “provoke a new movement,” only to “crash it and finish everything before the end of the year,” which did not happen.
As for the situation now, she said that the protests show no signs of stopping, while “the dissolution of the regime has started.” She suggested that the regime’s downfall could take any amount of time, and in the meantime the country could suffer, including from the economic effects of sanctions and general isolation.
Zourabichvili also said that she would like to see Trump publicly acknowledge that “elections in Georgia were rigged, that this is not acceptable, and that new elections have to take place.”
NOTE: This news article was updated at 00:20 on January 24 to include Zurabishvili’s call for President Trump to recognize Georgia’s elections as fraudulent.
Also Read:
- 19/01/2025 – President Zurabishvili: “Georgia Can be Big Success for America or It Can be Big Problem”
- 18/01/2025 – President Zurabishvili Visits Washington to Attend President Trump’s Inauguration
- 04/01/2025 – Helsinki Commission Leaders Reintroduce MEGOBARI Act in Congress
- 29/12/2024 – President Zurabishvili: I Am Taking Legitimacy With Me
- 27/12/2024 – BREAKING: U.S. Sanctions Bidzina Ivanishvili
- 20/12/2024 – ODIHR Final Report Reiterates Multiple Concerns over October 26 Elections, Calls for Concrete Action
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