Proposal to amend US State Department law: “Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act”

Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act

Republican congressman Joe Wilson has proposed adding an amendment to the State Department Authorization Act titled “Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act”. The document would bar the US government and its agencies from recognising the government of the Georgian Dream party.

The amendment relates to Article 313 of the bill, which prohibits the US government from recognising Georgia’s occupied territories.

The amendment must now go before a plenary session of the House of Representatives.

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“Insulting America and supporting communist China, Iran and Russia is a one-way ticket to isolation,” Joe Wilson wrote on X.

The “Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act” was introduced in the US Congress on 9 January 2025 by Wilson and Democratic congressman Steve Cohen. As precedent, the authors cite Wilson’s earlier “Non-recognition of the Assad government” bill tabled in 2023.

According to the “Non-recognition of the Georgian nightmare” bill:

• US officials are barred from recognising or normalising relations with the Georgian Dream government;
• The ban covers ruling party leader and Georgia’s de facto head Bidzina Ivanishvili, his inner circle and the Georgian Dream government as a whole;
• Any form of recognition, or even reference to recognition, of the Georgian Dream government is prohibited, as is allocating federal funds for any related purpose.

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Government response

Shalva Papuashvili, head of the Georgian Dream parliamentary faction, dismissed the amendment announcement as nothing more than an attempt to “create noise.”

“The sole aim is to generate noise. But the noise will die down — and what will they do then? The same fate awaits this as all similar hostile initiatives before it,” Papuashvili said.

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