Georgian PM highlights pattern of discrediting dissent in Europe with unproven “pro-Russian” claims

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Monday said Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, had confirmed with evidence that the accusation of Russian interference in the US elections against Donald Trump was fabricated by Barack Obama.

In a social media message, Kobakhidze noted that Gabbard had also stated that the campaign to discredit Trump was orchestrated by the deep state, with full involvement of state institutions.

“President Trump personally thanked Tulsi Gabbard for exposing the deep state and forwarded the materials to the Department of Justice for further action. This issue is currently the subject of active discussion in US media and society”, the Government head said.

“Labeling opponents as pro-Russian in various countries is a well-established tactic of the deep state. For this purpose, it uses the media as its most effective tool - media which, in Europe, is almost entirely under the deep state’s control and subject to its censorship. Thanks to this monopolized media, they can easily craft any image for any politician. For example, as soon as the French opposition leader Marine Le Pen's ratings reached a critical level, she was immediately labeled as pro-Russian - without presenting any evidence to the public. A similar method was used to remove Georgescu, the winner of the first round of Romania's presidential elections, from the political process. He was first declared pro-Russian, and later the court questioned Russian interference via TikTok in Georgescu’s favor and annulled the election - again, without presenting any evidence. In Moldova, labeling politicians as pro-Russian has become the most effective tool for banning opposition forces through judicial means - without anyone bothering to provide proof. For years now, the Government of Hungary has been fighting this kind of deep state propaganda. Simply because Viktor Orbán’s administration defends national interests, opposes pseudo-liberal ideology and advocates for peace, he has been branded a pro-Russian politician. And once again, no evidence has ever been presented”, Kobakhidze noted.

He further stressed that a similar campaign had been observed by the Georgian public since the day the Georgian Dream party came to power.

“In this campaign, the deep state has mobilized not only the local radical opposition and NGOs, but also their foreign sponsors, including representatives of the European bureaucracy. There is only one reason why our government is being labeled as pro-Russian: we do not act on external directives; we have cleansed all branches of power of foreign agents; we protect our sovereignty; we have not allowed LGBT propaganda; and we have stayed out of war. Once again, no one has bothered to provide any actual evidence to support the pro-Russian accusations”, the PM continued.

“A powerful line of the deep state propaganda is being directed against the founder of the ruling party, Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili. Although for years we have heard accusations of Ivanishvili’s alleged pro-Russian stance and ties to Russia, not a single shred of evidence has ever been presented to the public to support these claims. What we are dealing with are Goebbels-style propaganda tactics - first, create the image of an enemy and then accuse your opponent of being connected to that image. This kind of propaganda doesn’t require any facts; what matters is that the propaganda is total and that the message is repeated by as many agents as possible. We should express gratitude to Ms. Tulsi Gabbard for exposing the deep state. The public deserves full transparency about the methods used by the informal rule of oligarchs to discredit political opponents, because a society armed with the truth is the strongest guarantee of a resilient state”, Kobakhidze concluded.